Prendergast M E, Quintana Morales E M, Crowther A, Horton M C, Boivin N L
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University Cambridge MA 02138 USA.
Department of Anthropology Rice University Houston TX 77005 USA.
Int J Osteoarchaeol. 2017 Jul-Aug;27(4):621-637. doi: 10.1002/oa.2585. Epub 2017 Apr 9.
Occupants of coastal and island eastern Africa-now known as the 'Swahili coast'-were involved in long-distance trade with the Indian Ocean world during the later first millennium CE. Such exchanges may be traced via the appearance of non-native animals in the archaeofaunal record; additionally, this record reveals daily culinary practises of the members of trading communities and can thus shed light on subsistence technologies and social organisation. Yet despite the potential contributions of faunal data to Swahili coast archaeology, few detailed zooarchaeological studies have been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of faunal remains from new excavations at two coastal Zanzibar trading locales: the small settlement of Fukuchani in the north-west and the larger town of Unguja Ukuu in the south-west. The occurrences of non-native fauna at these sites-Asian black rat (Rattus rattus) and domestic chicken (Gallus gallus), as well as domestic cat (Felis catus)-are among the earliest in eastern Africa. The sites contrast with one another in their emphases on wild and domestic fauna: Fukuchani's inhabitants were economically and socially engaged with the wild terrestrial realm, evidenced not only through diet but also through the burial of a cache of wild bovid metatarsals. In contrast, the town of Unguja Ukuu had a domestic economy reliant on caprine herding, alongside more limited chicken keeping, although hunting or trapping of wild fauna also played an important role. Occupants of both sites were focused on a diversity of near-shore marine resources, with little or no evidence for the kind of venturing into deeper waters that would have required investment in new technologies. Comparisons with contemporaneous sites suggest that some of the patterns at Fukuchani and Unguja Ukuu are not replicated elsewhere. This diversity in early Swahili coast foodways is essential to discussions of the agents engaged in long-distance maritime trade.
公元一千年后期，非洲东部沿海和岛屿地区（即现在所知的“斯瓦希里海岸”）的居民参与了与印度洋世界的长途贸易。这种交流可以通过考古动物记录中出现的非本地动物来追溯；此外，这一记录揭示了贸易社区成员的日常烹饪习惯，从而有助于了解生存技术和社会组织。然而，尽管动物数据对斯瓦希里海岸考古学有潜在贡献，但很少有详细的动物考古学研究。在此，我们对桑给巴尔两个沿海贸易地点新发掘出的动物遗骸进行了分析：西北部的福库查尼小村庄和西南部的恩古贾乌库大城镇。这些遗址出现的非本地动物——亚洲黑鼠（褐家鼠）、家鸡（原鸡）以及家猫（家猫属）——是东非最早出现的一批。这两个遗址在对野生动物和家养动物的重视程度上形成了对比：福库查尼的居民在经济和社会方面与野生陆地领域有密切联系，这不仅体现在饮食上，还体现在埋葬一批野生牛科动物跖骨上。相比之下，恩古贾乌库镇有一个依赖山羊放牧的家庭经济，同时养鸡规模较小，尽管捕猎或诱捕野生动物也发挥了重要作用。两个遗址的居民都专注于多种近岸海洋资源，几乎没有证据表明他们有那种需要投资新技术才能冒险进入更深水域的行为。与同时期遗址的比较表明，福库查尼和恩古贾乌库的一些模式在其他地方并未重现。斯瓦希里海岸早期食物方式的这种多样性对于讨论参与长途海上贸易的主体至关重要。
