The Bagamoyo area is among the Tanzanian coastal locations where evidence of intercontinental trade dates back to the last few centuries of the first millennium AD. Previous investigations have indicated that the region’s earliest settlement is represented by Early Triangular Incised Ware [TIW] around 600 to 700 AD, at Bwembweni site located two kilometres south of Kaole. During the Later TIW, the population shifted to Kaole Hill during the period noted by the use of Plain Ware, and later moved to the adjacent Kaole Ruins by the thirteenth century.Traditionally, the majority of earlier investigations for such conclusions have been restricted to Bwembweni and Kaole sites, and to a limited extent to Bagamoyo Town itself and its vicinity. However, recent reconnaissance and excavation of Nunge, a single type pottery tradition site located to the north, suggests that although Bagamoyo’s involvement in intercontinental exchange dates back to the seventh century AD, the narrative is more complicated than previously assumed. It appears that between the subsequent ninth to eleventh centuries, the area lost such links, before resurfacing again in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. Within that time frame, Nunge developed into an extensive urban centre whose prosperity was based on salt production for exchange.This discovery suggests that the development to urbanism at (Later Iron Age phase) Nunge-Bagamoyo predates that of the Kaole town, when the area is known to have had a few links with the outside world. These findings contribute crucially to the debate regarding early urbanisation along the Swahili coast, by challenging the conventional view that Arab or Asian settlements were the earliest urban centres along the coast of East Africa.
The history of heritage research in Tanzania can be traced back to the end of the 19th century. While researching on Tanzanian heritage was important because most of it was not preserved in literary form, nonetheless it was, in many ways, inappropriately represented. Sometimes it was done with a political inclination to support the colonial domination ideology whereby any form of social, political and economic achievement in Africa was unattainable in the absence of external intervention by races from outside the African continent. In order to maintain that, very limited initiative was taken by the colonialists to train local experts. To rectify this situation, the postcolonial government took initiatives to develop heritage training infrastructures in order to reconstruct the crooked history. While that has already taken shape with positive results, there are still several challenges to overcome. As practice of modern archaeology increasingly requires the use of advanced and expensive scientific equipment, facilities and associated techniques, a danger arises if a developing country like Tanzania won't match up the pace because the quality research products are subject to technological advancement of a particular era. Associated with this is a need to develop a national-based financial body for heritage research to free the country from donor funding dependency which, sometimes, do not align to national research agenda. This paper traces the history of cultural heritage research and training in Tanzania and highlights key factors that contributed to the present state in the country. A comparative overview of the respective aspects under review is made between colonial and postcolonial Tanzania.
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