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Great Zimbabwe 1385 The Ironworking Guilds and the Domboshava Torque
This episode takes us inside the world of Great Zimbabwe's ironworkers — the ziso, a guild of smiths who transformed raw ore into tools, weapons, and ritual objects that shaped the kingdom's economy and spirituality. We focus on a specific artifact: the Domboshava Torque, an iron neck-ring discovered near the Hill Complex, radiocarbon-dated to around 1385. Lucas explains how the ziso smelted ore in clay furnaces, used bellows of animal hide, and kept their techniques secret through mutupo clan taboos. Luna asks about the spiritual risks of ironworking, and Lucas describes the…
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