Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T14:38:02.600Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trade and society on the south-east African coast in the later first millennium AD: the case of Chibuene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2015

Paul Sinclair ,
Anneli Ekblom  and
Marilee Wood
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The south-east coast of Africa in the later first millennium was busy with boats and the movement of goods from across the Indian Ocean to the interior. The landing places were crucial mediators in this process, in Africa as elsewhere. Investigations at the beach site of Chibuene show that a local community was supplying imported beads to such interior sites as Schroda, with the consequent emergence there of hierarchical power structures.

Keywords

south-east AfricaChibuenefirst millennium ADtrade and exchangesocial complexitysocial hierarchyportbeach marketbeads
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 333 , September 2012 , pp. 723 - 737
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beach, D. 1980. The Shona and Zimbabwe, 900–1850: an outline of Shona history. Gweru: Mambo.Google Scholar
Beach, D. 1998. Cognitive archaeology and imaginary history at Great Zimbabwe. Current Anthropology 39(1): 47–72.Google Scholar
Blanton, R.E., Feinman, G.M., Kowalewski, S.A. & Peregrin, P.N.. 1996. A dual processual theory for the evolution of Mesoamerican civilization. Current Anthropology 37(1): 1–14.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60.Google Scholar
Calabrese, J.A. 2000. Interregional interaction in southern Africa: Zhizo and Leopard's Kopje relations in northern South Africa, southwestern Zimbabwe, and eastern Botswana, AD 1000 to 1200. African Archaeological Review 17(4): 183–210.Google Scholar
Chami, F. 1994. The Tanzanian coast in the early first millennium AD: an archaeology of the ironworking, farming communities. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Uppsaliensis.Google Scholar
Chami, F. 1998. A review of Swahili archaeology. African Archaeological Review 15(3): 199–218.Google Scholar
Chami, F., Sinclair, P.J.J., Nordström, H.å. & Knutsson, K.. 2003. New evidence for early trade between Africa and South Asia. Paper presented at the international symposium: Archaeology of the Earliest Northeastern Africa, Poznan Archaeological Museum, July 2003.Google Scholar
Chittick, N. 1974. Kilwa: an Islamic trading city on the east African coast. Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa.Google Scholar
Crumley, C. 1987. A dialectical critique of hierarchy, in Patterson, T.C. & Ward, C. Gailey (ed.) Power relations and state formation: 155–68. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Crumley, C. 1995. Heterarchy And The Analysis Of Complex Societies, In Ehrenreich, R.M., Crumley, C.L. & Levy, J.E. (ed.) Heterarchy and the analysis of complex societies: 1–5. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Crumley, C. 2009. Notes On A New Paradigm, In Kohring, W. & Wynne-Jones, S. (ed.) Socialising complexity: structure, interaction and power in archaeological discourse: 30–36. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Cruz Da Silva, T. 1976. A preliminary report on an early Iron Age site: Matola IV 1/68, in Morais, J., Cruz de Silva, T., Mart´ınez, J.C.S. & Duarte, R.T. (ed.) Iron Age research in Mozambique: collected preliminary results: report 2. Maputo: Centro de Estudos Africanos, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane.Google Scholar
Denbow, J. 1984. Cows and kings: a spatial and economic analysis of hierarchical early Iron Age settlement systems in eastern Botswana, in Hall, M. (ed.) Frontiers: southern African archaeology today (British Archaeological Reports international series 207): 24–39. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Duarte, R. 1995. Northern Mozambique in the Swahili world. Stockholm: Central Board of National Antiquities.Google Scholar
Ekblom, A. 2004. Changing landscapes: an environmental history of Chibuene, southern Mozambique. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.Google Scholar
Ekblom, A. 2008. Forest-savanna dynamics in the coastal lowland of southern Mozambique, c. AD 400. The Holocene 18: 1247–57.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M. 2012. Comparative frames for the diachronic analysis of complex societies: next steps, in Smith, M.B. (ed.) The comparative archaeology of complex societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fleisher, J. 2010. Rituals of consumption and the politics of feasting on the eastern African coast, AD 700-1500. Journal of World Prehistory 23: 195–217.Google Scholar
