KING SOLOMON’S MINES

Evening Star, Issue 20139, 2 April 1929, Page 1

KING SOLOMON’S MINES

WOMAN EXPLORER AN EXPEDITION PLANNED Exploration by aeroplane is to lie one of I.ho Alifills of Miss Gertrude CafonThompson, whom the cables announced recently as ready to leave, .London on. a, trip to Southern Rhodesia to visit Kina: Solomon's mines. She will bo accompanied by Mis* Norie, a professional architect, ami: .Miss K. Kenyon, daughter of Sir Fred-: crick Kenyon, director of the British"; Museum. The scene of their future j work is the legendary site of King j Solomon's mines. On this site stands 1 the Zimbabwe mins, consisting of largo circular walls with fortified gateways, , which arc commonly supposed to In* fortresses ami temples. Local legends say that King Solomon and the. Queen.; of Sheba were associated with an older civilisation there, and Sir Rider Haggard has perpetuated these legends iitj his hooks. An aeroplane will probably,; be used by Miss Caton-Tiionipspn in Imrj preliminary survey of tho ruins. Sim '■ considers the aeroplane of tho greatos&j value in exploration work, and hopes to obtain a machine from Bulawayo,:! tho nearest town of importance. “ J.j shall be glad when I can gob to grips! with my job,” she declared before herj departure. “It is a. long journey, and tho preliminary work is very tedious. '', A cool, self-possessed young woman,'' Miss Cafon-Thompsou is of medium' height. Her face is stiP slightly tanno'lcj by the hot sun of Egypt, where she dull brilliant work for the Royal Antbropo-I logical Institute. “On the outward journey J shall spend some time iu Egypt!” she stated. “I am going up-! country to collect equipment.” “ I shall take a boat at Port Said, arid land at Beira, in Portuguese Easts. Africa, and thou go straight to Sonfh-H ern Rhodesia. 'Tho whole of February,J and probably March will be occupied : with prospecting, gleaning information,; and finding local labour. My assist-' ants are joining me, in March. T seic'-j ted Miss '.Norie because, as I view tho! problem before us, I think it will bo ex- * tremely valuable to have thorough ar-j chitcctural records of the ruins. Miss j Kenyon has iust come down from Ox- , ford University, and this will be bef | first introduction to excavation work-' The British Association has been | granted permission in excavate two | important groups of ruins—one at Zmt- J babwe and the other at Dhlo-Dhlo (pronounced Flo-Flo). Dldo-Dblo lies to the north of Bulawayo. T hope lo begin work as soon as the rainy season ends probably early in Mal'clt. Describing the objects of ber expedt- 5 tion, Miss Caton-Thompson explained id “ Scattered over this region are be- j tween 300 and 400 mins, but they are | not all the same age. There are con- | flicling opinions in the archaeological j world as to tlulr probable date. Thorn | is :i strong feeling in favour cMboir 1 being remote, prehistoric n.r. Them 5 is, on the other hand, an equally strong j and well-antlieniicated view that they; . arc nob earlier than medireval. ; YEARS OF EXCAVATION. i

“Tlio advocates of both points o! j view liave made out quite a good case, j but the evidence on neither side _is ; conclusive In my opinion the solution j to the problem will ho found only hy, prolonged and carelnl excavation and | observation, carried out ovei - probably tj a number of years in different parts of j Hhodesia. It is not my job to bold preconceived theories as to which is correct. 'l'be job of excavator is to bo j as accurate an observer and recorder } as is possible. If the ruins are mediae- ' vat they are conceivably native work, ; executed with a certain infiltration o£ 1 outside ideas—probably borrowed from j mining prospectors. The. other school j would see in them a definite foreign * civ’lisation, entering purely for the purpose of mining.’’ OLD LEGEND. Miss Caton-Thorapsou would not commit herself on the question of whether King .Solomon and the Queen of_ Sheba, were over associated with the district., “It is an old legend,” she slated., ”AVe know that the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon had very large deal- i ings in gold, and that llbodesia is a, | goTd mining country, but there is no ; other literary or archaeological evidence j for that view. One doesn’t rule out , tbs possibility of Asiatic influence, of course. It is conceivable that yon might get people from the direction of Asia Minor, but it is puro speculation. There is nob a fragment of evidence i hat it was so. When the early Portuguese and Dutch settlers reached the coast of Mozambique, in the Middle Ages, they found a very strong tribal organisation there. The. most famous, ruler of fhe kingdom was called Mono Motapn. Many tales of the inhabitants, allowing the. magnificence of the kingdom, have heon banded down to ns by the early colonisers. .My main object will be 10 discover the dwelling sites of those ancient people.'' Miss CatcnThompson and her parly will bo armeo, but they do not anticipate any occasion for using their weapons. ”1 shall report the result of my first season's investigations to ilie meeting ot mo British Association, which takes place m Smith Africa next August,” sha added.