Materiality, Foodways and Community at Unguja Ukuu

Ceramics — their use and production along the Swahili Coast — have primarily been interpreted by archaeologists through a typological lens. These structured systems of analysis have continued to re-inforce the notion of ethnically bounded archaeological cultures across the African continent throughout history. This thesis seeks to understand the role of pottery in the development of Unguja Ukuu, an archaeological site on the south-western side of Unguja Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. Unguja Ukuu is one of the most extensively researched settlements on the Swahili Coast, with remains that date back to the seventh century CE. This research, through its aim to develop new approaches to the analysis of ceramics and critique our current systems of object classification, sought to contextualise foodways, material practices and the creation of identity at the site. This project utilises novel methods for East African archaeology, including Organic Residue Analysis (ORA) to reveal the traces of the consumables people prepared, cooked, transported and stored in both pottery manufactured regionally, and vessels imported from the Indian Ocean. ORA analysis on local pottery has demonstrated people at Unguja Ukuu relied on diverse subsistence strategies, whereas turquoise blue-green alkaline glazed jars imported from the Persian Gulf were used to transport wine to the region, before being re-used by local inhabitants. By reconstructing the chaîne opératoire for Tana Tradition pottery and reconsidering the preferential treatment archaeologists have given Indian Ocean ceramics within their interpretations; this research produces new insights into material procurement strategies, fashioning methods, the use of surface treatments and decoration, alongside pottery use and the formation of the archaeological record. The results of this investigation reveal hitherto inaccessible details about the role of ceramics in the social lives of inhabitants at the site of Unguja Ukuu, living at the crossroads between the Indian Ocean and the African continent.