Archaeological Reconnaissance of Saadani village and its adjacent areas

Abstract

This paper presents results from an archaeological reconnaissance and ethnographic inquiries conducted in Saadani and adjacent villages of Chumvi, Matipwili, Uvinje and Mkange. The archaeological potentials of these villages have, for a long time, been neglected by researchers in favor of other coast towns, such as Kilwa, Bagamoyo and Zanzibar, among others. Accumulated data reveal the presence of Swahili and Post Swahili settlements at Saadani, but evidence from surrounding landscape, in particular, Kwa Mkunde site at Mkange village,suggest that the northern coast of Tanzania was occupied ever since the Later Stone Age period. This paper therefore, calls upon further archaeological investigation at Saadani and surrounding landscape, so as to shed more light on the cultural genealogy of the study area.