Tana ware

Tana ware (also called Tana Tradition pottery or Triangular-Incised Ware) refers to a type of prehistoric pottery prominent in East Africa that features a variety of designs, including triangular incised lines and single rows of dots.

[2] This pottery tradition falls chronologically during the Iron Age in East Africa, during the late first millennium AD and spanning several hundred years.

The geographic distribution of this pottery tradition is widespread, covering the East African coast from Kenya in the north to Mozambique in the south, as well as the central hinterland inland.

[4] Archaeological sites that have procured Tana Ware include Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar; Chibuene, Mozambique; Manda, Kenya; Dakawa, Tanzania; and many others.

These motifs include triangular incises, drawing back to one of the names of this pottery style (Triangle Incised Ware), fingernail pinches, parallel horizontal lines, shell edge punctuates, cross hatching on rim, and many others.