Fleisher, J. & Wynne-Jones, S.. 2010. Authorisation and the process of power: the view from African archaeology. Journal of World Prehistory 23: 177–93.Google Scholar
Fleisher, J. 2011. Ceramics and the early Swahili: deconstructing the early Tana tradition. African Archaeological Review 28: 245–48.Google Scholar
Freeman-Grenville, G.S.P. 1962. The east African coast: selected documents from the first to the earlier nineteenth century. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, J. & Rowlands, M.J.. 1977. Notes towards and epigenetic model of the evolution of civilisation, in Friedman, J. & Rowlands, M.J. (ed.) The evolution of social systems: 201–78. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Hall, M. 1990. Farmers, kings and traders: the people of southern Africa 200–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hanisch, E.O.M. 1980. An archaeological interpretation of certain Iron Age sites in the Limpopo/Shashi Valley. Unpublished MA dissertation. University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Hanisch, E.O.M. 1981. Schroda: a Zhizo site in the northern Transvaal, in Voigt, E. (ed.) Guide to archaeological sites in the northern and eastern Transvaal: 37–53. Pretoria: South African Association of Archaeologists.Google Scholar
Hanisch, E.O.M. 2002. Schroda: the archaeological evidence, in Van Schalkwyk, J.A. & Hanisch, E.O.M. (ed.) Sculptured in clay: Iron Age figurines from Schroda, Limpopo Province, South Africa: 21–39. Pretoria: National Cultural History Museum.Google Scholar
Horton, M. 1996. Shanga: the archaeology of a Muslim trading community on the coast of east Africa. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa.Google Scholar
Huffman, T.N. 2000. Mapungubwe and the origins of the Zimbabwe culture. South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 8: 14–29.Google Scholar
Huffman, T.N. 2007. Handbook to the Iron Age: the archaeology of pre-colonial farming societies in Southern Africa. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Huffman, T.N. 2009. Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: the origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28: 37–54.Google Scholar
Huffman, T.N. 2010. State formation in southern Africa: a reply to Kim and Kusimba. African Archaeological Review 27: 1–11 Google Scholar
Juma, A. 1996a. The Swahili and the Mediterranean worlds: pottery from the late Roman period from Zanzibar. Antiquity 70: 148–54.Google Scholar
Juma, A. 1996b. Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar: an archaeological study of early urbanism. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.Google Scholar
Kim, N.C. & Kusimba, C.M.. 2008. Pathways to complexity and state formation in the southern Zambesian region. African Archaeological Review 25: 131–52.Google Scholar
Kusimba, C.M. 1999. The rise and fall of Swahili states. Walnut Creek (CA): AltaMira.Google Scholar
Laviolette, A. & Fleisher, J.. 2005. The archaeology of sub-Saharan urbanism: cities and their countrysides, in Stahl, A.B. (ed.) African archaeology: a critical introduction: 327–52. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Manyanga, M. 2006. Resillient landscapes: socioenvironmental dynamics in the Shashi-Limpopo Basin, Southern Zimbabwe c. AD 800. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.Google Scholar
Mccormack, F.G., Hogg, A.G., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Higham, T.F.G. & Reimer, P.J.. 2004. SHCal04 southern hemisphere calibration, 0-11.0 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46: 1087–92.Google Scholar
Mcintosh, S.K. 1999. Pathways to complexity: an African perspective, in Mcintosh, S.K. (ed.). Beyond chiefdoms: pathways to complexity in Africa: 1–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mcintosh, R.J. 2005. Ancient middle Niger: urbanism and the self-organizing landscape (Case studies in early societies 7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meyer, A. 1998. The archaeological sites of Greefswald: stratigraphy and chronology of the sites and a history of investigations. Pretoria: University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Mitchell, P. 2002. The archaeology of southern Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.Google Scholar
Morais, J. 1988. The early farming communities of southern Mozambique. Stockholm: Central Board of National Antiquities.Google Scholar
