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{
"id": 1,
"polity": {
"id": 774,
"name": "mw_early_maravi",
"long_name": "Early Maravi",
"start_year": 1400,
"end_year": 1499
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"coded_value": "present",
"place_of_provenance_pol": [],
"place_of_provenance_str": "other African polities",
"ruler_consumption": "unknown",
"ruler_consumption_tag": "SSP",
"elite_consumption": "unknown",
"elite_consumption_tag": "SSP",
"common_people_consumption": "present",
"common_people_consumption_tag": "TRS",
"name": "Other_luxury_personal_items",
"comment": "“One other foreign item commonly occurring at Mankhamba, but whose usefulness to the community is entirely unclear, is the cowrie shell. Like imported ceramics, cowrie shells are very rare at other archaeological sites in the southern Lake Malawi area. Elsewhere in Africa, cowrie shells had economic and cultural value. […] At Mankhamba, however, all the 46 shells were whole, with no evidence of any attempted modification. Further, cowrie shells do not feature in the oral traditions of the Chewa. It is therefore not clear what economic, social or ritual role these objects played among the Chewa at Mankhamba.” […] “The people of Mankhamba were also great users of copper products. Considering that Luba, their original home, was located within a major copper-producing area, it is likely that they were familiar with copper workings before they arrived at Mankhamba. Some of the objects recovered at Mankhamba, such as copper rings and bangles, were used as a medium of exchange. One type of object not recovered at the site, but nearby, was the copper ingot. In 1967, a man removing a tree stump on the adjacent Dedza escarpment, not far from Mankhamba, found a hoard of eight, large H-shaped ingots27 (see Plate 12.1). This shows that despite their absence in the Mankhamba excavations, these objects circulated in the area. Their absence in the excavation was value-related as ingots were expensive objects and unlikely to be disposed of carelessly. In contrast, rings, bangles, necklaces and other objects were readily available to the general population.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 187]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, pp. 189-190]</a> “One other foreign item commonly occurring at Mankhamba, but whose usefulness to the community is entirely unclear, is the cowrie shell. Like imported ceramics, cowrie shells are very rare at other archaeological sites in the southern Lake Malawi area. Elsewhere in Africa, cowrie shells had economic and cultural value.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 187]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 189]</a> “At Mankhamba, however, all the 46 shells were whole, with no evidence of any attempted modification. Further, cowrie shells do not feature in the oral traditions of the Chewa. It is therefore not clear what economic, social or ritual role these objects played among the Chewa at Mankhamba.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 190]</a> “At Mankhamba, however, all the 46 shells were whole, with no evidence of any attempted modification. Further, cowrie shells do not feature in the oral traditions of the Chewa. It is therefore not clear what economic, social or ritual role these objects played among the Chewa at Mankhamba.” […] “The people of Mankhamba were also great users of copper products. Considering that Luba, their original home, was located within a major copper-producing area, it is likely that they were familiar with copper workings before they arrived at Mankhamba. Some of the objects recovered at Mankhamba, such as copper rings and bangles, were used as a medium of exchange.26 One type of object not recovered at the site, but nearby, was the copper ingot. In 1967, a man removing a tree stump on the adjacent Dedza escarpment, not far from Mankhamba, found a hoard of eight, large H-shaped ingots27 (see Plate 12.1). This shows that despite their absence in the Mankhamba excavations, these objects circulated in the area. Their absence in the excavation was value-related as ingots were expensive objects and unlikely to be disposed of carelessly. In contrast, rings, bangles, necklaces and other objects were readily available to the general population.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 190]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 2,
"polity": {
"id": 773,
"name": "mw_pre_maravi",
"long_name": "Pre-Maravi",
"start_year": 1151,
"end_year": 1399
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"coded_value": "present",
"place_of_provenance_pol": [
{
"id": 773,
"name": "mw_pre_maravi",
"long_name": "Pre-Maravi",
"start_year": 1151,
"end_year": 1399
}
],
"place_of_provenance_str": "Southern Zambezia",
"ruler_consumption": "present",
"ruler_consumption_tag": "IFR",
