Fragment of carved soapstone bowl, 13th-15thcentury.
Zimbabwe.
Steatite, 7.1 x 43.7 x 17.7 cm.
South African Museum, Cape Town.
In Zimbabwe, particularly the Lower Valley, Great Enclosure, and Hill Ruin areas,
soapstone bowls have been found in varying sizes. The primary function of
these bowls likely had to do with ancestral rituals. Usually the vertical sides of
the bowls are carved with geometric designs like hatching, cord, and
herringbone patterns. The larger examples, bearing marks on the inside, likely
caused by cutting meat, range from 30 to 60 cm in diameter with vertical sides
of 7 to 10 cm. We are led to believe these bowls were used in ritual offerings
to the ancestors. This fragment shows the most complex frieze on any bowl
from Great Zimbabwe with its procession of zebra followed by a bird and
human-like figure leading a dog which faces a baboon; it could have totemic
significance but the meaning remains a mystery.
Less common and more difficult to interpret are the bowls with naturalistic
designs which are unlikely to have served as divining bowls due to their size and
the location of the designs. Southern Africa’s divining bowls are most often
marked along the rim where the designs can be seen easily, rather than on the
vertical walls.