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Two villages / Chali and Mulali

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Ibn Majid (1470) is the only author to mention this site.

 

Taken from: Archaeological Sites Survey from Kisiju to Dar es Salaam by Emanuel T. Kessy 1997

 

As to the northern village Chali now called Pemba Mnazi; Approximately 800 meters to the southeast of Pemba Mnazi is a site with high concentration of cultural materials. The site is approximately 1 km x 500 meters. It is currently being eroded by the sea. A constructed road from village to the beach shows in its profile local pottery and shells from the surface to a depth of 90 cm. A shovel test pit done at the area south of the road revealed cultural materials from the surface to the depth of 1 meter. Some of the pottery from this site have great affinity to the pottery found at the graveyard at the river Muruwani/Mgungani suggesting the graveyard was of similar age. Evidence of red painted pottery dates the site to back to the 15th century A.D. (Chittick 1974). Most of the painted pottery are bowls.

As to the southern village Mulali on Boza islet which is located on the eastern side of Shungubweni. Two Sites at Boza islet consists of stone structures. At the southern tip of Boza islet are ruins of stone house and a stone tomb. A wide range of cultural materials including local, Chinese, Near East and European wares were collected from the surface. Some of the Near East wares were a light green sgraffiato and early monochrome ware which dates the site to 13th and 15th century respectively. Other pottery from the Near East includes three pieces with buff grayish paste and one is yellow glazed to the outside without glaze to the interior. The rest of the Pieces are buff glazed. Of the Chinese wares, one was a 13th-14th century grey glazed celadon made out of a white paste and two were blue and white sherds of the 15th -16th century. The fourth Chinese sherd was cream glazed and decorated with dark greenish and faint blue decorations. The materials evidences above suggest the site to be contemporary to Kilwa at some stage (Chittick 1984).

And at approximately three hundred meters from the present village settlements is the site of a mosque ruin. No reliable dating materials were found at this site; therefore, the dating of the site is not certain. However, the strati-graphical context of the cultural deposits from both test pits suggests a long-time occupation.