"elite_consumption": "present",
"elite_consumption_tag": "TRS",
"common_people_consumption": "present",
"common_people_consumption_tag": "TRS",
"name": "Other_luxury_personal_items",
"comment": "“However, with only less than two percent of the pottery decorated, the Mankhamba potters seem to have cared less about the aesthetic value of the pots and more about their utilitarian benefits. The opposite was true with smoking pipes in that over 50 percent were decorated. As noted in Chapter 8, incisions and grooves made on some of the pipes were so evenly spaced, it was as if modern calibration machines had been used to make them. Another industry at Mankhamba was the processing of elephant ivory. The people did not sell all of their raw ivory to Indian Ocean coastal traders, keeping some for their own use and producing various objects, the most popular of which were bangles. The abundance of bangles in the excavation is an indication that there was a viable local market for them.” […] “The people of Mankhamba raised animals for both food and non-food purposes. The food animals were cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and doves whereas non-food animals were represented by dogs only. Cattle were an important possession at Mankhamba and they are still found among all ethnic groups in Malawi and elsewhere in southern Africa. Cattle represent wealth and status and as such they play a significant role in the social and economic way of life of the people. The role of cattle varies however, depending on whether the people are patrilocal or matrilocal. In patrilocal northern Malawi where people use cattle to make bridewealth payments, families strive to own cattle. As a result, the cattle density per square kilometre is nearly double that of the other two matrilocal regions. The Chewa, however, perceive cattle only as a symbol of wealth and status. Kalonga and the local elite must have acquired cattle to enhance their already high social rank in the society.” […] “Finally, although people at Mankhamba seem not to have cared much about decorating their pottery, the archaeological evidence shows that they took time to beautify themselves. The recovery from the excavations of glass beads, copper rings, copper necklaces and ivory bangles suggests that they invested time and resources in this activity. Ethnographic observation among Chewa women suggests that besides adorning themselves with jewellery, the women of Mankhamba may have scarified their faces and other parts of the body to enhance their beauty.” […] “Commenting on the nature and intensity of the trade in southern Zambezia, Chirikure pointed out that imported items, such as glass beads, cowrie shells and bronze items began to appear before ad 900. […] Bronze was recovered at the site of Berryl Rose Claims in northern Zimbabwe where it was dated to ad 800 and cowrie shells appear elsewhere in the hinterland at about the same time. […] Some of the commodities used in the exchange of these items were ivory, cattle and perhaps gold.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 178]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, pp. 180-181]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, pp. 185-186]</a> “However, with only less than two percent of the pottery decorated, the Mankhamba potters seem to have cared less about the aesthetic value of the pots and more about their utilitarian benefits. The opposite was true with smoking pipes in that over 50 percent were decorated. As noted in Chapter 8, incisions and grooves made on some of the pipes were so evenly spaced, it was as if modern calibration machines had been used to make them. Another industry at Mankhamba was the processing of elephant ivory. The people did not sell all of their raw ivory to Indian Ocean coastal traders, keeping some for their own use and producing various objects, the most popular of which were bangles. The abundance of bangles in the excavation is an indication that there was a viable local market for them.” […] “Commenting on the nature and intensity of the trade in southern Zambezia, Chirikure pointed out that imported items, such as glass beads, cowrie shells and bronze items began to appear before ad 900. […] Bronze was recovered at the site of Berryl Rose Claims in northern Zimbabwe where it was dated to ad 800 and cowrie shells appear elsewhere in the hinterland at about the same time.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 176]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 178]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, pp. 186-187]</a> “The distribution of the sites shows that both the elite and ordinary people in southern Zambezia participated in the trade.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGKGFX2X\">[Juwayeyi 2020, p. 186]</a>",
"description": null
}
]
}