Shanga

Mosque Name: Shanga

Country: Kenya

City:Shanga

Year of construction (AD): 750-799

GPS: -2.125483 41.065378

Gibson Classification: Unknown

Description:

The eaerly mosque is about 1.64 x 2.59 meters, and probably served visiting Arab merchants. Later a larger mosque was built on the same site. The early site was determined by holes in the ground where posts had been pounded in. There has been some controversy around the claim that this was a mosque.

References:

Horton, Mark, 1996. Shanga: The Archaeology of the Muslaim Trading Community on the Coast of East Africa, Memories of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 14, London: The British Institute in Eastern Africa, 15, 209-210.

Horton, Mark, 1996. Shanga: The Archaeology of the Muslaim Trading Community on the Coast of East Africa, Memories of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 14, London: The British Institute in Eastern Africa, 15, 216-217.

Horton, Mark, 1991. “Primitive Islam and Architecture in East Africa”, Muqarnas 8, K. A. C. Creswell and His Legacy: 103-116.

Horton, Mark C., 2004. “Islam, Archaeology, and Swahili Identity”, in: Donald Whitcomb (ed.), Changing Social Identity with the Spread of Islam: Archaeological Perspectives, Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 67-88. https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/ois/ois-1-changing-social-identity-spread-islam-archaeological-perspectives

For the Changsha Ware: Qin, Dashu, and Ching Ho, Justin, forthcoming. “Chinese Ceramics Exported to Africa during the 9th-10th Centuries – Product Characteristics, Scale and Temporal Variations”, in: Hagit Nol (ed.), Long-Distance Trade in Early Medieval Landscapes, Medieval and Post-Medieval Mediterranean Archaeology Series 4, Brepols.