Indigenous Craft Production on the Kenya Coast and Hinterland in the Development of Swahili Polities

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With National Science Foundation support Dr.Chapurukha Kusimba and his collaborators will conduct one season of archaeological fieldwork on the Kenya coast and its immediate hinterland. The group will continue ongoing research at the site of Mtwapa which is located north of Mombasa. The site covers approximately eight hectare and contains monumental architecture. Because of its excellent port, it participated in international trade for many centuries and ceramic chronology suggests it was inhabited between 1100 and 1750 AD. Excavation at the site will focus on a series of 2 x 2 meter test exposures at several middens in order to obtain a broader picture of economic life. Attempts will be made to locate storage structures and market and workshop localities. In this way it should be possible to gain insight into both the kinds of objects produced and the social context in which this took place. In a second phase of the research the group will survey an area approximately 200 km by 10 km in size which extends inland from Mtwapa. The exact position of located sites will be determined by a geographic positioning system and the coordinates recorded on aerial and topographical maps. Note will be made of size and artifact content and collections made of ceramics, slag and other artifacts to determine relative chronology, stylistic similarities to other sites and to document manufacturing activities. Test excavations will also be conducted. On this basis it will be possible to determine the relationship between coastal and inland settlements. Historical documents indicate that a trans Indian Ocean trade can be traced back almost 2,000 years and archaeological data supports conclusion. The Swahili polity which developed on the East African coast has traditionally been interpreted as a result of this trade and largely abstracted from an indigenous context. Dr. Kusimba wishes to re-examine this question. While such trade obviously played a role, it appears likely that Swahili coastal cities had extensive interaction with inland `hinterland` regions and that the growth of large coastal settlements with monumental architecture may best be explained in this latter context. It is likely that coastal groups produced products for exchange with the interior and the planned inland survey and coastal excavation will provide data to evaluate this proposition. This research is important because it will shed light on the processes which lead to the rise of complex societies. While archaeologists know that some states arise solely as the result of pristine processes, they disagree on what gives rise to 'secondary` states such as the Swahili example. Some see the rise of these latter entities as the result of primary state contact which others accord a more prominent role to local processes. Dr. Kusimba's research focuses on this issue. The project will produce data of interest to many archaeologists and strengthen scientific ties between US and Kenyan researchers.