Edward Matenga

Edward J. Matenga is a Zimbabwean archaeologist and the former director of the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site 1998 – 2004. He was a curator at the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences in Harare from 1988 to 1994. He is now an independent heritage management consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa. He is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

Matenga was born on 6 September 1963 at Chiendambuya, Headlands, near Rusape, but he grew up in Buhera District, his ancestral land, where he did primary school education at Barura and Murwira Primary schools in the 1970s. He subsequently attended Makumbe Mission High School in Buhera, and Gutu Mission High School in Masvingo, before proceeding to the University of Zimbabwe in 1984. He studied History and Archaeology and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelors' Honours Degree. In 1988 he was awarded a Swedish government scholarship to study Archaeology at Uppsala University. He obtained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in archaeology in 1993. In 2011 Matenga obtained his PhD in archaeology and heritage from Uppsala University, in Sweden Matenga authored a seminal book, "The Soapstone Birds Birds of Great Zimbabwe: Symbols of a Nation" (1998), providing a new perspective on the meaning and significance of these charismatic carvings. In particular, his thesis that the birds may have been totemic emblems foregrounded the fish eagle (Hungwe) and the associated totemic praise poetry, which have a large affiliation in Zimbabwe. This stoked further academic debate and speculation. The Zimbabwe Birds have inspired creative art as they have been adopted in stylized motifs as logos by many public and private organizations. They preside over the Zimbabwean flag and government coat-of-arms.

In 1995 Matenga supervised a team of traditional stonemasons in an ambitious project to restore wooden lintels at the western entrance to the Great Enclosure, the iconic and largest dry masonry structure at the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site. There was material evidence to attest that in fact all three entrances to this large stone building had wooden lintels carrying the walls over the entrances. Over time the wooden cross beams had failed resulting in collapse. As there was so much hesitation, a "life-size" experimental wall was constructed at the Great Zimbabwe Conservation Centre, and armed with the experience and lessons learnt, the team had mustered the confidence to execute the restoration. Provided by Wikipedia