The Mosques of Songo Mnara in their Urban Landscape

Authors

  • Mark Horton University of Bristol
  • Jeffrey Fleisher Rice University
  • Stephanie Wynne-Jones University of York

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.35272

Keywords:

Songo Mnara, mosques, urbanism, architecture, religious identity

Abstract

The 15th century Swahili town of Songo Mnara (Tanzania) had six mosques—an unusual quantity for a town of only 7 hectares and a population of 500–1000 people. Largescale archaeological investigations of two previously unstudied mosques, and detailed survey of the remaining four structures has suggested a complex pattern of Islamic practice in the town, including a dynamic relationship between mosques and burials, an emerging sense of social difference within the town, and the active signalling of Islamic faith to visitors through the construction of monuments intended to be seen on approach to the town. We commend a holistic approach in which mosques are studied not as isolated structures but as part of a wider urban landscape.

Author Biographies

  • Mark Horton, University of Bristol

    Mark Horton is rofessor in Archaeology in the School of Arts, University of Bristol. He specializes in historical archaeology, historical landscapes, maritime landscapes, long distance trade and social responses, the early spread of Islam and Christianity, particularly on the East African coast.

  • Jeffrey Fleisher, Rice University

    Jeffrey Fleisher is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Rice University. He is an archaeologist of Africa with research interests focusing on the role of rural and non-élite populations in the political economy of small-scale complex societies, and the way that people use material culture and space in the establishment and maintenance of social inequality and power.

  • Stephanie Wynne-Jones, University of York

    Stephanie Wynne-Jones is a Lecturer in Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, University of York, specialising in East African coastal urbanism, material culture, and social practice. Her most recent book is A Material Culture: Consumption and Materiality on the pre-Colonial Coast of East Africa. (Oxford University Press, 2016).

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Published

2017-12-20

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Section

Articles

How to Cite

Horton, M., Fleisher, J., & Wynne-Jones, S. (2017). The Mosques of Songo Mnara in their Urban Landscape. Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 4(2), 163-188. https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.35272