Gedi ruins are an archaeological and historical site located near the coast of the Indian Ocean in eastern Kenya’s coastal region. Situated near to the town of Gedi (also known as Gede) in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, the site is a popular tourist destination.
Located along the coast from Mogadishu, Somalia, to the Zambezi River in Mozambique, Gedi is one of numerous medieval Swahili coastal towns that can be found. There are 116 identified Swahili sites, ranging from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu, near the Kenya-Tanzania border, and are located worldwide. Because of the recovery of the Gedi remains by colonial explorers in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensively excavated and examined of the sites discovered so far. The other investigated areas include Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and Comoros.
The archaeological site at Gedi consists of a walled town and its surrounding surroundings. Gedi’s standing structures, including mosques, a palace, and many residences, are all made of stone, are one-story structures, and dispersed across the town in an unequal distribution pattern. Aside from that, there are huge open areas in the village that were home to earth and thatch dwellings. Stone “pillar tombs,” a particular style of Swahili Coast architecture found at Gedi, are also found in the area.
With its coastal location and proximity to other trading centers along the Swahili Coast, Gedi established itself as an important commercial center. Even though just a few historical texts expressly link Gedi to the Indian Ocean trade, the location is widely considered one of the most important sites along the coastline. Throughout the city’s occupation, which began as early as the eleventh century and ended as recently as the early seventeenth century, its architecture and a plethora of imported material culture, including ceramics, coins, and beads, provide evidence of the city’s increasing affluence.
The finding and excavation of the earth’s crust
The site of Gedi was known to the Mijikenda people of the surrounding area, even though it remained unknown to the majority of British East African colonists until the 1920s. The Giriama, one of the Mijikenda tribes, maintains a sizable village near the Gedi ruins, which they regard as a sacred and spiritual location. Despite changes in their religious beliefs and the increasing prominence of Islam in the region, many people believe that evil and ancestor spirits still reside at Gedi. According to local legend, the ruins are guarded by the hearts of the priests who once lived there. This group of “Old Ones” is rumored to curse anyone who causes harm to the location.
The Gedi remains were found by colonial authorities in 1884, following a visit to the site by Sir John Kirk, a British resident of Zanzibar at the time. Around the 1920s, the area received attention from the British East African government. The ruins were rediscovered and given proper attention. Starting in the late 1940s, excavations at Gedi have continued to this day, and the site continues to be part of the most intensively investigated Swahili Coast villages. Due to the significance of the site’s ruins and their spatial relationships, researchers have been able to determine the site’s role within the region in conjunction with other sites, providing insight into the development of Swahili culture, Islam’s introduction and spread, the organization of Indian Ocean trade, and the political and economic relations between Swahili communities through their cultural remains and spatial relationships.
Archaeological investigation in its infancy
Construction of the Gedi site began in 1948 under the guidance of James Kirkman. Excavations continued there until 1958, with sporadic work from 1960 until the 1980s. As part of the city’s center excavations, which included the palace and several mosques and homes, Kirkman also removed and repaired the city’s fortifications. Excavation of the Great Mosque began in 1954, while the hole of the palace began in 1963. As a result of this excavation of the Great Mosque, Kirkman’s written report, “The Arab City of Gedi, Architecture, The Great Mosque, and Finds,” was published. He wrote several monographs and studies in the years that followed. Concurrent with the excavations at Gedi during the 1950s, excavations at similar sites along the Swahili Coast were also taking place.
A survey of 116 locations along the coast conducted by Wilson in 1982 discovered 34 isolated ruins, which he determined were possibly the remains of small villages or isolated houses. Even though smaller towns were investigated, more prominent locations garnered the most of the focus. Other than Gedi, the site with the most significant amount of excavation was Ungwana, which was located near the mouth of the Tana River and was around the same size as Gedi. On the other hand, Gedi has one of the more densely populated urban centers compared to other places of similar size.
An archaeological investigation conducted recently during the 1990s, archaeological investigations at Gedi and other Swahili coastal communities have become more intensive. Archaeological research has increasingly focused on the relationships between coastal communities and the interior since the 1980s, considering the traditional view that development on the Swahili Coast was primarily driven by foreign influence, whether through the Indian Ocean trade of Arab colonists. Another significant breakthrough in the study of Swahili coastal sites has been the increasing attention that has been paid to the remains of constructions that were not constructed from stone. Gedi’s open landscape revealed high concentrations of mud-thatched homes discovered during archaeological surveys. During a topographic study of Gedi in 2001, archaeologists from the National Museum of Kenya collaborated with Stephane Pradines of the Institute Française d’Archeologie Orientale to map the distribution of neighborhoods to investigate the site’s urban history. At the same time, Lynn Koplin conducted assessments of the mud-thatch communities, concentrating on the space between their inner and outer walls. Research at Gedi focuses on urban development before the fifteenth century, emphasizing a group of coral houses built by the social elites in the site’s urban core between the years 2002 to 2003.
