THE EL DORADO OF AGISYMBA

“The eastern escarpment here deviates in a mountain chain towards the west to the
centre of the valley. This projection, which rises about 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the
valley, looked from a distance like a striped zebra. When we came nearer, we
discovered that this strange appearance had its cause in a gigantic artificial system of
terraces, and that we were here facing either an imposing ancient fortification or a grand
arrangement for getting hold of the rain running from the top. Of these terraces, along
whole mountains, we now found a great number.” 1

The extraordinary complex of ruins and carefully constructed stone terraces extend
across the mountains and valleys of Nyanga, Zimbabwe, for 7,000 square kilometres.
Their purpose, as well as their constructors, has always been controversial. The upper
terraces wrap around the exposed face of the mountain making a mockery of any
agricultural theories. To this day nothing grows in them except for the native mountain
vegetation.

It has now emerged that Nyanga was a vast gold mining operation potentially stretching
back into antiquity. One of the indicative factors of gold mining is the ubiquitous
presence of large quantities of quartz rock piles, and trenches filled with quartz,
throughout the mountainscape. In the past this evidence was ignored in the pursuit of
enforcing the current orthodoxy that this was a pastoral drystone-walling culture and
that the huge quantities of quartz were merely the result of agricultural land clearance.

In 1902 a theory was proposed by Carl Peters, The Eldorado of the Ancients, which was
at first considered heretical but has now been proved to be substantially correct. Apart
from the mountain terraces Peters was intrigued by what were termed the stone pits
usually situated in the valleys below. These stone pits had the unusual features of a
narrow stone tunnel leading down to their base and a drain opposite exiting the
structure. They were initially seen as slave pits but this theory could not account for the
tunnel.

“We now discovered the first example of a new class of ancient stone buildings, which
we came across very frequently in the district now before us. These were pits, after the
style of wells, with a diameter of from ten to fifteen feet, walled in with carefully built
cyclopean walls. The pits we saw were twelve to fifteen feet deep... The curious feature
of these buildings is that the entrance is formed by a subterranean passage, at the most
three feet high, which may be sixteen feet long, dug into the ground, and also walled
with rock.”2

The slave-pit theory was superseded by the agricultural theory whereby the pits were
ascribed the role of animal pens. This is still the prevailing orthodox theory that was
enforced for most of the twentieth century. Again the narrow downward sloping tunnels
into the pits remain unexplained under the animal husbandry theory. The tunnels are
two narrow and at three feet high are too low for cattle, the most valuable of the
domestic animal stock that would have been held by the local population. Carl Peters
together with John Norris had already offered an explanation for the stone pits, a
heretical theory which was then suppressed by academia throughout the next century.

“Mr. Norris drew my attention to the fact that all these conduits of the ancients had not
been made on fertile soil, but on rocky ground. He concluded from this that they were
not meant for agricultural, but for mining enterprise. He thought the old settlers had not
had the means of transport necessary to carry their quartz to the rivulets for washing,
and that therefore they had laid on the water directly into their mining ground. He also
pointed out another most interesting fact connected with the pits or underground
buildings. He said that he had turned his (water) channel into one of these buildings,
and had been very much struck by the fact that they had not filled up, but that the water
had disappeared without leaving any trace. On examining this strange symptom, he had
found opposite the covered entrance passage an aperture into the pit which was closed
with stones.”3
The intent was clearly to funnel water into the underground structures and then to drain
them. This was not for the purposes of water storage itself since there are numerous
constantly flowing streams throughout this mountainous region. Therefore this is an
example of water deliberately being funnelled into structures and the only rational
explanation for this practice is that it was connected with mining processes.

“This makes me inclined to accept the very probable hypothesis that we possess in
these pits certain original provision for washing quartz. I should suppose that the
crushed quartz was heaped up in the entrance tunnel, and also at the bottom, and that
water was then poured over it, which carried away the dust and left the gold behind.
Under this theory all peculiarities of these strange buildings which have been
discovered hitherto can be accounted for.”4

Evidence for this theory was all around in numerous piles of quartz and trenches of
quartz which were so conspicuous across the region that Carl Peters commented on the
phenomenon. These extensive piles of quartz rocks and long trenches containing
nothing but quartz were ignored by the proponents of the agricultural theories for the
Nyanga ruins.

