Kaole is a national historic site located in Bagamoyo District in Tanzania. The site is located three miles east of the historic city of Bagamoyo on the Indian Ocean coast.

Taken from: When Did the Swahili Become Maritime? Jeffrey Fleisher

Kaole comprises three sites. The first was a village (Kaole) abandoned before 1000; the second (Kaole Hill) was occupied from 800 to 1800; and the third (Kaole Ruins) was settled at 1100 (Chami 2002:31), with 56 stone tombs, two stone houses, and two mosques dating to 1200 and after. The onset of construction at Kaole Ruins after 1100 marks a similar temporal break to the abandonment of Tumbe, Unguja Ukuu, and Chibuene and the reorganization occurring at Shanga.

Industrial activity occurred in sheltered estuary locations into the second millennium, as exemplified in sand mounds on the foreshore in the Mbegani estuary near Kaole, where iron working and lime and mortar making were taking place (Pollard 2008a:162–167).

Taken from: The Tanzanian Coast in the First Millennium AD Felix Chami.

The following material was collected from the site of Kaole: 545 potsherds of the first and second millennia AD; 115 "bead-grinders", some daub and lime concretions, 29 fragments of imported ceramics (early Islamic, sgraffiato and Chinese), beads of glass and copper, corroded iron, slag and fragments of tuyere, remains of coconut, and fish and mammal bones.

Taken from: A PRELIMINARY HANDLIST OF THE ARABIC INSCRIPTIONSOF THE EASTERN AFRICAN COAST By G. S. P. FREEMAN-GRENVILLE and B. G. MARTIN(With the assistance of H. N. Chittick, J. S. Kirkman, and H. Sassoon)

Pillar tomb, probably 14th century, with a badly erased epitaph, and a further inscription on one side, in the old cemetery. Bibl. Freeman-Grenville, History, 167.

Epitaph with a Quranic text from Sura II and the "Throne Verse", n.d., similar in style as previous. Probably 14th century, on stylistic grounds. Bibl. Cf. Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin, E 5044; B. G. Martin, MS notes.

Mpiji (c. 27km south of Kaole and on the shore)

About 27 pieces of Sassanian Islamic sherds (900 to 1100), most of them in the form of bead-grinders and highly brittle, one sherd of white-glazed, Chinese porcelain and 152 pieces of early glass were recovered. Most of the glass fragments were of greenish and yellowish tints, with the surface decaying into a golden patina. Four glass and 215 shell beads were also recovered. Two more grains of Arabic gum were recovered.