The Chronology of Kilwa Kisiwani, AD 800–1500

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Chronology of Kilwa Kisiwani, AD 800–1500

AU - Horton, Mark

AU - Olsen, Jesper

AU - Fleisher, Jeffrey

AU - Wynne-Jones, Stephanie

N1 - Funding Information: Fieldwork was conducted in collaboration with the Antiquities Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania, under COSTECH permit number 2013-219-NA-2009-46. We are grateful in particular to Revocatus Bugumba for his support and encouragement. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2022/6

Y1 - 2022/6

N2 - In this article, we present the results of a recent program of high-resolution radiocarbon dating on the urban sequence at Kilwa Kisiwani in southern Tanzania, including Bayesian modeling of 21 calibrated 14C dates. These data come from the 2016 excavation of a large trench directly adjacent to trench ZLL, one of the key 1960s excavations that served to establish the original chronology of the town. The new sequence reported here anchors the phases of Kilwa’s development for the first time in absolute terms. The dates, stratigraphy, and artifact assemblage offer a number of new insights into the timing and tempo of the occupation at Kilwa, notably placing the first coral buildings and coins at the end of the tenth century. Insights also include findings related to the earliest phases of settlement and periods of possible urban decline. We argue against a trend for understanding Swahili towns according to a common coastal trajectory and suggest that it is important to consider regional diversity by recognizing the particular, episodic sequence at Kilwa.

AB - In this article, we present the results of a recent program of high-resolution radiocarbon dating on the urban sequence at Kilwa Kisiwani in southern Tanzania, including Bayesian modeling of 21 calibrated 14C dates. These data come from the 2016 excavation of a large trench directly adjacent to trench ZLL, one of the key 1960s excavations that served to establish the original chronology of the town. The new sequence reported here anchors the phases of Kilwa’s development for the first time in absolute terms. The dates, stratigraphy, and artifact assemblage offer a number of new insights into the timing and tempo of the occupation at Kilwa, notably placing the first coral buildings and coins at the end of the tenth century. Insights also include findings related to the earliest phases of settlement and periods of possible urban decline. We argue against a trend for understanding Swahili towns according to a common coastal trajectory and suggest that it is important to consider regional diversity by recognizing the particular, episodic sequence at Kilwa.

KW - East Africa

KW - Kilwa Kisiwani

KW - Radiocarbon dating

KW - Swahili archaeology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127337135&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10437-022-09476-8

DO - 10.1007/s10437-022-09476-8

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85127337135

SN - 0263-0338

VL - 39

SP - 143

EP - 166

JO - African Archaeological Review

JF - African Archaeological Review

IS - 2

ER -