As a result of excavations and historical materials relevant to Gedi’s architecture, material culture, and the known history of trade that links the Swahili Coast with places adjacent to the Indian Ocean, an inferred history of occupation at Gedi has been developed. Even though the settlement of Gedi occurred centuries after the development of the early towns along the Swahili Coast, the intensification of trade on the Swahili Coast in the sixth century was a significant factor in its establishment. The earliest evidence of human presence at Gedi comes in the form of a grave monument that has been radiocarbon dated to be between 1041 and 1278, indicating that the original settlement of the site occurred somewhere in the eleventh or early twelfth centuries. Historically, it is thought that Gedi’s engagement in trade played a role in the city’s creation and its expansion into a bustling metropolis with a peak population of approximately 2,500 people. Although no historical texts expressly name Gedi, it is often regarded as one of the most significant places along the coast. Before the erection of the outer wall in the fifteenth century, the city began to expand in the northern section of the contemporary site, where the modern site is located today. The acceptance of Islam by the city’s residents in the twelfth century is evidenced by the presence of the three superimposed mosques in the northern region of the city, which were built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries and are still standing today. The type of architecture and the absence of minarets common to all of Gedi’s mosques have been used to infer that the locals were influenced by the Ibadite denomination, supported by archaeological evidence.
During the eleventh through fourteenth centuries, urban development in Gedi spread predominantly to the north, west, and south, with the population eventually concentrating around the Great Mosque during the fifteenth century. During the fifteenth century, the people of Gedi began to decline. The people and prosperity of Gedi reached their zenith during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Along with many other coastal cities, it deteriorated in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Gedi had been wholly abandoned. In addition to their attempts to monopolize trade and their violent intervention, the presence of the Portuguese in Gedi during the sixteenth century has been cited as one of the critical factors in the island’s eventual abandonment. A reduction in the water table, as evidenced by the deepening of a well next to the Great Mosque in 1589, a Wazimba raid along the coast in 1590, and Galla migrations and incursions from Somalia may have all contributed to the abandonment of Gedi and most of the mainland coastal settlements north of Mombasa. Architecture The Gedi ruins are located on 45 acres (18 hectares) of land in the ancient Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. They comprise a site that is 45 acres (18 hectares) in size. Initially, the old town of Gedi was surrounded by two walls, with one encompassing 45 acres (18 hectares) and the other enclosing 18 acres (7.5 hectares) of land (7.3 hectares).
The urban core comprises two mosques, a palace or Sheikh’s residence, four huge houses, several clustered houses, and four enormous pillar tombs within the city’s inner wall. The inner wall additionally has four additional dwellings and three other mosques. According to archaeological evidence, there are very few stone structures between the internal and outside walls except for two mosques. Near the outer border, a mosque and several other undetermined facilities. Additionally, Gedi has a well-established infrastructure divided by the inner and outer walls, which created an urban core occupied by the site’s most important buildings and areas of occupation between and outside the outer wall and divided by the inner and outer walls. Gedi’s structures appear to be formally constructed according to a grid design following streets set out in a grid pattern. The property also had sumps to collect rainwater and lavatories in several of its principal buildings, which was a nice touch. The majority of the structures in Gedi’s were domestic residences constructed of thatched-roofed mud buildings clustered between both the inner and outer walls; however, the only systems that have survived to the present day were built of coral stones mined from the Indian Ocean and used in the construction of the facilities. The coral used to construct prominent structures and elite mansions became more widespread during this historical period, despite several designs dating back to the fourteenth century. All of the buildings on the Gedi campus are one-story constructions. The walls and other coral buildings were built similarly, using lime mortar. The majority of the foundations were no deeper than one foot in-depth and filled with stones to conserve space. It was common to practice for foundations to be no broader than the wall they supported when foundations were utilized. There are various examples of non-utilitarian design elements that can be found on the internet. The doorways for the buildings are square-framed pointed archways, with spandrels and architraves carved or inlaid with porcelain on the tombs and mosques, respectively.
Walls
Similarly, the inner and outer walls were constructed. The outer fence measured nine feet high and 18 inches thick, likewise plastered. The outer wall was built during the fourteenth century, according to historical records. Several scholars believe that the construction of the inner wall coincided with Portugal’s arrival on the Spanish coast in the sixteenth century. In contrast, others believe that the presence of gun ports indicates that the walls were not built earlier. Nevertheless, the usefulness of the walls as a defensive fortification is debatable, as Kirkman claims that the walls and gates that encircle the town have no significant strength, which appears to be following a theory that the walls and the layout of the buildings were used to maintain social barriers. Even though the inner fence serves a more obvious defensive function, and despite the absence of gun ports and the doubtful robustness of the outer wall, the inner wall has been credited with serving as a fortification by historians.
