Re-dating the Ingombe Ilede burials

Several burials excavated during 1960 at Ingombe Ilede in southern Africa were accompanied by exceptional quantities of gold and glass beads, bronze trade wire and bangles. The burials were indirectly dated to the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries AD, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese on the Ea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAntiquity Vol. 91; no. 358; pp. 1069 - 1077
Main Authors McIntosh, Susan Keech, Fagan, Brian M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.08.2017
Subjects
16th century
African history
Archaeological dating
Archaeology
Beads and beading
Cemeteries
Copper
Debate
Excavation
Funerals
Gold
Grave goods
Historic artifacts
History
Human remains (Archaeology)
International trade
Monomotapa Empire, ca. 1420-1684
Portuguese traders
Swahili speaking peoples
Trade routes
Zambian history
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Zambezi River
gold
Swahili trade
Portuguese trade
copper
Zambia
Zambezi
Great Zimbabwe
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Summary:Several burials excavated during 1960 at Ingombe Ilede in southern Africa were accompanied by exceptional quantities of gold and glass beads, bronze trade wire and bangles. The burials were indirectly dated to the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries AD, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese on the East Coast of Africa. New AMS dates on cotton fabric from two of the burials now relocate them in the sixteenth century. This was a dynamic period when the Portuguese were establishing market settlements along the Zambezi, generating new demands for trade products from the interior, and establishing trade networks with the Mwene Mutapa confederacy. These new dates invite a reconsideration of Ingombe Ilede's relationship to Swahili and Portuguese trade in the middle Zambezi. This article is followed by four responses and a final comment by the authors.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2017.74