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Tongoni Ruins
The Tongoni Ruins (Magofu ya kale ya Tongoni in Swahili) are a 15th-century Swahili ruins of a mosque and forty tombs located in Tongoni ward in Tanga District inside Tanga Region of Tanzania. The largest and possibly most significant Swahili site in Tanzania is Tongoni, which is located 25 km north of the Pangani River. Overlooking Mtangata Bay, about forty standing tombs and a Friday mosque of the "northern" style occupy a third of a hectare. People from the area continue to worship there spiritually. They bury their departed family members to the south of the historic tombs. The area was a different place four to five centuries ago. Contrary to its almost unnoticed presence today, it was a prosperous and a respected Swahili trading centre during the 15th century. Most of the ruins are still not yet been uncovered. The site is a registered National Historic Site.
More over 40 miles to the north of Muhembo is Kilole Bay where Tongoni Ruins are located on a low embankment along the southwest side of the Bay. The bay is protected by peninsulas from brisk monsoon winds. The foreshore of the location is covered in mangroves. Tongoni, the village of Mtangata, and its about 3,500 inhabitants, most of whom are cassava and coconut farmers and fishermen, are surrounded by scattered trees (baobabs, tamarinds, and palms). Along the bay, sandy soils predominate, particularly at Vumbani in the southeast of Mtangata. The littoral is characterised by a limestone basement covered by loams and clay loams.
On a Pleistocene terrace that overlooks Mtangata and the ocean vastness to the east, residents of the wider countryside, including those who self-identify as Zigua, Digo, and Nyamwezi (the latter being recent migrants), produce maize and vegetables and gather firewood. This shoreline is dotted with fresh water wells, some of which have recently become salty. In close proximity to the north is the settlement of Sadani.
Important discoveries were made in shovel test pits. The researchers found numerous artefacts to the north, south, and west of the old mosque. Typical Swahili ornamentation, such as punctures or stamps of dots along or below vessel necks, can be seen on local vessels. We discovered a clay pipe bowl and a sherd with affinities to later TIW (post-900 C.E.) in other STPs. Group D is a form of pottery with raised dots that is known from the East Usambara Mountains and dates to the middle to late second millennium C.E.
Additionally, one STP located west of the mosque produced a piece of gneiss grindstone, a raw material found only nearby mountains. Between Mtangata and Vumbani, the site surface is covered in dozens of beads and a few coins from the late eighteenth century. At Vumbani, a subsurface test turned up bits of Indian ceramics, Chinese celadon, blue-green Islamic monochrome, and coiled and drawn glass beads.
Researchers have documented about 7,000 locally produced ceramics in Tongoni, 10.7% of which are diagnoses. The entire assembly is best exemplified by Unit 3, Subunit 5 of the site. There are 328 diagnostics altogether, including 4 undecorated bases, 98 decorated body sherds, 115 adorned rims, and 112 undecorated rims. Local ceramics typically have a surface colour that ranges from brown to black (although there are a few orange instances). Cores are grittier and typically dark (brown, black, or grey). Ceramic materials contain 2-4% quartz temper.
Additionally, the group gathered beads and foreign ceramics. The latter make up about 1.2% (n = 80) of the sherds that were excavated. There are several different sorts at the location, the majority of which being blue-green Islamic monochromes or other Middle Eastern variants. Chinese celadons and blue-and-white are also widely used. The fourteenth to seventeenth centuries are when these pottery varieties were produced. Additionally, the higher strata contains a small number of European pottery from the late 18th to early 19th century.
One unusual stone of unknown material, two smoothed sharpening stones, a group of coral fragments partially encircling an ash pit, huge local sherds (many decorated), one blue glass bead, one faceted carnelian tube bead, and an oyster nut seed are among the special discoveries. The scientists also discovered a little engraving of a human face on the jaw of a parrotfish (Family Scaridae) and a bone hairpin. An ash lens, several big shells, including conchs, a gneiss grinding stone, a grinding/sharpening stone with an unknown red stain, a sizable piece of slag, a cow vertebra, six glass beads, one ivory bead, and two oyster nut seeds. Collectively, the people of Mtangata came to the conclusion that such discoveries were the home of a healer or other revered community members. The carved face, the faceted carnelian bead that Zigua healers have worn in the past, and the oyster nut seeds all have intriguing meanings.
