An Archaeological Study of the Maldive Islands
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An Archaeological Study of the Maldive Islands: Investigating the Islamic Period Settlements Shiura Jaufar Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract This thesis presents an archaeological investigation of the remote Indian Ocean islands of the Maldives during the medieval Islamic period, through the excavation of three selected sites. The importance of the Maldives in medieval Indian Ocean trade networks, due to their geographical position at a crucial transit point and their exportation of cowry shell money (Monetaria moneta), is well known. However, these islands have received limited archaeological research, and that has focused largely on the pre-Islamic period. An archaeological study is important because the existing historical sources are on the whole relatively late and there has been a tendency to extrapolate them uncritically to earlier periods. Moreover, the Maldivian archaeological heritage faces various threats from development and environmental issues. Therefore, with the aim of documenting heritage at risk and filling some of the existing gaps in knowledge, the research is underpinned by four objectives: (1) investigating the landscape history and archaeology of the Islamic period in the Maldives; (2) creating a detailed typology of the pottery excavated; (3) examining the extent of intra-regional differences in the material culture; and, (4) shifting the focus away from the capital Male’ towards the poorly studied rural islands. The research objectives are addressed through the study of three archaeological sites dating to the Islamic period, discovered in the course of this doctoral research and located in the north, central and far central regions of the Maldives. The core dataset is the pottery recovered, and this thesis presents the first typological study of a scientifically excavated, stratigraphically contextualized and dated pottery assemblage recovered from medieval contexts in the Maldives. Other items of material culture recovered, including faunal remains and non-ceramic material culture, are also discussed. Together, these allow an exploration of the role of the Maldives and of their place in the Indian Ocean trade system during the medieval period. Indeed, both material culture and historical sources provide evidence for connections, over the longue durée, to several regions of the world, such as South Asia, China, Arabia, Persia and Europe. The thesis concludes that the Maldives were a nation with a strong maritime identity and suggests that Maldivian communities played an active and autonomous role in the Indian Ocean trade network. 2 Acknowledgements Alhamdhulillah! First of all, I am grateful to the Almighty Allah for giving me much courage, patience and strength to complete this thesis. This work is the result of a long journey which would not have been possible without the immense support and help of many people. I express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Anne Haour, who has been a tremendous supervisor for me. I am extremely grateful and indebted to her for giving me a chance to be a part of her research project on the Maldives. Her expert, sincere and valuable guidance and encouragement, as well as the precious time she gave for assisting me over the years are much appreciated. I would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust (Research Project Grant 2014-359), Sainsbury Research Unit Studentship, Sainsbury Research Unit Travel Fund, Faculty of Arts and Humanities Conference Grant, UEA Hardship Fund, and HUM PGR Fund for their financial support which made this project possible. A special thanks to my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my mother and father for all the sacrifices they have made on my behalf and for believing in me. Your prayers for me are what sustained me thus far. I would like to thank all my siblings and relatives especially Ayesha, Thiths and Thallo, Lilly and Baahu. A special thanks to Ayesha for taking the time to digitise my pottery tables, Thiths for helping me digitise tables and Thallo for being my thesaurus and for the proofreading. I would also like to dedicate a special thanks to Abdul Maniu for his immense help and support, especially for all the photographs and the countless hours spent on digitizing the section and pottery drawings. This research would not have been possible without the collaboration of many institutions in the Maldives, in particular the Department of Heritage and the Academy of Dhivehi Language. I offer my sincere thanks to the former