Ruins of Gedi

The ruins of Gedi are a UNESCO World Heritage site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi (also known as Gede) in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

Gedi is one of many medieval Swahili coastal settlements that stretch from Barawa, Somalia, to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. There are 116 known Swahili sites stretching from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu at the Kenya-Tanzania border.

The site of Gedi includes a walled town and its outlying area. All of the standing buildings at Gedi, which include mosques, a palace, and numerous houses, are made from stone, are one story, and are distributed unevenly in the town. There are also large open areas in the settlement which contained earth and thatch houses. Stone "pillar tombs" are a distinctive type of Swahili Coast architecture found at Gedi as well.

Gedi's location along the coast and association with similar sites along the Swahili Coast made it an important trade center. Although there are few historical documents specifically associating Gedi with Indian Ocean trade, the site is thought to have been one of the most important sites along the coast.

History of discovery and excavation

Although Gedi remained unknown to most of British East Africa's colonists until the 1920s, the site was known by the local Mijikenda peoples. Despite changes in their belief system and the prominence of Islam in the region, evil and ancestral spirits are thought by many to reside at Gedi.

The Gedi ruins were first discovered by colonialists in 1884 after a British resident of Zanzibar, Sir John Kirk, visited the site.

Early archaeological research

Excavations commenced at Gedi in 1948 under the supervision of James Kirkman, lasting until 1958 with intermittent excavations occurring from the 1960s to the 1980s. Kirkman excavated the buildings at the city's core, including the palace and several mosques and houses, and also cleared and repaired the walls.

Along with the excavations at Gedi during the 1950s, concurrent excavations also took place at similar sites along the Swahili Coast. Wilson's 1982 survey of the 116 sites along the coast found 34 isolated ruins, which he concluded likely contained possible settlements or isolated dwellings. Although smaller settlements were studied, larger sites received the most attention. Other than Gedi, the site most intensively excavated was Ungwana at the mouth of the Tana River, which was similar in size to Gedi. However, compared to sites similar in size, Gedi had one of the more densely populated urban centers. From 2002 to 2003, research at Gedi continued to focus on urban development prior to the fifteenth century, with focus on a group of coral houses built by social elites in the site's urban core.

The majority of Gedi's structures were domestic residences made of thatched-roofed mud buildings concentrated between the outer and inner walls; however, the only buildings that survived to the present were constructed using coral stones extracted from the Indian Ocean. All of the buildings at Gedi are single-story structures. Although the inner wall has a more obvious defensive function and despite the absence of gun ports and the questionable strength of the outer wall, it has nonetheless been credited as being a fortification. A cluster of smaller houses adjacent to the palace or Sheik's residence includes the House of the Chinese Cash, the House of the Porcelain Bowl, the House of the Cistern, the House of the Two Rooms, the House of the Paneled Walls, the House of the Scissors, the House of the Venetian Bead, the House of the Sunken Court, the House of the Cowries, the House of the Iron Lamp, the House of the Iron Box, and the House of the Well.

Although the houses at Gedi vary in size, their number of rooms, and their layout, the basic house at the site is a three-room structure, which usually contained a forecourt and domestic court. The entrances of houses have a greater deal of variability in the configuration of their passageways, since many of the houses were highly concentrated and laid out to maximize the use of available space. The sites of Shaka and Kilepwa are nearby. Kilepwa, located on an island in Mida Creek, is closer to Gedi and consists of three stone houses.

Currency

It is speculated that cowrie shells may have been the principal currency at Gedi. However, there are examples of locally struck coins at contemporary sites, but none have been recovered at Gedi.

Beads

There are several classifications of beads common to the Swahili coastal settlements that have been found at Gedi. In his examination of beads found at Gedi and the Limpopo Valley (Mapungubwe), Schofield placed beads into three categories: red, blue, green, and yellow cylinders made from cane glass; smaller black, red, green, yellow, and blue biconical and lenticular beads made from wound glass; and spheres of red, black, and yellow pressed glass. All but 25 of the 558 beads categorized as class 1–3 were made from opaque glass.

Pottery

Numerous types and styles of ceramics have been found during the excavations at Gedi including Chinese porcelain, Islamic glazed ware, and locally produced earthenwares. White to cream colored bowls were also found in small quantities, along with an isolated pottery type that has a golden brown luster. A sherd with a trellis pattern is a possible import from the African interior.

Imports

Ceramic that were imported to Gedi represent either direct or indirect trade with China, South Asia, and the Islamic world. Islamic pottery found at Gedi was wheel spun, glazed, and kiln fired, which includes sgraffito, Yemeni black on yellow ceramics, and figured wares frequently depicting floral designs on blue and white panels. Sgraffiato is red-bodied earthenware with yellow or green glaze that was common in modern-day Iraq from the ninth to the sixteenth century. Various types of Chinese pottery also appear at Gedi, including celadon and blue and white porcelain, which were found in large enough volumes to assume that a significant portion of the population had access to higher quality wares, while sherds were also found inlayed in the mosques. Prior to the diversification of local styles and types, early ceramics at Gedi were more uniform and contained similarities with ceramics found at other coastal sites. Despite the increase of imported ceramics in the fifteenth century, local varieties continued to be present in later levels of the sites occupation. However, knowledge of direct exchange with the Chinese is restricted to a single account of a Chinese fleet harbored off of Malindi and Mombasa between 1417 and 1419. Also during the fourteenth century, local wares began to diversify with Gedi's expanding economy. During the same century, local wares began to change with the reduction in the number of incised ornamental patterns and a shift to long necked-pots, compared to earlier short-necked variants. In the following century, blue and white porcelain and monochrome Islamic wares became the dominant imports; a trend that began to emerge in the previous century and would continue until Gedi's decline in the seventeenth century. In addition, the local coral architecture using limestone mortar also indicates the presence of local trades associated with construction and masonry.

Food production at Gedi likely involved a mixed economy based on livestock, as well as agricultural and horticultural production. Some foods were introduced through trade. Available crops included millet, African rice, cocoyam, coconuts, bananas, citrus fruits, pomegranates, figs, sugar cane, cotton, and various vegetables, while the principal livestock was likely cattle. Sheep, goats, and chickens played an important role as well. However, isolated and small settlements have been interpreted as hinterlands that developed around and supported the economies of the larger settlements.

Maritime trade

The history of maritime trade along the coast of East Africa dates to the Classical period. The Periplus Maris Erthraei, written by an Egyptian-Greek merchant circa AD 40–55, described trading ports along the Indian Ocean including Azania, a historic designation of the East African coast extending southward to present day Tanzania. Physical evidence for trade predates the earliest towns in the ninth century with the discovery of four Roman beads from the fourth century and pottery from the fifth century. Roman documents from the first through fifth centuries, as well as, Ptolemy's Geographia also provide historical accounts of trade with East Africa, followed by a dearth of historical documents until the tenth century. Many artifacts found at Gedi including much of the ceramics, all the beads, and the two Chinese coins resulted from either direct or indirect trade with the Near East, Arabia, China, India, and Indochina. However, despite reduced access to good anchorage, Gedi and other large mainland sites were able to maintain a high degree of economic success. Their success in trade may have been influenced by the early establishment of trade routes and available commercial support from their hinterlands.

In 1969, stewardship of Gedi was turned over to the National Museums of Kenya. The site is currently administered by the museum's Department of Coastal Archaeology. In 2000, the construction of a museum funded by the European Union concluded, which features a permanent display on Swahili culture.

3D Model

Most of the Gede Ruins were spatially documented in 2010. A 3D model can be viewed here.