SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 369 



beneath the Conical Tower itself from side to side, exposing the foundations of the 

 structure, and enabled examination of the undisturbed deposits upon which they 

 rest in an area 18 feet x 4 feet x 6 feet. 



The result of these additional excavations confirmed the evidence, already supplied 

 by the Maund and Acropolis work, for Bantu origin, probably not prior to the tenth 

 century a.d. 



About ISO miles N.E. of Zimbabwe, on the watershed of the Sabi and Inyazitsa 

 rivers, three ruins were examined, Matindcre, Mshosho and Chiwona. The last-named 

 had been reported by the Native Department as lately as November 1928. Matindcre 

 ia an elliptical building with a decorated girdle wall, and interior divisional walls. A 

 peculiarity is the fact that its numerous original doorways have all, at some subse- 

 quent period, been closed by granite walling. The deposits are very shallow ; bedrock 

 was reached at about 2 feet. The granite outcrop upon which this ruin lies clearlj' 

 shows the places where the building stone had been procured. 



Mshosho, about 9 miles distant, is a typical hiU-top fortress kraal, with tiers of fine 

 defensive walls now rapidly collapsing. Its midden deposits were sieved and trenches 

 cut on the main central platform, and in the rock passage through which the building 

 is approached. 



Chiwona is also a kopje site, where the huge masses of natural granite which top 

 the hill have been skilfully incorporated into the building plan, as on the Zimbabwe 

 Acropolis. Test trenches were cut to bedrock and the midden deposit explored. 



The objects collected from these three sites in the Sabi Reserve differ little from 

 those from Zimbabwe. A good quantity of glass beads were found in each. Those 

 from Chiwona resemble the oldest series (judged on stratigraphical grounds) from 

 Zimbabwe : Matindcre, richest in quantity and poorest in variety, may be judged, on 

 the evidence of their resemblance to the beads from Dhlo-Dhlo, to be of later date. 

 Pottery shows local variations. 



Another interesting ruin, Chibvumani, in the Bikita-Devuli district, was explored 

 during a week in August. Ruinous walls cover an extensive area. Later re-adaptation 

 of the site on lines simOar to those noticed in the Maund ruins has also taken place 

 here. The objects recovered correspond to those from the other ruins investigated. 



Dhlo-Dhlo in Matabeleland was visited at the end of the season. Excavations 

 were carried down to bedrock at 13 feet 6 inches in the enclosure examined by Dr. 

 Maclver in 1905. The contents of a burnt hut provided an important group of native 

 pottery associated with a Ming bowl and a glass bottle — probably Arab. The walls 

 of this enclosure are certainly not earlier than this hut. 



In no case has an excavation been abandoned, or an inference drawn, until bedrock 

 has been reached ; and particular attention has been given to the stratification in 

 relation to buildings and walls. 



The main conclusions are that the ruins are of native Bantu oiigin and that the 

 building of the structures dates from a period between the tenth and sixteenth 

 eenturies a.d. 



Dr. P. Wagner. — Exhibition of Map showing the Distribution of pre- 

 European Mining in the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia. 



Dr. P. Wagner. — -Further Notes on Bronze Smelting from a Smelter in the 

 Waterberg Transvaal. 



Miss WiLMAN. — Bushman Rock Engravings. 



Prof. Raymond Dart. — The Taungs Skull. 



The skull found at Taungs in November 1924 and described in Nature, February 

 1925, will be exhibited, and a summary will be given of the anatomical peculiarities 

 upon which its zoological position rests. 



Dr. R. Broom. — The Springbok Skeleton. 



Mr. J. H. S. Gear. — Cranial Form in the Native Races of Southern Africa. 



The skull-form in a series of Bush and Bantu peoples has been investigated, the 

 system adopted being that of Sergi as modified by Frasetto. 



1929 B B 