Mosques
The mosques at Gedi were equipped with wells and washing facilities, which would have been used to cleanse the congregation before the start of worship. However, they were not built with minarets, which were more common in other parts of the world and were used to call people to prayer. Gedi’s mosques were usually laid out with anterooms flanking the center space, which featured a roof supported by wooden beams resting on square stone pillars and a ceiling supported by wood beams resting on square stone pillars. Due to the aisles made by the posts, the mihrab, which was located on the north walls facing Mecca, was prohibited from being seen. Two mosques in Gedi have been dubbed “Great Mosques,” referring to their size and importance. The Great Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque, is a rectangular structure within the city’s inner wall constructed around the fourteenth century. The Great Mosque includes three entrances and three rows of pillars in the center area that support the roof of the building. The architrave of the east entrance is etched with a herringbone pattern, and the relief above one of the openings depicts a spear point flanked by a shield on its spandrel. The building also features one of the deepest foundations in the world, with walls that are 21 inches broad and reach four feet into the subsoil. When it was built, it was the second Great Mosque in an older section of the city, occupied since the eleventh century and made to the north of the walled city. The current construction was built on top of two previous mosques dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, demolished in the nineteenth century. The mosque is 26 meters (85 ft) long and has a north-south orientation, making it the longest mosque globally.
Tombs
At Gedi, there is a pillar tomb. According to archaeologists, the pillar tombs at Gedi, masonry buildings with a pillar or column atop them are examples of an architectural style associated with medieval Swahili coastal villages. Recessed panels with ornate designs are a common element on the pillar tombs at Gedi. Even though there are four enormous pillar tombs in Gedi, the “dated tomb,” which is placed within the inner wall, stands out because it bears an Arabic inscription on it with the date A.H. 802, making it possible unique among the others (A.D. 1399). Gedi’s houses are all within the city’s inner wall. They symbolize the living conditions of Gedi society’s upper classes, as the vast bulk of its inhabitants lived in mud thatched huts outside the city walls. The House on the Wall, the House of the Dhow, the House on the West Wall, and the Large House are the four largest residences on the island of Phuket. The House of the Chinese Cash, the House of the Cowries, the House of the Cistern, the House of the Scissors the House of the Paneled Walls, the House of the Two Rooms, the House of the Venetian Bead, the House of the Sunken Court, the House of the Iron Lamp, the House of the Porcelain Bowl the House of the Iron Box, and the House of the Cowries are among the smaller houses that are adjacent to the palace or Shei.
However, even though the buildings at Gedi vary in size, several rooms, and layout, the most basic construction on the site is a three-room structure that includes a forecourt and domestic court. There was usually one big main room with two storage areas and sleeping quarters towards the back of the house with the three-room plan. In most cases, one of the back rooms would include a storage compartment near the ceiling, which a trapdoor could access. Several of the buildings also had restrooms, usually positioned toward the back of the main chamber. Some of the houses had water sources in their courtyards and wells in their yards. Thirty years ago, one of the oldest stone buildings was built with a long narrow sunken court, in contrast to the broader and deeper courts found in houses built during the fifteenth century. Because many of the buildings were heavily packed and set out to maximize the use of available space, the entrances of homes have a more significant degree of heterogeneity in the form of their passages.
Palace
The palace, which was served as the residence of the city’s Sheikh, consisted of a big central room with two anterooms, each of which had a courtyard. Several residential rooms were located off the main hall and were accessible from there. Four different courts were also present: the audience and the receiving courts, each accessible via a separate entrance.
Hinterland
Gedi also has a hinterland that comprises several minor sites, solitary mosques, or tombs of several dwellings, depending on the situation. The archaeological sites of Shaka and Kilepwa are close. Kilepwa, located on an island in the Mida Creek and is closer to Gedi than Gedi itself, comprises three stone structures. Additionally, an isolated mosque may be found near the western end of the stream and at Watamu and graves at Kiburugeni. Cultural productions made of material are known as material culture. There have been many objects discovered at Gedi. Still, the literature’s most abundant and often studied are beads and pottery, used to determine trade routes and dates for the site’s habitation. Two Chinese coins, a porcelain bowl, scissors, cowrie shells, a Venetian Bead, an iron lamp, and an iron box are among the artifacts found within or associated with the stone houses that have given their names to the structures. Comparing the material remains discovered in Gedi with those located at adjacent Swahili coastal settlements has revealed that they are similar, with the most extensive degree of diversity among the forms of pottery represented. In his study of eight sites, Kirkman discovered that the sites of Gedi, Ungwana, and Kilepwa had nearly identical material remains before the fifteenth century and that the areas of Mnarani, the Pillar Tomb at Malindi, Kinuni, Takwa, and Kilindidni had increasingly similar material culture over fifteen centuries to the seventeenth century. In addition to local productions, one of the most significant contributors to the presence of cultural materials at the site is the importance of Indian Ocean trade, which played an increasingly important role in East Africa during the beginning of the Islamic era in the seventh century and continued to play a role until the present day.