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Chibuene Summary

Chibuene is an archaeological site located five kilometres south of Vilcanculos, Mozambique, and occupied from approximately AD 600 to AD 1700 continuously and into the present, intermittently. This site participated in the Indian Ocean trade network and is currently the most southern located site on the eastern African coast. Archaeological samples at the site revealed that Chibuene's occupation contained two major periods of occupation. The objects presented in the lower deposits contained glazed and unglazed pottery, glass, iron fragments, and beads made of shell and glass. The upper layers contained a distinguishable change in ceramic typology. In addition, two types of imported glazed pottery have been recovered from the site. The main subsistence pattern of the inhabitants of the site appeared to derive from the coast which included fish, marine mammals, and reptiles. Additionally, contemporary farmers in the region produce maize, sorghum, manioc, beans, and peanuts.

The lower layers of occupation contained the presence of early Matola pottery typically associated with early farming communities in the region. In addition to glass beads which revealed the locations importance as an entry point for glass which later found its way into the interior by the end of the first millennium AD. The site likely contributed to glass beads presented in sites within Shashe-Limpopo, the Zimbabwe Plateau, and Botswana to about AD 1000. The considerable amount of glass and shell recovered in the lower occupation deposits suggested the site trading extensively within the Indian Ocean trade network in the late first millennium AD.

Manyikeni, a Zimbabwean traditional style of stone walled settlement 10 km west of Chibuene, possibly gained control of the site after AD 1200. This is attested by the increased similarity of later occupation deposits containing pottery similar in character to Manyikeni. In addition, this is corroborated by the precence of marine shell and imports from Indian ocean trade in the context of Manyikeni deposits suggesting the coast and hinterlands were connected through trade networks. Chibuene acted as the way point for entry of materials and resources from the eastern coast and the trade network it provided.