“Below these buildings were dozens, nay, hundreds of those heaps of stones which we
had seen since we left Katerere, artificially filled with debris of quartz. It was clear that
we stood here on the field of former human activity, but now the silence of death lay
over the landscape… If those heaps of quartz had been connected with mining
enterprise, they had certainly been suddenly deserted; the work must have ended in
catastrophe.”5

Also present was evidence of firesetting, the ancient gold mining process where quartz
rocks are heated by fire before being pulverized into powder. “... the quartz at the
bottom had been subjected to great heat, and he took the holes in which the debris was
lying to be a kind of stove, which might have served to prepare the quartz for crushing.” 6
A major reason why the gold mining theory was not taken seriously was that these
mountains were not initially considered to be a major gold bearing region. The rich
greenstone gold deposits in the central areas of Zimbabwe form a different rock
formation to that in the Eastern Highlands. Despite this geological difference it was
always apparent that there was gold in Nyanga since alluvial gold was contained in the
streams and rivers that flowed down from the mountains. Carl Peters refers to this
evidence of gold in the Nyanga region.

“That there must be gold here on the Inyanga Plateau Major Robertson had already
concluded from the fact that many of the rivers that flow down from there carry gold-
dust, the Ruenje and Gavaresi as well as the Odzi…” 7

From 2004 reports emerged of a gold rush in the Chimanimani mountains that straddle
the eastern Zimbabwe border with Mozambique and form part of the Eastern Highlands.
By 2006 it was estimated that at least ten thousand miners from both countries had
joined in the gold rush.

Similarly there has been an artisanal gold mining rush after rich gold deposits were
recently discovered in Nyanga. Consequently the Archaean granite-greenstone geology
of the Umkondo Basin, of which Nyanga forms part, is now the focus of formal gold
exploration. These informal gold rushes in the present suggest that in the ancient past
an extremely rich seam of gold had been discovered and exploited in the Nyanga
mountains.

The informal artisanal gold mining rushes that are now continuously occurring in
Zimbabwe, partly as a result of economic pressures, are a fascinating insight into the
gold mining activities of the past. It is impossible to know how far such activities stretch
back into the ancient past. If gold in the present is continuously being discovered by
informal miners outside the state sector this suggests that the same phenomenon would
have existed in antiquity. Gold has always been sought by humans and if it can so
easily be found by those in the informal sector, without the resources of state geologists,
in the various regions of Zimbabwe then the same situation would have existed in the
ancient past.

This continuity of history suggests that ancient traders travelled to this region to source
gold. All would have known that beyond the coastal plain rose the mountainous plateau
which contained gold bearing rocks. Rivers running from the mountains onto the coastal
plain contained alluvial gold.

It is evident that the mountainous plateau, containing the terraces of Nyanga, could be
linked to the fabled Table of the Sun. This myth is inextricably linked with gold, since
according to Herodotus, the Persian king Cambyses wished to discover the source of
the vast riches of Ethiopian gold (in antiquity Africa was termed either Ethiopia or Libya).
The location of this source is specified as being in “that part of Libya (Africa) that is on
the southern sea.” The southern sea lay south of the equator and at the extremity of the
known world.

The explicit reference to the “southern sea” rules out the locations suggested by
historians for this table. It is inexplicable that historians imagine that this could be a
reference to land-locked Sudan lying north of the equator. There is a consistent
orthodoxy that maintains that Herodotus could only have heard of a world that
terminated in central Africa. It is the gold trade that in the end destroys this orthodoxy as
humans will always be attracted to a significant source of gold. The myth of the Table of
the Sun can only be seen in this context.

“After this Cambyses planned three expeditions, against the Carchedonians

(Carthaginians), against the Ammonians, and against the ‘long-lived’ Ethiopians who
inhabit that part of Libya (Africa) that is on the southern sea… to Ethiopia he would first
send spies, to see what truth there was in the story of a Table of the Sun in that country,
and to spy out all else besides, under the pretext of bringing gifts for the Ethiopian
king.”8
Herodotus further defines the location of the long-lived Ethiopians as being in the part of
the world stretching furthest towards the sunset (the west) in Ethiopia (Africa). They
thus reside by the southern sea “farthest towards the sunset in Ethiopia (Africa).” This
then is an obvious reference to southern Africa. It is only after Cape Delgado in northern
Mozambique that the African coast trends significantly towards the west and towards
the central Mozambique coastal plain from which the mountainous plateau of the
Eastern Highlands and Nyanga rises.

