The Mtambwe Hoard

Horton, Mark; Brown, H.M.; Oddy, W. A.

doi:10.1080/00672708609511372

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Considerable interest has focused upon the Mtambwe hoard excavated by Horton at Mtambwe Mkuu providing evidence for the local minting of silver coinage in the eleventh century. 40 This date is based on the associated imported pottery and points to the need for the revision of Chittick's chronology. However, Chittick's observation that the carbon dates from coastal sites are often inaccurate probably has some foundation with regard to dates on marine shell and mangrove wood which incorporate old carbon from sea water.…”

Section: The Somali-maasai Sub-region: the Hornmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology in Eastern Africa: An Overview of Current Chronological Issues

Sinclair

1991

J. Afr. Hist.

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Even at this still early stage in the development of the chronostratigraphic framework in eastern Africa a number of important advances have been reported. As more attention is paid to the different responses of food producers to the variety of resources provided by the range of available environments then, and only then, will we be in a position to understand the diachronic processes which result in settlement aggregation and urban development.In the Lake Nyanza region at the hub of the Sudanic and Guinea–Congolian regional vegetation centres, early dates for iron working are not yet convincing enough to demonstrate independent invention of iron working, but the region is almost certainly the most important diffusion source of the technique to the eastern and southern sectors of the sub-continent.Currently available data from the Maasai–Somali region show clearly the early adoption of food production techniques and a capacity to absorb iron technology without necessarily abandoning pastoral production. This did not, however, mean a lack of development based on agriculture as the towns of the Somali coast with their advanced craft production clearly show. However, it is interesting that the urban development seems closely linked to the juxtaposition of the valuable agricultural resources provided by the Shabelle river running close to the coast and the marine resources of the littoral.The Zanzibar–Inhambane floral mosaic provides a context for the spread southwards of the early farming communities and for the development of the coastal towns. Particularly important here appears to have been the combination of surface and arboreal forms of agriculture with the exploitation of marine resources. Links eastwards with the specialized floral communities of the Comoro archipelago and Madagascar were also fully established. The highlands of Madagascar experienced the expansion from the eleventh century a.d. onwards of a settlement system increasingly focused upon hydraulic agriculture which culminated in the powerful Merina kingdom and ultimately the present day capital of Antananarivo.On the continent relatively little penetration into the Zambezian miombo woodland communities was achieved by the coastal urban dwellers. In the woodlands of the vast highlands of the interior different developmental trajectories of settlement systems occurred. Here food production cannot be shown to have become established earlier than the late first millennium b.c. But by the mid first millennium a.d. significant settlement hierarchies based on mixed cropping and cattle keeping were established on the Zimbabwe plateau and the margins of the Kalahari. These together with the incorporation of the opportunities presented by inter-regional exchange and the exotic trade goods penetrating from the coast ultimately gave rise to the powerful state formations of the Mapungubwe and Zimbabwe traditions.Together these developments show a remarkable degree of regional articulation and it remains true that an adequate understanding of the processes giving rise to urbanism in any part of eastern Africa cannot be understood in isolation.

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Section: The Somali-maasai Sub-region: the Hornmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology in Eastern Africa: An Overview of Current Chronological Issues

Sinclair

1991

J. Afr. Hist.

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“…However, only two other hoards have been properly excavated previously: one from Mtambwe Mkuu on Pemba Island which contained 2,087 silver and 13 gold coins (Horton et al 1986;Horton, forthcoming) and one from Kisimani Mafia on Mafia Island, which included 570 copper coins (Chittick 1965: 285).…”

Section: Previously-located Coins From Songo Mnara and Eastern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although it is possible that the coins and beads were once deposited in some perishable container, the spread of the coins and beads suggest that no container was used (unlike other hoards found in cloth pouches and ceramic jars, see Horton et al 1986;Chittick 1965). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A deposit of Kilwa-type coins from Songo Mnara, Tanzania

Perkins

Fleisher

Wynne‐Jones

2014

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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A deposit of coins was recovered during excavations at Songo Mnara, Tanzania, containing over 300 copper Kilwa-type coins. This is the first deposit or hoard of these coins found in a welldefined archaeological context, and it therefore offers a unique glimpse into both the typology of these coins and their contemporary uses. In this paper, the ramifications of the Songo Mnara deposit are discussed. In particular, the deposit is firmly attributable to the end of the 14 th or very early 15 th century, allowing for some chronological resolution. Coins of the late 11 th to early 12 th -century sultan Ali ibn al-Hasan show that these types remained in circulation for many centuries. In addition, the common coin type of Nasir ad-Dunya can now be attributed firmly to the 15 th and possibly 14 th centuries by this find. Finally, this paper discusses the burial of the coins in the foundations of a stonehouse, and the fact that this likely represented the building of value into the house and an investment in place. Other finds, such as a carnelian necklace found with the coins, testify to the importance of this practice.

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“…Thirty years ago, there was only sporadic evidence to support this hypothesis. A limited number of Fatimid gold coins, as well as imitations of Fatimid dinars have been found (Horton et al 1986), but apart from a little glass (Chittick 1984: 164) there were no recognizable Red Sea or Egyptian ceramics until the thirteenth century and the arrival of the ubiquitous black-on-yellow glazed wares made near to Aden, while even the most recent studies of glass beads point to the Gulf or Indian origin, rather than Egyptian (Wood et al 2016). Other disappointing pieces of evidence are the recently published Geniza documents for the India trade (Goitein & Friedman 2008: 413, 453, 456, 535), where reference to East Africa are few, as were commodities such as ivory that might reasonably have traded from the African coast, but apparently not by Jewish merchants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Swahili Corridor Revisited

Horton

2018

Afr Archaeol Rev

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Sharma. Un entrepôt de commerce medieval sur la côte du Ḥaḍramawt (Yémen, ca 980-1180). Edited by Axelle Rougeulle. xxii + 559 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white. French text throughout. British Foundation for the Study of Arabia Monographs (formerly Society for Arabian Studies Monographs) 17. 2015. ISBN 9781784911942 (printed book), ISBN 9781784911959 (e-book). £19.00. The idea of the Swahili corridor has become familiar to those working along the East African coast. In its original conception (Horton 1987), it was the idea that indigenous Swahili merchants sailed along the coast, from Mozambique to Somalia, using the monsoon winds, thus establishing a degree of cultural unity along this coastal zone, visible both linguistically and in the material culture, especially locally produced ceramics, termed Tana/TIW. While early writers on the Swahili Coast pointed to connections with the Gulf (Chittick 1977), the hypothesis was mooted that the Swahili also connected with the coast of southern Arabia, and thus the Red Sea, and ultimately the Mediterranean world. High-value precious commodities, such as ivory, gold and crystal found their way found its way into Europe from the Fatimid period (late tenth century) onwards, from as far afield as Southern Africa.

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The Mtambwe Hoard

Cited by 21 publications

References 3 publications

Archaeology in Eastern Africa: An Overview of Current Chronological Issues

Archaeology in Eastern Africa: An Overview of Current Chronological Issues

A deposit of Kilwa-type coins from Songo Mnara, Tanzania

The Swahili Corridor Revisited

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