Unguja Ukuu

Unguja Ukuu is a small settlement on Unguja island (Zanzibar Island), in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Unguja Ukuu Unguja Ukuu is an archaeological site on the island of Zanzibar. This site has yielded abundant artifacts and evidence that play out the long history of Unguja Ukuu. Artifacts found at Unguja Ukuu came from all over the world: pottery from the Far East, Near East, India, and the Southern Mediterranean region. Other items such as rings, glass, coins, iron artifacts and ivory have also been found along with a variety of animal remains. Visitors to Unguja Ukuu, centrally located off the east coast of Africa and at the edge of the Indian Ocean, left behind evidence that this place was a central trading port. Unlike the mainland this site was influenced by foreign merchants from around the world, and each left a mark on this site. Due to the trade activity here early urbanism is evident in one of the first east African trading posts. Unguja Ukuu’s location was key to pursue an unconventional settlement strategy by which its inhabitants survived mostly on foods and goods that came from elsewhere since agriculture was not a main source of subsistence. As excavations continue a more diverse collection of artifacts emerge adding to the complex history of this place.

Importance The artifacts recovered show evidence that this place had experienced a long history of trade along the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean. Unguja Ukuu was the oldest of the earliest trading posts along the coast. Unguja Ukuu has the oldest artifacts of all of the islands in this region dating back to the sixth century. It is also a site where early Islamic influence came ashore as evident by the ruins of a mosque. There is evidence of early urbanism and international trade taking place. As its name implies, Unguja Ukuu is a Bantu phrase for “central place” recognizing its importance in trade. This site also is able to provide insight to the early contact between the Swahili and the Indian Ocean world.

Location: Unguja Ukuu is an archeological site on the island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is located south of the equator, central along the east coast of the African continent. It is positioned 25 miles from land and separated from the African continent by the Zanzibar channel (30–40 m deep). Zanzibar is the largest island of the Zanzibar archipelago. The site of Unguja Ukuu covers 16 hectares and is located between a village and a creek. It lies on the southwestern side of the island. The coordinates for this site are: -6.2987° N, 39.358° E.

History of research & Account of excavations: Unguja Ukuu is one of two sites that had evidence of early coastal pottery, Sassanian-Islamic pottery, and ceramic bead grinders recovered from the 9th century. Unguja Ukuu takes it place along with Koma, Kwale, and Mafia as having a presence of Early Iron Working pottery. This predates Traditional Tana Ware. In addition, this site provided artifacts that date back to 500 to 700 A.D., including items imported from India, the Middle East, and the Roman state. In 1920 Pearce wrote of his observations and noted a mosque ruin at Unguja Ukuu. In addition to what he found he also conducted informant interviews and was told of 500 pieces of gold that had been discovered and taken many years earlier by Arabs. These coins had a Cufic inscription and dated to 798-9 AD minted in Baghdad. This was the first definable date that was attached to any artifact in this area. A stone well is one of the handful of monuments along the eastern African coast that have survived. Some scholars attribute Arab decedents from India for the architecture here. In 1966 Neville Chittick made his second visit (1965) to Unguja Ukuu. He recounts that he was able to collect artifacts from the surface, no digging was required. Most of what was recovered were pottery sherds. Among the sherds one stood out which was Chinese stoneware with a green glaze and ornamentation. Much of what he found was Sassanian-Islamaic pottery most coming from Iran (Nishapur and Ctesiphon) form the eighth and ninth century. In 1984 Horton & Clark surveyed the site, 15 hectares across. Over two meters of middens were discovered providing evidence of animal bones, iron slag, daub, glass, and bead-grinders along with domestic and imported pottery. While imported pottery only constituted under five percent of the sherds recovered, they did include Sasanian-Islamic & unglazed wares, Chinese Chansha stoneware, Zhejiang Zueh Yao greenwares and Dusun jars from Guangdong. In addition to these, they also recovered one piece of Islamic white-glazed ware. They estimated that the settlement was occupied from the 8th-10th century through the 16th century. Juma and Syse recovered Islamic pottery, Chinese stoneware, two shell middens, and a possible stone fort on the east of the site. In 1991 Chami was able to excavate deep enough to reach a level that revealed the presence of Early Iron Age sherds at this site. Dating is consistent with the 5th or 6th century. Items included pottery from Egypt and African Red Slip ware from the late Roman Empire. Jeffrey Fleisher & Stephanie Wynne-Jones (2011) complied radiocarbon data on sherds found at Unguja Ukuu and other surrounding islands (8). Based on their findings the ceramic wares date back to the beginning of the 6th century (8). This new dating has pushed original dates back and give Unguja Ukuu a deeper and longer history than previously considered.

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