Pottery of Manda Island

The basic chronology of the early town of Manda Island in the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya is divided into 6 different periods, based mostly on the types of imported pottery that has been found in different strata of the excavations. The first period, I, begins in the mid ninth century and is subdivided into four parts, a, b, c, and d, ending in the early eleventh century. Period II has two parts, A and B, though the divide between the two is rather vague and could be entirely arbitrary, and dates from the mid eleventh to the late twelfth for the former, and late twelfth to late thirteenth century for the latter. Period III runs from the late thirteenth century to the fourteenth when Period IV picks up and ends in the early Sixteenth. Period V covers the mid Sixteenth and all of the seventeenth, and the final period covers everything after the Seventeenth century.
Imported wares.
Imported Chinese stone and porcelain wares.
These vessels are interesting because there are no other pieces of contemporary Chinese wares found in east Africa.
There were five types of Chinese wares in period I:
Islamic wares.
Unglazed Islamic wares.
These wares comprise 50% of the assemblage in the first period, which is rather unusual as this type of pottery is very rare in other East African sites. All specimens appear to have been wheel thrown.
Types of unglazed Islamic wares.
Unglazed Islamic wares found at Manda are generally identified by vessel type.
Storage jars.
The storage jars fall into 5 categories.
Basins.
Basins come in three varieties.
Bowls.
There are two types of bowls. One is open with straight sides, a plain rim, and a flat base. The only ornamentation on this type is a groove located below the rim and it is covered by a dense, usually cream colored but occasionally brown, fabric. The other type is a handled bowl with a spout which is between 25 and 35 cm in diameter. They both have a moulded rim with marked carination, small vertical handles with a ridge down the middle, short spouts and are cream or buff in color; there is a single example in red with a white slip.
Handled vessels in buff fabric.
There is a very large assemblage of this type with a variety of vessels in a number of sizes. Most come with handles and are usually generally covered with a soft porous fabric. There are large jars that can be up to 50–60 cm in height, but they also come as jugs and pitchers. The bases of these vessels are usually flat or slightly recessed, but there have been examples found at Manda that exhibit ring bases. One example is decorated with a molded wavy lines around the base. Another example has a deep red coloring both inside and out. They are thinly potted and covered in a green buff fabric in the case of the larger vessels and the fabric very closely resembles the paste color found on the Hole mouth jars mentioned previously. There are examples, however, of the larger vessels in a decidedly pink tinge. The smaller jugs, on the other hand, tend to have a cream colour rather than a buff one, and said buff often has a green tinge to it. The fabric on these vessels is also very absorbent and rubs off as a fine dust any time it is handled. The decoration on these vessels is usually limited to the upper part of the vessels, and usually consists of incised line designs, but there are also examples of vessels of this type decorated with moulding. When these moulded designs are present, they are usually on the handles of the vessel, which are in turn sometimes decorated with a very distinctive knob-like design at the upper curve. These handles can be grouped into two classes; one is rather close in appearance to the Amphora style, and the other is cast in two pieces, always with a figure eight section. This type of pottery is also called Siraf cream with the more “refined” varieties being labelled as Gudulia and Eggshell ware. This type of pottery is also remarkably similar to jugs that are found in an early Islamic city called Susa. Of the specimens of this style found at Manda, the largest percentage were found in early period I deposits, with a few found in deposits that are likely a mix of both periods I and II and several that date to later periods. This style also has a pilgrim bottle shape that is present in deposits at Kilwa that are not present in Manda deposits.
Painted ware.
Only three specimens of this type have been found, all of them body sherds which appear to be from jars or bottles. Of the sherds, the largest one shows a coarse crimson fabric with black paint, over a buff slip. The other two sherds, on the other hand, are coloured with a reddish buff paste with one exhibiting a very thin layer of a green glaze. These sherds date to Period I and are possibly related to painted wares from Susa.
Miscellaneous fragments.
There are a number of rim sherds from vessels of unknown form but thought to possibly of very deep bowls. The fabric of these vessels is distinctly sandy and usually comes in a pink or red shade. There is a single sample of a large, very thickly potted vessel, whose fabric is a light green buff. The sides of this vessel are nearly vertical. There is also a single sherd that appears to have been from the late ninth century which is believed to be a pseudo Sigilatta style slipware. There is also a single sherd of a grey impressed ware vessel which seems to be of a closed wheel thrown variety, perhaps some sort of jug or bottle. The sherd shows a grey-brown paste and is decorated with tooled incised lines and a walked motif.
Pottery of Indian origin.
Pottery of this origin consists almost entirely of water pots. They are always unglazed but their fabric is distinct from those found on either local or known Islamic pottery. These vessels are highly unsuited for cooking but there are two specimens in the assemblage that show blackening from fire. These vessels have noticeably out-turned rims, along with very narrow mouths. The profile of these vessels is rather low and wide as well. The fabric comes in a rather large variety, though the characteristic fabric for this type is a grey shade with a sizable amount of chaff or the like. Some of these vessels are fired buff or red though and there are some with a black grit. These vessels are primarily of Period I but there are examples from Period II and later.
Local pottery.
The entirety of pottery made in Africa south of the Sahara was unglazed and made without the use of a wheel. These vessels were either coiled or moulded into shape; there are, however, a small number of specimens that are pinched into shape. These vessels are always made by open firing rather than firing in a kiln. There is also no acceptable source of clay on the island so while the pottery might be of the local style, where the vessels came from is unknown. There are some that are likely to have been manufactured on the coast, due to the presence of shell fragments in the paste.
Fabrics on local pottery.
The majority of local pottery has a fabric that is extremely soft and very easily removed. The core is usually a black surface and the colors upon it range from pink and red to grey and a near true black. There are four types of fabric that can be found in the local pottery at Manda. The first is a very dark, very crumbly fabric. The second is referred to as Hard Fabric. This fabric rather rare in local pottery, and is characterized by a relatively hard and compacted paste. Refractory fabric is called so for the large amounts of quartz grains within, and its fabric has a very coarse and gritty feel to it. This type of fabric is only found in crucibles. The final type is the Pink fabric which is only found in painted wares imported from further south. The surface of these ranges from pink to red, and the paste is rather sandy. These vessels are fired pink to buff throughout.
Early kitchen wares.
The first type of Early Kitchen wares is divided into 9 categories and all of them are bag shaped vessels with tall rims that curve outward and an “s” shaped neck. This type is usually decorated with incised decorations, though there is an inverse correlation between the size of the vessel and the skill involved in the decoration; usually the larger the vessel the less skilled the decoration. This type is also characteristic of period I
Significance.
The reason that pottery at Manda is so significant is the fact that none of the pottery found at Manda originated there. This fact, in addition to the fact that Manda is an island, gives an inkling as to exactly how important trade was to the early town. The vast geographic range of the pottery found at Manda also gives archaeologists an idea of just how far-flung the trading ties Manda and the rest of the Swahili coast were.