Pillar Tombs and the City: Creating a Sense of Shared Identity in Swahili Urban Space

Abstract

This paper reviews published research on Swahili pillar tombs, as a specific type of tombs built of stone, by summarising records on almost fifty sites on the east coast of Africa. Dated to the 13th-16th centuries AD, the pillar tombs represented a core component of Swahili urban space. By considering their spatial setting, characteristics and comparative case studies from Africa and the Indian Ocean world, the paper reconsiders how pillar tombs might have functioned as a type of material infrastructure for creating social ties and notions of shared identity in a society that has never formally united. ________________________________________________________________ Résumé: Le présent article revoit des données de recherche publiées sur les tombes à pilier swahili, un type de tombes en pierre précis, en dressant un résumé des registres portant sur près de 50 sites de la cô te Est de l'Afrique. Datant du 13 e au 16 e siècle de notre ère, les tombes à pilier représentaient un élément fondamental de l'espace urbain de la culture swahili. En tenant compte de leur environnement spatial, leurs caractéristiques et d'études de cas comparatives provenant d'Afrique et de l'Océan Indien, l'article revoit comment ces tombes auraient pu jouer le rô le d'infrastructure matérielle permettant de créer des liens sociaux et des notions d'identité commune dans une société jamais formellement unifiée. ________________________________________________________________ Resumen: Este artículo revisa investigaciones publicadas sobre las tumbas suajili en forma de pilar, como un tipo específico de tumbas construidas de piedra, resumiendo los registros de casi cincuenta sitios de la costa oriental de Á frica. Fechadas de los siglos XIII al XVI, las tumbas en forma de pilar representaban un componente central del espacio urbano suajili. Al considerar su arreglo espacial, sus características y estudios comparativos de casos de Á frica y del mundo del Océano I´ndico, el artículo reconsidera có mo las tumbas en forma de pilar podrían haber funcionado como un tipo RESEARCH

The Element of Water in the Built Environment on the Precolonial Kenya Coast

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