Zimbabwe Bird

The reverse of the medal depicts a Zimbabwe bird rising from the fire.

However, this seems to be changed, and today the Zimbabwe Bird is also used as a fin flash.

The most important artefacts recovered from the Monument are the eight Zimbabwe Birds.

The Zimbabwe bird is the most prominent motif of the current Zimbabwe flag.

The two main traditional symbols of Zimbabwe are the Zimbabwe Bird and the Balancing Rocks.

The notes had a revised design with chevrons as registration devices, the Zimbabwe Bird in optically variable ink and an iridescent strip.

Initially, the roundel was used in association with the 'Zimbabwe Bird' tail marking used previously, but this was soon replaced by the national flag.

Air Zimbabwe: A Zimbabwe Bird.

In 1982, a new post-independence marking was introduced, featuring a yellow Zimbabwe Bird sitting on the walls of Great Zimbabwe.

It is the only member of the genus Terathopius and probably the origin of the "Zimbabwe bird", national emblem of Zimbabwe.

Also featured above the shield is the soapstone statuette of the Zimbabwe Bird found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

The Chiremba Balancing Rocks was to be reinstated as the main feature on the obverse whilst use of the Zimbabwe Bird watermark continued.

The culture known from Great Zimbabwe left more impressive buildings than sculpture but the eight soapstone Zimbabwe Birds appear to have had a special significance and were mounted on monoliths.

A silhouette of the Zimbabwe Bird in Optically Variable Ink was used in such notes to compensate for this but the iridescent strip was dropped for higher denominations.

However, the most impressive and unique feature of Zimbabwe are the huge soapstone birds, the so-called Zimbabwe birds, depicting a bird of prey perched on a zig-zag base motif.

The Rolls-Royce Dart turbo-prop engines whined and fired, and the silver Viscount, with the flying Zimbabwe bird emblem on its tail, taxied downwind to its holding point.

In 1979, the country became known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and a new flag was adopted on 2 September that year featuring the pan-African colours of red, black, yellow and green, and the Zimbabwe Bird.

These works became much larger under the patronage of white collectors in the 1960s (though the Zimbabwe birds of antiquity are massive) and now it is common to see monumental soapstone sculptures both nationally and internationally.

A new decor was designed, using green, gold, crimson and black stripes in a stepped pattern on the fuselage sides and extending halfway up the vertical fin together with a new, more recognisable Zimbabwe bird, superimposed on a red star.

Slots in a platform in the Eastern Enclosure of the Hill Complex appear designed to hold the monoliths with the Zimbabwe birds, but as they were not found in situ it cannot be determined which monolith and bird were where.

The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird appears on the national flags and the coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (first on Rhodesian pound and then Rhodesian dollar).

Although the Chiremba Balancing Rocks were retained, other features including latent imaging in which the letters RBZ can be seen when the banknote is tilted horizontally at the eye level and identification marks for the visually impaired were added to the design, and the neck of the Zimbabwe Bird watermark was longer.

Notable features of the Hill Complex include the Eastern Enclosure, in which it is thought the Zimbabwe Birds stood, a high balcony enclosure overlooking the Eastern Enclosure, and a huge boulder in a shape similar to that of the Zimbabwe Bird.