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Tongoni Ruins
The Tongoni Ruins (Magofu ya kale ya Tongoni in Swahili) are a 15th-century Swahili ruins of a mosque and forty tombs located in Tongoni ward in Tanga District inside Tanga Region of Tanzania. The largest and possibly most significant Swahili site in Tanzania is Tongoni, which is located 25 km north of the Pangani River. Overlooking Mtangata Bay, about forty standing tombs and a Friday mosque of the "northern" style occupy a third of a hectare. People from the area continue to worship there spiritually. They bury their departed family members to the south of the historic tombs. The area was a different place four to five centuries ago. Contrary to its almost unnoticed presence today, it was a prosperous and a respected Swahili trading centre during the 15th century. Most of the ruins are still not yet been uncovered. The site is a registered National Historic Site.
More over 40 miles to the north of Muhembo is Kilole Bay where Tongoni Ruins are located on a low embankment along the southwest side of the Bay. The bay is protected by peninsulas from brisk monsoon winds. The foreshore of the location is covered in mangroves. Tongoni, the village of Mtangata, and its about 3,500 inhabitants, most of whom are cassava and coconut farmers and fishermen, are surrounded by scattered trees (baobabs, tamarinds, and palms). Along the bay, sandy soils predominate, particularly at Vumbani in the southeast of Mtangata. The littoral is characterised by a limestone basement covered by loams and clay loams.
On a Pleistocene terrace that overlooks Mtangata and the ocean vastness to the east, residents of the wider countryside, including those who self-identify as Zigua, Digo, and Nyamwezi (the latter being recent migrants), produce maize and vegetables and gather firewood. This shoreline is dotted with fresh water wells, some of which have recently become salty. In close proximity to the north is the settlement of Sadani.
Important discoveries were made in shovel test pits. The researchers found numerous artefacts to the north, south, and west of the old mosque. Typical Swahili ornamentation, such as punctures or stamps of dots along or below vessel necks, can be seen on local vessels. We discovered a clay pipe bowl and a sherd with affinities to later TIW (post-900 C.E.) in other STPs. Group D is a form of pottery with raised dots that is known from the East Usambara Mountains and dates to the middle to late second millennium C.E.
Additionally, one STP located west of the mosque produced a piece of gneiss grindstone, a raw material found only nearby mountains. Between Mtangata and Vumbani, the site surface is covered in dozens of beads and a few coins from the late eighteenth century. At Vumbani, a subsurface test turned up bits of Indian ceramics, Chinese celadon, blue-green Islamic monochrome, and coiled and drawn glass beads.
Researchers have documented about 7,000 locally produced ceramics in Tongoni, 10.7% of which are diagnoses. The entire assembly is best exemplified by Unit 3, Subunit 5 of the site. There are 328 diagnostics altogether, including 4 undecorated bases, 98 decorated body sherds, 115 adorned rims, and 112 undecorated rims. Local ceramics typically have a surface colour that ranges from brown to black (although there are a few orange instances). Cores are grittier and typically dark (brown, black, or grey). Ceramic materials contain 2-4% quartz temper.
Additionally, the group gathered beads and foreign ceramics. The latter make up about 1.2% (n = 80) of the sherds that were excavated. There are several different sorts at the location, the majority of which being blue-green Islamic monochromes or other Middle Eastern variants. Chinese celadons and blue-and-white are also widely used. The fourteenth to seventeenth centuries are when these pottery varieties were produced. Additionally, the higher strata contains a small number of European pottery from the late 18th to early 19th century.
One unusual stone of unknown material, two smoothed sharpening stones, a group of coral fragments partially encircling an ash pit, huge local sherds (many decorated), one blue glass bead, one faceted carnelian tube bead, and an oyster nut seed are among the special discoveries. The scientists also discovered a little engraving of a human face on the jaw of a parrotfish (Family Scaridae) and a bone hairpin. An ash lens, several big shells, including conchs, a gneiss grinding stone, a grinding/sharpening stone with an unknown red stain, a sizable piece of slag, a cow vertebra, six glass beads, one ivory bead, and two oyster nut seeds. Collectively, the people of Mtangata came to the conclusion that such discoveries were the home of a healer or other revered community members. The carved face, the faceted carnelian bead that Zigua healers have worn in the past, and the oyster nut seeds all have intriguing meanings.
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