Note on Axum trade during this period.
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Taken from: Early Medieval Ivory Pocket Ring Analyzed by Hugh Willmott
Analysis of an ivory ring recovered from the grave of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon woman indicates that it likely came from the tusk of an African elephant, according to a Live Science report. Hundreds of such rings, which measure between about four to six inches in diameter, have been found in Anglo-Saxon burials in England, and in a few other places in northwestern Europe. The rings are thought to have held bags that were tied to the waist and functioned as pockets. “We often find [the bags] contained objects, and they tend to be quite random,” said Hugh Willmott of the University of Sheffield. “Broken copper, Roman coins, things like that,” he explained. Strontium isotope analysis of this fifth-century ring suggests that the elephant grew up in an area with geologically young volcanic rocks, like the Rift Valley region of Ethiopia-Kenya. The ring is therefore thought to have been crafted in East Africa at the ivory working center of Aksum, and then traded for some 4,000 miles until it reached England, where no ivory working centers have been found. Willmott said that ivory rings appear to have fallen out of use by about the seventh century, perhaps because the trade route had been disturbed.
Archaeological excavations at Aksum in modern-day Eritrea, East Africa, revealed that workshops processing ivory for the European market from at least the 3rd century were still in operation in the 7th century, around a century after the rings were buried.
But Willmott cautioned that other bag rings may have come from elsewhere: "My own work has recorded over 700 of these rings in cemeteries in early medieval England... more contextual and scientific work needs to be done."
Pre-Islamic 5th-6th century trade Mediterranean – East Africa.
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Taken from: The Swahili: the social landscape of a mercantile society by Horton, Mark 2000.
A group of glass fragments from Kivinja, 20km to the north of the Rufiji Delta, have been compared to Greco-Roman glass from the Fayum of the first few centuries while some sherds of an alkaline-glazed ware from this site are very similar to finds from Ras Hafun main site. Kivinja has two radiocarbon dates, spanning the fifth and sixth centuries. On a nearby site a segmented alkaline glass bead of Classical Mediterranean type has also been found. An old find of glass beads near Kisiju and from Dar es Salaam, which were described as ‘Frankish’ can now be seen to compare to the first century glass found at Heis. (=located on the northern Somali coast).
At two sites on Zanzibar, trade can be recognized during later Antiquity. At Unguja Ukuu finds of a few sherds of North African Red Slip pottery point again to a Mediterranean connection, and these are associated with sixth century radiocarbon dates. At the north tip of Zanzibar, at Fukuchani, fragments of Amphorae are of the same type as have been found in the upper levels of Ras Hafun main site, possibly of the fifth century, In southern Mozambique, at the coastal site of Chibuene, the lowest levels produced a rim of storage jar with a torpedo shape of green-glazed ceramic, probably of Partho-Sasanian (3th-6th century) origin and also found at the Ras Hafun site, as well as the trading site of Sohar on the coast of Oman .
Taken from: East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders edited by Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Sibel B. Kusimba.
The site of Kivinja 20km to the north of the Rufiji Delta was also excavated; it was found to be of EIW (Early Iron Working) period, some areas having TIW (Triangular Incised Ware) and another with 16th to 18th century cultural materials. The excavation concentrated on the EIW area. A lot of Kwale type EIW potsherd were collected. In some trenches the pottery was associated with Green and Blue Sassanian pottery and glass of various types (blue/green). The date from carbon-14 analysis ranges from 400 to 500 AD (uncalibrated).
First trench was 2 x 2 m in size and was located near the old shore close to the northern limit of the pottery surface scatter, where it was particularly dense. The first two levels of trench 1 had 3 glass beads and 61 pot-sherds in the post-16th-century AD occupation. The first 10 EIW Kwale Ware sherds were found at about 30 cm. This level included only EIW cultural materials and two fragments of a pilled-off glaze of early green and blue ware, slag, 4 marine shells (Terabralia palustria),and fragments of gum arabic. The major layer of Kwale Ware cultural occupation was at 40 to 50 cm.
This level and that below it are dated to AD 431-598 (see Chami and Msemwa 1997b).The level below these (60-70 cm) was sterile.
When excavated, Kivinja was the first EIW Kwale Ware site to include imported ceramics. The EIW and TIW cultural horizons have remains of imported glazed ceramics and glass wares. Although the thin green/blue glass is similar to that found in other TIW sites (Chami 1994a), another type of thicker, more greenish glass is found with EIW levels at Kivinja. Trenches 1, 2, and 7 contain blue-green pottery, which Chittick (1984) identified as Sassanid Islamic.
Other EIW sites are Ziweziwe near Kisiju (Chami and Kessy 1995), Kwale Island (Chami and Msemwa 1997a), Koma, and Mafia Island (Chami and Msemwa 1997b). EIW potsherds are also found in the lowest levels of Unguja Ukuu, the LIW site on Zanzibar Island (Chami 1994a). The TIW pottery at Kivinja is also the first found near the shore between Dar-es-Salaam and Kilwa; it shows cultural links between the Rufiji Delta.