ABSTRACT
What was the role of local craft production in Swahili society? This is a question for which we do not have good answers. We know how important consumption and materiality were in Swahili society (Wynne-Jones 2016), even if the production processes behind most of the material culture remain obscure. The handiwork of coastal men and women forms much of the basis for our constructions of Swahili society; but only occasionally do we locate evidence of manufacturing activities themselves, or feature these in our analyses. Systems of craft production, so central a concern in archaeology globally (for example, Costin 2001; Sinopoli 2011) and invoked so often in modelling socioeconomic organisation and political economy in ancient societies, remain peripheral to our understanding of – and questions about – the Swahili coast (Klein-Arendt 2000; Mapunda 2002). From the sixth century ce onward, Swahili produced a range of objects and structures: from houses and boats; to pottery, metal implements, shell beads, and clothing; to mats, baskets, rope, nets and leather goods.
