Archaeological excavations at Mankhamba, Malawi: An early settlement site of the Maravi

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at the site of Mankhamba, Malawi, have yielded information related to the subsistence strategies, technology, and long distance or international trade practised by the Maravi. This information has helped clarify, and in some cases confirm, historical evidence regarding the Maravi as presented in the oral traditions of their descendents, the Chewa, and in the written records left by early Portuguese explorers and traders. Some of the results clarify chronological issues related to their arrival at Mankhamba and their abandonment of the site, the level of complexity that they achieved as a society, and the role they played in long distance trade. The evidence shows that the Maravi at Mankhamba eventually evolved into a self-sufficient trade-based complex society that became very prosperous in the seventeenth century. That prosperity helped them establish the Maravi state with Mankhamba as its political and commercial capital.

La mode de vie et l'histoire du peuple Maravi à Mankhamba, Malawi, ont été réexaminés à l'aide de preuves archéologiques. Des fouilles sur le site ont mis au jour de nouveaux indices sur les stratégies de subsistance, de la technologie, et du commerce extérieur de ce peuple africain. Ces données nouvelles ont aidé à exposer et en certain cas de confirmer certains renseignements historiques sur les Maravi tels qu'ils sont présentés dans les traditions orales de leurs descendants, les Chewa, et que l'on trouve aussi relatés dans les journaux de voyage des premiers explorateurs et commerçants portugais. Quelques-uns des résultats éclaircissent des questions de chronologie sur l'arrivée des Maravi à Mankhamba ainsi que leur abandon du site, du niveau de complexité atteint par leur société, et le rôle qu'a joué ce peuple dans le commerce de grande distance. Les indications montrent que les Maravi à Mankhamba ont évolué à la longue jusqu'à devenir une société complexe et autonome basée sur le commerce, société qui a connu son apogée au 17^e siècle. Cette prospérité leur a permis d'établir un état de Maravi dont Mankhamba était la capitale à la fois politique et commerciale.

Keywords:

• Mankhamba
• Maravi
• Malawi
• trade
• capital

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork at Mankhamba was supported by funds from the Malawi Department of Antiquities. I should like to thank the following past and present staff of that department for their support: Dr Elizabeth Gomani, Chrissie Chiumia, Alfred Topeka, S.B. Chikapa, S. Mithi, B. Kayira, A. Mbungo, G. A. Chapotera; A.E. Lizi; and posthumously, S. Mphaya, K. Moyo, and C.G. Mwenda. I thank Hildi Hendrickson and Amy Krentzman of Long Island University, Brooklyn for their useful comments; Spana Davison for drawing Figures 4–9, 12–13, and 15 and for her comments on certain individual artefacts; Benett Bronson for his comments on the Chinese porcelain and glazed ceramics; and Marilee Wood for analysing the bead assemblage. Further, I thank Alisa Yalan-Murphy and Stuart Alleyne of Long Island University, Brooklyn, for assisting me with various computer-related tasks and Father Claude Boucher of Kungoni Centre of Culture and Art for taking me to Mankhamba's ritual water pool and for full board accommodation at the Centre. Finally, I should like to thank village headman Kafulama for allowing me and my team to camp in his village and to excavate a mound so close to an active rain-calling shrine.