[Narrator] The team's first challenge: determining where on the massive site they should dig.

Instead of the majestic walled enclosures, Shadreck chooses a precarious slope on the side of a steep hill.

Why here?

[Shadreck Chirikure] This is a rubbish dump.

What we are hoping to find here is a record of what people were eating, and also things that they used every day, so that we can understand how did they live?

[Indistinguishable speaking] [Narrator] Excavation director Dr.

Russell Kapumha must now dig a trench in this challenging location.

This is a very steep slope, so it becomes very, very difficult to walk on or just to navigate.

Okay, okay.

Right.

So we've just started the excavation, and I just found this-- this tooth.

It could be cow.

It's a decent size.

Yes, that's a pot.

This is local pottery.

It is graphite burnished.

You have literally just scraped the surface, and all of this is turning up.

[Narrator] Cattle teeth and pottery shards are a promising start.

But suddenly, Shadreck spots something unusual.

At first glance, this rock-like lump could be just another fragment of a cooking pot... but held in the sunlight, it suddenly sparkles.

There are some tiny pieces of metal.

[Narrator] Can these traces of metal reveal more about Great Zimbabwe?