“Where south inclines westwards, the part of the world stretching farthest towards the
sunset is Ethiopia; this produces gold in abundance and huge elephants…” 9

The riches of this fabled region were so enormous that the prisoners of the king were
rumoured to wear fetters of gold. “... the king led them to a prison where all the men
were bound with fetters of gold. Among these Ethiopians there is nothing so scarce and
so precious as bronze. Then, having seen the prison, they saw what is called the Table
of the Sun.”10
Carl Peters was given a number of coins by the Mutare (Umtali) police chief that had
been found in Nyanga. “I bring back with me thirty-four coins that were found in
Inyanga, which Mr. Birch, chief of the police in Umtali, handed to me.” 11

They included a number of Greco-Indian coins of Alexander’s successors with three

dated between 180-120 BCE. These suggest that Nyanga was connected into the
ancient trading network that is documented in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The
Greco-Indian kingdoms spanned an area that included the Indus River Delta and the
emporium of Barbaricum that is referenced in the Periplus and was connected by a land
route to the Silk Road into China. The kingdoms also included in their sphere of
influence Gujarat in north-western India. Gujarat had a historic reputation as a centre for
shipbuilding and this region included another emporium that the Periplus mentions,
Barygaza.

“The metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which much cotton cloth is brought
down to Barygaza. In these places there remain even to the present time signs of the
expedition of Alexander, such as ancient shrines, walls of forts and great wells.” 12

Al-Idrisi, writing in the twelfth century, refers to the “people of the Zabag” who came to
the mines in the mountains of Sofala. “... of this metal (iron) there are numerous mines
in the mountains of Sofala. People of the Zabag come hither for iron, which they carry to
the continent and islands of India where they sell it for good money, because it is an
object of big trade and it has a huge market in India. For although there is good quality
iron in the islands and mines of that country, it does not equal the iron of Sofala for its
quality and its malleability. The Indians are masters in the arts of making it. They
prepare and mix the substances so that through fusion one gets the soft steel normally
called India steel. They have factories that make the best swords in the world.” 13

The “peoples of the Zabag” who came to the mountains of Sofala is a clear reference to
the mountainous plateau that rises above the coastal plain of Sofala. The text
documents the extensive trade in metals between these mountains and India in the
twelfth century. The “peoples of the Zabag” has a general identification with the
Austronesians of Sumatra and Java. More specifically the term refers to the Sayabidja
(Sayabiga), who migrated from those islands and settled in the Persian Gulf region and
India. The “peoples of the Zabag” can therefore refer to people who had a formidable
reputation as fighters or mercenaries and were equipped with a sea-faring knowledge
handed down from their Austronesian heritage.

“Arab lexicographical and other sources describe the Sayabidja as mercenaries

recruited from Sind, and give as the term’s singular the form Saybadji. De Goeje and
Ferrand therefore connected this with Zabadj/Zabag… a term used to designate the
Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. The early Islamic Sayabidja would thus be in
origin Indonesians who had emigrated to western India and who then, in the late
(Persian) Sassanid period, found their way to the Persian Gulf shores in company with
the Zutt. The famed seafaring expertise of the Malay-Indonesian peoples would have
ensured their usefulness to the Middle Eastern powers in such matters as the policing of
the Gulf and the protection of trade against piracy…” 14

Al-Mas’udi, writing in the tenth century and the first writer to extensively document the
gold trade from Sofala, confirms the presence of people of Indonesian descent in the
gold producing areas of Sofala. The use of the term Waqwaq (or Wakwak) is now taken
to refer to the Indonesian migration to Madagascar and the Comoros.

“Only the Zendjs cross the arm (of the Nile) that splits from the upper Nile, and throws
itself in the sea that wears the name of these people, they fix themselves on the
beaches, and extend their home up to Sofala, which is the limit of their land. Their
country goes down as far as the country of Sofala and the Waqwaq. There is the
furthest limit for the voyages from Oman and Siraf on the Sea of the Zanj. In the same
way that the sea of China ends with the lands of Sirla (Japan) the sea of Zanj ends with
the land of Sofala and the Waqwaq, which produces gold and many other wonderful
things.”15

The Sayabidja were involved in a naval expedition against Gujarat, north-western India,
in the eighth century. This operation included the town of Bharoch, situated on the river
mouth and the oldest town in Gujarat. This emporium was known in ancient times as
Barygaza and thus there is documentary evidence that describes an extensive metals
trade between the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and India from at least the twelfth
century that potentially was already in existence at the time of the Periplus (ca. 50 CE).
According to this document Greco-Indian coins, including those featuring Apolldorus,
were circulating in Barygaza.

“To the present day ancient drachmae are current in Barygaza, coming from this
country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and the devices of those who reigned after
Alexander, Apollodorus and Menander.”16

The coins are therefore consistent with the gold mines of Zimbabwe forming part of the
Persian Gulf trading network. This gold trade potentially stretches back to the time of
the Persian king Cambyses and the myth of the golden Table of the Sun as described
by Herodotus.
Ptolemy describes this region that lay at the edge of the known world as Agisymba.
Early cartographers used this name for the southern African interior that included the
Nyanga Plateau. “Aethiopia (Africa)... extends from the Great bay of the Outer sea to
Rhaptum promontory as we have said… from the Rhaptum promontory even to the
Prasum promontory and the unknown land… next to the unknown land of Aethiopia
(Africa) is a region of wide expanse called Agisymba.” 17

The first documentation of the name ‘Agisymba’ is from the Syrian/Phoenician Marinus
of Tyre (ca. 70-130 CE) who influenced Ptolemy. Agisymba was taken by Marinus as the
extremity of the known world in the southern hemisphere. Marinus locates the Prasum
promontory and by extension Agisymba at south 24 degrees. This concords with the
southern major promontory on the east coast of Africa at Inhambane and Cape
Correntes in southern Mozambique.

