Archaeology of Pemba Island

The first evidence of inhabitation is in the seventh century AD at a site called Tumbe in Micheweni District of the island.

[2] Towns continued to be founded around the island after Tumbe, and agricultural and ceramic artifacts show the people were farmers.

[1] The archaeobotanical evidence from Tumbe and the surrounding areas point to an agriculture system focused on pearl millet.

Rice, legumes, coconut and other tree nuts were found to have been important contributors to the agricultural economy.

Archaeological surveys show that the stonetown of Chwaka started as a small village and grew into a large, densely populated town.

The dedication to building and improving upon the mosques suggest the investment of the community as a whole, one, or many, wealthy patrons, or a combination of both.

Another indicator of a larger class of religious elites is the dedication to the stone architecture and design of the mosques.

[5] Mtambwe Mkuu is a site in northwest Pemba and features many stone structures including a town wall, a mosque, tombs, and homes.

[4] An excavation revealed a hoard of over two-thousand gold and silver coins dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries below the floor of a home at the site proving Pemba was involved with the trade networks of the time.

The coins were minted in cities throughout the Mediterranean in the modern day countries of Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Lebanon demonstrating Pemba’s economic ties to the region.

[5] The speed of this religious conversion has been thought to be the result of the building of trade relations with Muslim merchants.

There was tension on the island and throughout the East African coast between the Portuguese and the indigenous populations causing both sides began to build fortresses.

While the Portuguese were attempting to unify the coast, the opposition from Arabs and the local people caused them to fail.

[2] After the failed Portuguese attempt at unification, the Omani took over the East African coast, including Pemba Island.

The eighteenth century brought an increase in the number of occupied sites and a returned political stability to the region.

Sugar and cloves had an expanding international market and agriculture allowed them a different option of trade goods.

[2] Pemba and Zanzibar were connected to many different areas of Europe, Africa and Asia through trade as early as the first century.

The Periplus also notes that the Greeks, and other traders, would trade with the island for ivory, tortoise shell, rhinoceros horn, palm oil, cinnamon, frankincense, and slaves.

In return, the people on Pemba would receive awls, glass, wheat, wine, daggers, and hatchets.

Artifacts that support this data include pottery and glass from Asia, China and Europe as well as ochre linked to mainland Africa.

[2][4] Archaeological research on Pemba and throughout the Swahili coast has long been focused on sites with visible stone structures.