Material Culture, Ethnicity, Rozvi Symbolism, and Ontologies: New Trajectories on Khami-Phase Sites in Southwestern Zimbabwe

Abstract Although people in the past and present produce, acquire, and use material culture that resonates with their sense of self and identity, the diagnosis of such symbols via the archaeological record is always elusive. This is further compounded by the fact that most social constructions, especially ethnicity, are constantly imagined, negotiated, projected, and contested in order to be objectively tied to stable and verifiable archaeological entities. Against this background, context-specific historical approaches should always be prioritized in such endeavors. Accordingly, the Rozvi, who first rose to prominence in Zimbabwe during the late 17th century before establishing their own powerful state (1685−1830 C.E.), synonymous with an imagined community, are reconsidered. Their past largely remains entangled with multiple sociopolitical entities, places, and things (tangible and intangible) that continue to trigger scholarly and community debate. This article grapples with such dynamics with the aim of demystifying their archaeological footprints. Khami-phase material culture from the core ancestral territories of the Rozvi in southwestern Zimbabwe is particularly targeted in light of relevant historical and ethnographic insights from scattered Rozvi descendants in five Zimbabwean districts.