Deputy Minister Yumna Maumoon, Director of Heritage Aishath Nazla, and colleagues from both institutions and from the National Museum for their continuous assistance with all the necessary arrangements required for the field trips to run smoothly in the Maldives. I offer a special thanks to the late Asiyath, who was the focal point at the Department of Heritage during the initial phase of this research. An additional thanks to Naseema Mohamed for her comments on the early drafts of this thesis and Dr. Ragupathy Ponnampalam and Ali Saahil for their input on finding Maldivian sources. I am also indebted to the Island Councils and the locals of Ha. Utheemu and M. Veyvah as well as the management and staff of Loama Maamigili Resort. Without their help it would 3 not have been possible to conduct research on these islands. Their immense support, generosity and hospitality will never be forgotten. I would also like to offer my gratitude to the staff of the University of East Anglia most importantly those from the Sainsbury Research Unit. I offer a special thanks to Dr. Annalisa Christie for being my mentor throughout this journey, for all the brainstorm sessions and feedback on this thesis; staff from the SRU library, especially Patricia Hewitt; Lynne Crossland and Lisa Farrington from SRU’s administrative office; my secondary supervisors Prof. John Mack and Dr. Joanne Clark; Dr. Fiona Savage, Dr. Alastair Grant, Dr. Chris Wingfield, MA students Francisca Mc Arthur and Valeriia Van Der Westhuizen, and other PhD colleagues at the SRU, especially Giulia Nazzaro, and everyone else who assisted me in any form and provided me with feedback. Furthermore, a vote of thanks also goes to those who assisted in the finds analysis - Shushma Jansari (Department of Asia, British Museum, London), Aimée Payton and Alessandra Cereda (Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford), Helen Rush and Debbie Harris (Conservation, Norfolk Museums Service), Dr. Marilee Wood (University of the Witswatersrand), Dr. St John Simpson (Department of the Middle East, British Museum, London), Dr. Laure Dussubieux (Field Museum, Chicago), Dr. Sarah Longair (University of Lincoln) and Dr. Ran Zhang (Durham University). Finally, I would also like to thank all my friends, to name a few; families of Isha and Zahu, Anee, Sofee and Asmau. Without them this would not have been possible. Thank you to every single person who helped me reach to this stage. 4 Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 5 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 24 Chapter 1: Introduction 15 1.1 Introduction 15 1.2 Research background and motivation 18 1.3 Research aims and objectives 19 1.4 Research questions 21 1.5 Theoretical framework 24 1.5.1 The World Systems Theory 24 1.5.2 Investigating other approaches 26 1.5.3 The Maldives in World Systems Theory 31 1.6 Thesis structure 34 Chapter 2: Geographical and historical setting 35 2.1 Introduction 35 2.2 The physical setting 35 2.2.1 Geography 36 2.2.2 Environment 36 2.2.2.1The raising environmental issues in the Maldives 37 2.2.3 Climate 39 2.3 The cultural setting 41 2.3.1 Most substantial written sources on the Maldives 41 2.3.1.1 Pre-Islamic period 41 2.3.1.2 Islamic period 46 2.3.2 The historical background 52 2.3.2.1 Peopling of the Maldives 53 2.3.2.2 Pre-Islamic period 57 2.3.2.3 The early Islamic period: 1153-1500 AD 61 2.3.2.4 The Maldives between 1500-1900 AD 62 2.4 Conclusion 66 Chapter 3: Previous archaeological work in the Maldives and 68 methodology for the present work 3.1 Introduction 68 3.2 Previous archaeological work carried out in the Maldives 68 3.2.1 Archaeological work in the Maldives, 1920 onwards: an overview 80 3.3 Methodological framework 83 3.3.1 Overview 83 3.3.2 Historical data 83 3.3.3 Museological data 84 3.3.4 Archaeological data 84 3.3.4.1 Excavations 84 3.3.4.2 Pottery analysis 94 3.4 Conclusion 94 Chapter 4: The excavations 95 4.1 Introduction 95 5 4.1.1 Attaining permission and securing collaboration 95 4.1.2 The team 95 4.1.3 The sites 96 4.1.4 Overall excavation methodology 97 4.2 Ha. Utheemu 98 4.2.1 Introduction 98 4.2.1.1 The site 98 4.2.1.2 Previous research on the island 99 4.2.1.3 Survey methodology 99 4.2.2 Unit 1 99 4.2.2.1 The location 99 4.2.2.2 Stratigraphy 100 4.2.2.3 Interpretation 102 4.2.3 Unit 2 102 4.2.3.1 The location 102 4.2.3.2 Stratigraphy 102 4.2.3.3 Interpretation 103 4.2.4 Unit 4 105 4.2.4.1 The location 105 4.2.4.2 Stratigraphy 105 4.2.4.3 Interpretation 109 4.2.5 Unit 5 110 4.2.5.1 The location 110 4.2.5.2 Stratigraphy 110 4.2.5.3 Interpretation 115 4.2.6 Overall interpretation of sites excavated in Ha.