Indigenous persistence and change during early colonial encounters on the Tanzanian coast: ceramic evidence

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ABSTRACT The inhabitants of the Tanzanian coast produced and used indigenous ceramics even as they encountered early colonialism. Though details of indigenous pottery production are less present in colonial documents, abundant potsherds exist as archaeological remains collected in colonial-indigenous settlements, mercantile outposts, forts and colonial plantations. A growing interest in the archaeology of colonial encounters in East Africa encourages expanded perspectives on indigenous craft choices that may have supported resilient traditions. This paper examines the persistence of indigenous ceramic culture at Mtang’ata Bay on the northern coast of Tanzania. It investigates key patterns of change and continuity of ceramic culture over time that acted as sources for the maintenance and transformation of indigenous practices and identities. The analysis of diagnostic pottery sampled from the late pre-colonial Swahili and early colonial Swahili phases at Mtang’ata Bay has produced significant results. Indigenous people during the colonial era continued to make and use local pottery of a similar form and decoration to that of the pre-colonial period. However, they also selectively increased or decreased the use of certain forms or decoration to negotiate the social and economic circumstances of the early colonial period, modified some of their previous pottery forms and created new decoration styles to strengthen their sense of identity.