Plug, I. 2000. Overview of Iron Age fauna from the Limpopo Valley. South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 8: 117–26.Google Scholar
Pwiti, G. 1991. Trade and economies in southern Africa: the archaeological evidence. Zambesia 18: 119–29.Google Scholar
Pwiti, G. 1996. Continuity and change: an archaeological study of farming communities in northern Zimbabwe AD 1500-1700. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Uppsaliensis.Google Scholar
Pwiti, G. 2005. Southern Africa and the east African coast, in Stahl, A.B. (ed.) African archaeology: a critical introduction: 378–91. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ramsay, P.J. & Cooper, J.A.G. 2002, Late Quaternary sea-level change in South Africa. Quaternary Research 57: 82–90.Google Scholar
Robertshaw, P.M. 2003. Explaining the origins of the state in east Africa, in Kusimba, C.M. & Kusimba, S.B. (ed.). East African archaeology: foragers, potters, smiths and traders: 149–66. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Robertshaw, P., Wood, M., Melchiorre, E., Popelka-Filcoff, R.S. & Glascock, M.D.. 2010. Southern African glass beads: chemistry, glass sources and patterns of trade. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1898–1912.Google Scholar
Shepherd, G. 1982. The making of the Swahili: a view from the southern end of the east African coast. Paideuma 28: 129–48.Google Scholar
1982. Chibuene an early trading site in southern Mozambique. Paideuma 28: 49–64.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P.J.J. 1987. Space, time and social formation: a territorial approach to the archaeology and anthropology of Zimbabwe and Mozambique c. 0-1700 AD. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P.J.J. 1995. The origins of urbanism in eastern and southern Africa: a diachronic perspective, in Sahlström, B. & ådal, K. (ed.) Islamic art and culture in Africa: 99–110. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P.J.J. 2007. What is the archaeological evidence for external trading contacts on the east African coast in the first millennium AD?, in Starkey, J., Starkey, P. & Wilkinson, T. (ed.). Natural resources and cultural connections of the Red Sea (British Archaeological Reports international series 1661). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P.J.J. & Ekblom, A.. 2004. Excavation report, Chibuene excavations 1995-1999. Unpublished report, Uppsala.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P.J.J. & HåAkansson, T.. 2000. The Swahili city state culture, in Hansen, M. (ed.) Comparative study of thirty city-state cultures: 461–82. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sinclair, P., Morais, J., Adamowitz, L. & Duarte, R.. 1993. A perspective on archaeological research in Mozambique, in Shaw, T., Sinclair, P.J.J., Andah, B. & Okpoko, A. (ed.) The archaeology of Africa: foods, metals, and towns: 409–31. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
SindbÆk, S.M. 2007. Networks and nodal points: the emergence of towns in early Viking Age Scandinavia. Antiquity 81: 119–32.Google Scholar
Smith, A.D. 2003. Political landscape: constellations of authority in early complex polities. Ewing: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Smith, M.C. & Wright, H.T.. 1988. The ceramics from Ras Hafun in Somalia: notes on a Classical maritime site. Azania 23: 115–41.Google Scholar
Spear, T. 2000. Early Swahili history reconsidered. The Inter ational Journal of African Historical Studies 33: 257–90.Google Scholar
Theal, G. 1964. Records of southeastern Africa. Cape Town: C. Struik Ltd.Google Scholar
Wood, M. 2000. Making connections: relationships between international trade and glass beads from the Shashe-Limpopo area, in Lesley, M. & Maggs, T. (ed.) African naissance: the Limpopo Valley 1000 years ago (Goodwin Series 8): 78–90. Vlaeberg: South African Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Wood, M. 2012. Interconnections: glass beads and trade in southern and eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean, 7th to 16th centuries AD. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.Google Scholar
Wood, M., Dussubieux, L. & Robertshaw, P.. In press. Glass finds from Chibuene, a 6th to 17th century AD port in southern Mozambique. South African Archaeological Bulletin.Google Scholar
Wynne-Jones, S. & Kohring, S.. 2009. Socialising complexity, in Kohring, S. & Wynne-Jones, S. (ed.) Socialising complexity: structure, interaction and power in archaeological discourse: 2–12. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar