R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Fleisher, Jeffrey"

Browsing by Author "Fleisher, Jeffrey"

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A deposit of Kilwa-type coins from Songo Mnara, Tanzania
(Routledge, 2014) Perkins, John; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie
A deposit of coins was recovered during excavations at Songo Mnara, Tanzania, containing over 300 copper Kilwa-type coins. This is the first deposit or hoard of these coins found in a well defined archaeological context and it therefore offers a unique glimpse into both the typology of these coins and their contemporary uses. The ramifications of the Songo Mnara deposit are discussed. In particular, the deposit is firmly attributable to the end of the fourteenth or very early fifteenth centuries, allowing for some chronological resolution. Coins of the late eleventh- to early twelfth-century sultan Ali ibn al-Hasan show that these types remained in circulation for several hundred years. In addition, the common coin type of Nasir ad-Dunya can now be attributed firmly to the fifteenth and possibly fourteenth centuries by this find. Finally, the paper discusses the burial of the coins in the foundations of a stonehouse and the fact that this likely represented the building of value into the house and an investment in place. Other finds, such as a carnelian necklace found with the coins, testify to the importance of this practice.
Coins in Context: Local Economy, Value and Practice on the East African Swahili Coast
(Cambridge University Press, 2012-02) Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Social Sciences Research Institute; the Archaeological Field School
Coinage occupies an unusual position in archaeological research. Thriving scholarship on numismatics and monetary history ensures that the objects themselves are well-studied, often seen as an indication of chronology and of stylistic and commercial links. Yet coins might also be analysed as artefacts, and explored as part of the symbolic world of material culture through which archaeologists understand meaning and value in past societies. Using a recently-excavated assemblage of medieval Kilwa-type coins from Songo Mnara on the East African Swahili coast, this article explores the multiple ways that value was ascribed and created through use, rejecting a simple dichotomy between substantive and formal value. Attention is given to the contexts of the coins, which enables a discussion of the relationship between power and the constitution of value, the circulation and use of coins among townspeople, and their use within ritual and commemorative activity.
Diet, economy, and culinary practices at the height of precolonial Swahili urbanism
(Elsevier, 2022) Quintana Morales, Eréndira M.; Craig, Oliver E.; Prendergast, Mary E.; Walshaw, Sarah; Cartaciano, Christina; Mwebi, Ogeto; Nguta, Esther; Onduso, Veronicah; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie
Swahili cuisine is known across Africa and globally as a highly distinctive product of a cosmopolitan, coastal, urban society. Here we present a comprehensive study of precolonial Swahili diet and culinary practices at the coastal town of Songo Mnara, positioning archaeological and ethnographic understandings of cuisine in a long-term coastal tradition. We explore contemporary food cultures and then present the first direct evidence for precolonial cuisine by combining ceramic lipid residue analysis with archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and faunal and human stable isotopic data. Integrating these datasets produces a detailed picture of diet at the site of Songo Mnara during the peak of precolonial Swahili urbanism. Lipid residue analysis demonstrates how plant and animal products were consumed and valued in ways not discernible from plant and animal remains alone. We also note special treatment for particular foodstuffs, including an association of fish consumption with high-status spaces and vessels, and preferential management of cattle for milk. A more complex picture of urban life emerges, recognizing influences of taste, class, and culture. Our findings demonstrate the potential of multi-layered anthropological studies for exploring cuisine and urban life in coastal contexts across the globe.
Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast
(Springer Nature, 2023) Brielle, Esther S.; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Sirak, Kendra; Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen; Callan, Kim; Curtis, Elizabeth; Iliev, Lora; Lawson, Ann Marie; Oppenheimer, Jonas; Qiu, Lijun; Stewardson, Kristin; Workman, J. Noah; Zalzala, Fatma; Ayodo, George; Gidna, Agness O.; Kabiru, Angela; Kwekason, Amandus; Mabulla, Audax Z. P.; Manthi, Fredrick K.; Ndiema, Emmanuel; Ogola, Christine; Sawchuk, Elizabeth; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Ali, Bassam R.; Ben-Salem, Salma; Letellier, Thierry; Pierron, Denis; Radimilahy, Chantal; Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé; Raaum, Ryan L.; Culleton, Brendan J.; Mallick, Swapan; Rohland, Nadin; Patterson, Nick; Mwenje, Mohammed Ali; Ahmed, Khalfan Bini; Mohamed, Mohamed Mchulla; Williams, Sloan R.; Monge, Janet; Kusimba, Sibel; Prendergast, Mary E.; Reich, David; Kusimba, Chapurukha M.
The urban peoples of the Swahili coast traded across eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean and were among the first practitioners of Islam among sub-Saharan people1,2. The extent to which these early interactions between Africans and non-Africans were accompanied by genetic exchange remains unknown. Here we report ancient DNA data for 80 individuals from 6 medieval and early modern (ad 1250–1800) coastal towns and an inland town after ad 1650. More than half of the DNA of many of the individuals from coastal towns originates from primarily female ancestors from Africa, with a large proportion—and occasionally more than half—of the DNA coming from Asian ancestors. The Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men. Peoples of African and Asian origins began to mix by about ad 1000, coinciding with the large-scale adoption of Islam. Before about ad 1500, the Southwest Asian ancestry was mainly Persian-related, consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle, the oldest history told by people of the Swahili coast3. After this time, the sources of DNA became increasingly Arabian, consistent with evidence of growing interactions with southern Arabia4. Subsequent interactions with Asian and African people further changed the ancestry of present-day people of the Swahili coast in relation to the medieval individuals whose DNA we sequenced.
How Public Space is Used in Ancient Cities: The Case of Songo Mnara, a Medieval Swahili City in Tanzania
(Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2013) Fleisher, Jeffrey
This paper will discuss a number of ancient and contemporary examples of public space to explore the important distinctions between how they were planned and built, and how they were shaped by subsequent events and practices. Then, using Songo Mnara as a case study, I describe the research at the site and the interpretations of the public spaces in this ancient urban setting.
No such thing as invisible people: toward an archaeology of slavery at the fifteenth-century Swahili site of Songo Mnara
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Rødland, Henriette; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Wood, Marilee; Fleisher, Jeffrey
This paper seeks to challenge the notion of the invisible slave in the archaeological record and investigates the way in which material culture may reflect the movements and practices of enslaved labourers on the East African Swahili coast. Archaeological approaches to enslavement have revealed the nuanced and complex experiences of a group of people often under-represented or absent in historical records, while also grappling with the challenges presented by the ambiguity of the material evidence. This paper presents a case study from the fifteenth-century Swahili site of Songo Mnara in Tanzania, an architecturally and materially wealthy stone town in the Kilwa archipelago. It focuses on the context, use, and spread of beads across the site, and considers the possibility of interpreting some classes — such as locally made terracotta beads — as proxies for the underclass and enslaved in an otherwise wealthy settlement. It presents a key study towards the aim of building a highly necessary methodology for the archaeology of slavery in East Africa and beyond, and suggests that certain types of material culture might be used to explore the activities of enslaved and/or underclass individuals.
Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history
(Springer Nature, 2022) Yu, He; Jamieson, Alexandra; Hulme-Beaman, Ardern; Conroy, Chris J.; Knight, Becky; Speller, Camilla; Al-Jarah, Hiba; Eager, Heidi; Trinks, Alexandra; Adikari, Gamini; Baron, Henriette; Böhlendorf-Arslan, Beate; Bohingamuwa, Wijerathne; Crowther, Alison; Cucchi, Thomas; Esser, Kinie; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Gidney, Louisa; Gladilina, Elena; Gol’din, Pavel; Goodman, Steven M.; Hamilton-Dyer, Sheila; Helm, Richard; Hillman, Jesse C.; Kallala, Nabil; Kivikero, Hanna; Kovács, Zsófia E.; Kunst, Günther Karl; Kyselý, René; Linderholm, Anna; Maraoui-Telmini, Bouthéina; Marković, Nemanja; Morales-Muñiz, Arturo; Nabais, Mariana; O’Connor, Terry; Oueslati, Tarek; Quintana Morales, Eréndira M.; Pasda, Kerstin; Perera, Jude; Perera, Nimal; Radbauer, Silvia; Ramon, Joan; Rannamäe, Eve; Sanmartí Grego, Joan; Treasure, Edward; Valenzuela-Lamas, Silvia; van der Jagt, Inge; Van Neer, Wim; Vigne, Jean-Denis; Walker, Thomas; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Zeiler, Jørn; Dobney, Keith; Boivin, Nicole; Searle, Jeremy B.; Krause-Kyora, Ben; Krause, Johannes; Larson, Greger; Orton, David
The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.
Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets
(Public Library of Science, 2017) Prendergast, Mary E.; Buckley, Michael; Crowther, Alison; Frantz, Laurent; Eager, Heidi; Lebrasseur, Ophélie; Hutterer, Rainer; Hulme-Beaman, Ardern; Van Neer, Wim; Douka, Katerina; Veall, Margaret-Ashley; Morales, Eriéndira M. Quintana; Schuenemann, Verena J.; Reiter, Ella; Allen, Richard; Dimopoulos, Evangelos A.; Helm, Richard M.; Shipton, Ceri; Mwebi, Ogeto; Denys, Christiane; Horton, Mark; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Radimilahy, Chantal; Wright, Henry; Searle, Jeremy B.; Krause, Johannes; Larson, Greger; Boivin, Nicole L.
Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while another posits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of long-distance maritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstanding debate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from high-precision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphological identifications. We analysed faunal remains from 22 eastern African sites spanning a wide geographic and chronological range, and applied biomolecular techniques to confirm identifications of two Asian taxa: domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) and black rat (Rattus rattus). Our approach included ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis aided by BLAST-based bioinformatics, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) collagen fingerprinting, and direct AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. Our results support a late, mid-first millennium CE introduction of these species. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of biological exchange, and emphasize the applicability of our approach to tropical areas with poor bone preservation.
Unveiling 4500 years of environmental dynamics and human activity at Songo Mnara, Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2024) Englong, Apichaya; Punwong, Paramita; Seelanan, Tosak; Marchant, Rob; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Jirapinyakul, Akkaneewut; Fleisher, Jeffrey
Coastal East Africa has undergone massive transformations through the Late Holocene, with a combination of changes in sea level, increasing human settlement, and ensuing use of coastal resources. A comprehensive multi-proxy analysis, including pollen, phytolith, charcoal, stratigraphy, particle size, and geochemical data from sedimentary cores extracted from mangrove ecosystems combined with soils from archaeological contexts, provided valuable insights into vegetation dynamics, environmental changes, and human interactions within the mangrove ecosystem of Songo Mnara Island, Tanzania over the last 2590 BCE (4540 cal yr BP). The bottommost layers indicate a lack of vegetation, as deduced from the presence of coral rags and high calcium and carbonate content, possibly due to high mid-Holocene sea-level. Evidence of mangrove taxa suggests a decrease in sea level, enabling the establishment of mangroves from around 2590 BCE. A brief period of sea-level rise occurred between 90 BCE and 320 CE before sea-level fell until 1570 CE. Significant evidence of human activity is recorded from around 1400 CE indicated by increased charcoal, crop phytoliths, and evidence of marine resource utilisation. The timing of this human-environment interaction is also linked to the time of lower sea level. However, there was evidence suggesting human abandonment of the island from around 1500 CE. This coincided with a subsequent rise in sea levels and potentially prolonged drought conditions spanning from 1570 to 1700 CE. These factors likely contributed to a shortage of food resources in the area, impacting both agricultural practices due to the scarcity of natural freshwater and the accessibility of marine food resources. From 1700 CE to the present, fluctuations in sea level have been observed, with a signal of recent sea-level rise in tandem with shifts in mangrove, terrestrial herbaceous taxa and fire activity. The low sedimentation rates within mangrove areas suggest that the mangroves on Songo Mnara Island may not keep pace with the current rate of sea-level rise.
When Did the Swahili Become Maritime?
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2015) Fleisher, Jeffrey; Lane, Paul; LaViolette, Adria; Horton, Mark; Pollard, Edward; Morales, Eréndira Quintana; Vernet, Thomas; Christie, Annalisa; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie
In this article, we examine an assumption about the historic Swahili of the eastern African coast: that they were a maritime society from their beginnings in the first millennium C.E. Based on historical and archaeological data, we suggest that, despite their proximity to and use of the sea, the level of maritimity of Swahili society increased greatly over time and was only fully realized in the early second millennium C.E. Drawing on recent theorizing from other areas of the world about maritimity as well as research on the Swahili, we discuss three arenas that distinguish first- and second-millennium coastal society in terms of their maritime orientation. These are variability and discontinuity in settlement location and permanence; evidence of increased engagement with the sea through fishing and sailing technology; and specialized architectural developments involving port facilities, mosques, and houses. The implications of this study are that we must move beyond coastal location in determining maritimity; consider how the sea and its products were part of social life; and assess whether the marine environment actively influences and is influenced by broader patterns of sociocultural organization, practice, and belief within Swahili and other societies.

Browsing by Author "Fleisher, Jeffrey"

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