Abstract:
Understanding past water management is crucial to address contemporary human-environmental challenges in
sub-Saharan Africa, where urban growth is impacting upon water availability and supply. This study integrates
soil profiles, high-resolution topographic data, historical sources, and socioecological memory to reconstruct
how the ancient urban society at Great Zimbabwe negotiated water security. New evidence shows for the first
time that closed depressions known as dhaka pits were used by the inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe for water
storage and harvesting for a long time, possibly since the emergence of settlement in the mid-second millennium
CE. These pits were part of a landscape-scale water management system that exploited catchment hydrology and
groundwater by means of artificial dhaka reservoirs, wells, and springs to secure water for subsistence, farming,
ritual and ceremony services. This study highlights the need for precise dating of the construction and functioning
period of this water management system at Great Zimbabwe. Understanding past water management in
such a water-scarce region is important for reconstructing how the ancient Great Zimbabwe urban society
negotiated water security, but also for understanding contemporary human-environmental challenges.
