By Robert Wanyonyi
An American archaeologist with Kenyan roots has unearthed evidence of Chinese trade links with East Africa dating back to 500 years ago on Manda island at the Kenyan coast.
Prof Chapurukha Kusimba, a curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois in the US, said excavations conducted on Manda island in Lamu between December 18, last year and January 25, this year yielded a rare Chinese coin believed to have been in use between 1406 and 1426 during the reign of Chinese Emperor Yongle.
“The find is of great historical importance. We located at least two generations of towns below the last one abandoned during the early Ming dynasty during the reign of Emperor Yongle.
“Colleagues in China have already correctly identified the coin and we are all excited about the find. Radiocarbon dates will be due soon,” said the anthropologist.
He added: “The coin was cast by one of the imperial mints for use as standard currency by Emperor Yongle who sent the eunuch Admiral Zheng He to explore the Indian Ocean — it is wonderful to have an artefact that may prove he came to Kenya.”
Speaking to journalists at his Kimilili home in Bungoma County yesterday, Prof Kusimba said the research findings at Manda and Mtwapa have irreversibly revised early models that proposed migration as the primary catalyst for regional and cultural transformations.
Preservation
The Kenyan born scholar is heading a team of experts from five institutions involved in the collaborative research at Manda.
These include the Field Museum of Natural History-Chicago, University of Illinois, Pwani University-Kilifi, and the National Museums of Kenya.
He said the coin will be handed over for preservation at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.
Key experts in the research team are Prof Sloan Williams from the University of Illinois, Prof Janet Monge from Pennsylvania, Prof Allan Morris from Cape Town University in South Africa, Prof Zhou Tiequane of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou in the Peoples Republic of China, and Mohammed Mchulla from Fort Jesus, National Museums of Kenya, Mombasa.
Other participants in the excavation were students from Pwani University in Kilifi and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The researchers also found human remains and other artefacts that date back to the same period as the coin.
Kusimba explained that it was obvious trade played an important role in the development of Manda. He said it linked diverse peoples and communities in a network on interactions that had a huge impact in advancement of daily life.
“Archaeologists and historians have documented evidence of biological, cultural, linguistic, commercial and technical communication between cultures that are traceable far beyond the Middle Holocene,” he argued.
Research ongoing
The scholar expressed hope that the finding will play a crucial role in showing how market-based exchange and urban centred political economies arise plus how they may be operationalised archaeologically through complimentary application of biological, linguistic and historical methodologies.
Kusimba and students from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago return to the US on Thursday, but promise to be back “since the research is still ongoing”.
