Beyond Commoner and Elite in Swahili Society: Re-Examination of Archaeological Materials from Gede, Kenya

Abstract

The Swahili communities of the East African coast created one of the best-known societies of precolonial Africa, combining cultural influences from throughout the Indian Ocean world with those of their continental African roots. Of the many Swahili towns and communities, Gede is among the most famous because of its extensive, well-preserved stone ruins and long tradition of archaeological work. Yet research at the site has primarily investigated its elite inhabitants or pursued broad culture-historical questions. One significant exception was a PhD dissertation project undertaken in the early 2000s by Lynn Koplin, but unfortunately never finished or published. By analyzing the data collected by Koplin, the daily lives of the town’s inhabitants and patterns of economic and social difference inside and outside the town walls begin to come into focus. This study provides us with important insights into the functioning of Swahili society during a less well-known period, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Gede reached its apogee during this period. The data especially provide a significant case study for exploring the diversity among Swahili “commoners” in the cosmopolitan centers of the East African littoral.