There are only two major promontories on the east coast of Africa below the Horn of
Africa at Somalia. These were described as the Rhaptum promontory and the Prasum
promontory, with the Rhaptum promontory inevitably being the huge bulge in northern
Mozambique towards Cape Degado. Ludicrously the current orthodoxy states that
Rhaptum promontory is in Tanzania where there is no noticeable major promontory and
moreover the entire Tanzanian coast is the shape of a gently receding bay.

Marinus of Tyre calculates the extremity of known habitation in the northern

hemisphere, described as Thule, as north 63 degrees. This latitudinal line dissects
Norway, seen as the location of Thule, and therefore Marinus is proved substantially
correct, further reinforcing his calculations of the southern hemisphere. He based these
calculations on reports of actual voyages to these regions and the length of time taken
to cover distances.

Ptolemy, coming later, drew on the work of Marinus but introduced a modern form of
mathematical calculation. This may have been revolutionary but the formulae were fed
faulty data resulting in the readings that are now taken as gospel by the current
orthodoxy. Thus we get the absurd thesis that the known continent only extended as far
as contemporary Tanzania.

By relying on sources that may have included Phoenician knowledge Marinus

expressed a far more sophisticated conception of the African continent than the later
Ptolemy who imposed a restricted and improbable African map that is still taken to
document the extent of ancient knowledge. The consistent orthodoxy is that maritime
trade at this time terminated at Tanzania and possibly northern Mozambique, well
outside the gold producing areas of southern Africa. There also has been a political
imperative to enhance the status of Tanzania by making it the limit of the known world
and the terminus of trade. Marinus of Tyre proves otherwise that the known world
extended into the gold rich areas of south eastern Africa.

Zimbabwe itself forms a plateau bordered by the Eastern Highlands on one side and the
Zambezi Escarpment on another. It is this plateau that contains the rich gold bearing
greenstone belts and it is impossible to believe that ancient trading networks would
have been uninterested in these. The fact that a continuous series of informal artisanal
gold rushes occur in the present reveals a cycle that reaches deep into antiquity. The
cycle is driven by the demand for gold which has always existed in human history.

"... where south inclines westwards, the part of the world stretching farthest towards the
sunset in (Africa); this produces gold in abundance..." This statement by Herodotus in
the fifth century BCE can only be in reference to southern Africa. Discounting the Horn
of Africa (Somalia) it is only south of Cape Delgado in northern Mozambique that the
shape of the continent trends significantly towards the west.

Herodotus further confirms the southern African location by stating that the source of the
gold is in "that part of (Africa) that is on the southern sea." The Zimbabwean greenstone
gold belts exist on a high plateau that rises above the coastal plain and the path traced
by the Zambezi. Therefore the reference to the Table of the Sun and its association with
gold indicates that by the time of Herodotus in the fifth century BCE there was a widely
known gold trade from southern Africa.

The interest of Cambyses, the Persian king reigning between 530 and 522 BCE, in the
trade pushes back the timeline further into antiquity. Consequently the entire basis of
the current orthodoxy that the known world at this time terminated at the contemporary
Tanzanian coast is untenable.

Evidently, according to Herodotus, there was a gold trade into southern Africa, and the
Agisymbian gold bearing plateau, from at least the fifth or sixth centuries BCE. This was
a trade driven by the immortal and insatiable human demand for gold.

“... to Ethiopia (Africa) he (Cambyses) would first send spies, to see what truth there
was in the story of a Table of the Sun in that country… Where south inclines westwards,
the part of the world stretching farthest towards the sunset in Africa; this produces gold
in abundance and huge elephants…” 18

1. Carl Peters - The Eldorado of the Ancients - 1902

2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Herodotus - Histories 3.17
9. Ibid. 3.114
10. Ibid. 3.23
11. Carl Peters - The Eldorado of the Ancients - 1902
12. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
13. al-Idrisi - Kitab Ruyar 1150 CE
14. The Encylopaedia of Islam
15. al-Masudi - Meadows of Gold - 916 CE
16. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
17. Ptolemy - Geography
18. Herodotus - Histories 3.17