From top to bottom: Kunduchi cemetery, Kunduchi Great pillar tomb with Ming porcelain & Step tomb in foreground | |
Location | Kunduchi ward, Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania |
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Coordinates | 6°39′45.36″S 39°12′54″E / 6.6626000°S 39.21500°E |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Material | Coral rag |
Founded | 10th century CE |
Abandoned | 18th century CE |
Cultures | Swahili |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1980s |
Archaeologists | Adria LaViolette & University of Dar es Salaam |
Ownership | Tanzanian Government |
Management | Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism[1] |
Architecture | |
Architectural styles | Swahili & Islamic |
Official name | Kunduchi Ruins Historic Site |
Type | Cultural |
inactive excavation |
Kunduchi (Magofu ya mji wa kale wa Kunduchi in Swahili ) is a Medieval Swahili National Historic Site located in Kunduchi ward, located in Kinondoni District of Dar es Salaam Region in Tanzania. There is an excavated 15th-century mosque on the site.[2][3] An 18th-century cemetery with the biggest collection of pillared tombs in East Africa, situated in a baobab woodland, and embellished with Ming era's porcelain plates. The pottery discovered here demonstrates the medieval town's affluence and trading connections with imperial China.[4]