This book provides a general guide to stone-structures of the pre-colonial period called zimbabwes. This is a name which denotes their usage as prestige buildings and that a particular quality of masonry with frequent application of wall decoration patterns was required, which distinguishes them from many other stone structures of coarse workmanship. At least 300 sites are known within the borders of Zimbabwe alone, while a few more are found in Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique. However, recent findings have indicated that stone buildings in southern Angola of similar typology also carry decoration patterns that suggests a much wider distribution in the region than was previously thought.