1.2.1. Trade from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries in Siyaara
Although materials from the early second millennium appear throughout the site, they are noticeably more abundant on the southern half and particularly around the large cairn, in the zone that we named Tumulus. The materials around the cairn are very similar to those of Bandar Abbas. The assemblage is dominated by Yemeni storage and cooking pottery with thickened, beveled rims, and Indian kitchenware (Fig. 8). Yemeni pots with wavy line decoration are of the transitional type and can be thus dated between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as in Bandar Abbas. As for Indian pottery, seven vessels are of the Indian Red and Black Burnished type (IRAB) and three of Soft Burnished Black Ware (SBBW) (Priestman 2013: 545–546) (Fig. 9). The latter, which comes from Gujarat, has a characteristic porous and crumbly fabric and, although it has been dated from the seventh to ninth centuries (Kennet, 2004: 66), it has also been found in contexts extending to as late as the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries (Newton, 2007: 181; Smith et al., 2012: 182–183; Priestman 2013: 131).
Fine wares of this period in Tumulus are only represented by celadon (see below). In the northern part of the site, we gathered 18 fragments of Indian kitchenware, the largest number in the central part (seven SBBW, three IRAB). Yemeni storage and cooking pots are scarcer—only 12 fragments. Since the same amount of the Indian and early Yemeni pottery (30 fragments) have been located in the zone around the cairn (numbers 1 to 3 on the map) and in the rest of the site, which is around four times larger, it is obvious that the earlier occupation concentrated on the south. To the early period of occupation of Siyaara we can also assign three fragments of Late Sgraffiato (mid-eleventh to the thirteenth century), belonging to as many vessels, found in Central, a negligible number compared to Bandar Abbas. Among the older-looking glazed wares there are four bright, emerald-green glazed sherds, decorated with incision and stamps, belonging to three different bowls. The origin of these wares is possibly Iran.
From the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we have three sherds of Mustard Ware/Yemeni Yellow, a very low number considering the abundance of South Arabian materials in Somaliland at different times and the importance of the international trade in Yemeni Yellow, which reached the East African coast (Horton, 1996: 291; Pradines, 2004: 241, fig. 206). Mustard Ware was also made in Egypt (Monchamp, 2018: 182), but the area around Aden, in Yemen, was probably the main center of production (Hardy-Guilbert and Rougeulle, 1995). Aden is the Yemeni port closest to Berbera (only 260 km). The general scarcity of this kind of pottery in Somaliland suggests that local consumers preferred other glazed vessels, such as Early Monochrome Ware, also from Yemen, which is represented by a minimum number of 8 vessels and is common in other sites. These are small bowls or cups with an opaque and dull glaze inside of pale blue to olive green color. The fabric is orange to red. They are dated to 1250–1300 in Yemen (Hardy-Guilbert and Rougeulle, 1995: 33–35). In Siyaara, they have been documented in Central and East. Other Yemeni pottery from this period is the White Cream Ware, which is relatively abundant: we have a minimum number of 21 vessels, of which four coming from the Tumulus zone. This pottery has thin walls, creamy, white to beige fabric and incised decoration, forming friezes (Fig. 8, box). Hardy-Guilbert and Rougeulle, 1997: 131–132, Fig. 2: 15–19) date this pottery to the twelfth-fourteenth centuries, but in Somaliland, it is very common in levels of the Adal Sultanate (fifteenth-sixteenth century). The style and fabric of these pieces evolve: the fragments of white cream from Tumulus, which are most probably earlier, have a different fabric, with soapy texture, stark white color and simple incision, whereas sherds in Adalite contexts have a dull, beige to pink surface and more complex decorations. Predominant shapes are small jugs and bottles. Also to the pre-Adalite period belong long-necked jugs and tall cups of beige color and well-levigated fabric that appear throughout the site (but not in Tumulus). The jugs bear a strong resemblance in shape and fabric with those of the Yadhghat kilns (Rougeulle, 2015: 153–154) and their Yemeni provenance is more than likely. They are dated to the eleventh-twelfth centuries but surely had a longer life.
Most of the Chinese Celadon documented during our survey can probably be dated to the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. This is the case with the small bowls and thin-walled cups with grey fabric and high-quality grey-green glaze, of which we have several rims. To this period can be dated with certainty a sherd with incised decoration of vegetal motifs which appeared in Central. From the same zone come three Qingbai bases, one of them with lotus petals identical to the piece found in Bandar Abbas. Another fragment from a Qingbai bowl comes from Tumulus. Qingbai is the most common of the Chinese ceramics exported to the Gulf and East Africa during the mid-tenth to mid-thirteenth centuries (Zhao, 2015b: 19), whereas Longquan celadons were traded massively in East Africa during the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries (Pradines, 2004: 240). It is logical that a similar chronological framework works for the Horn of Africa.
To the period under discussion may belong seven bangles of twisted trail, six in black and white and three in yellow, white and black or green. Identical bracelets have been found in levels dated 1250 to 1500 in Palestine and Jordan (Spaer, 1992; Steiner, 2008). The problem here is that we cannot distinguish between the Adalite and pre-Adalite periods. The same happens with most of the phials, bottles, and flasks that litter the site. A few glass artifacts provide a more precise dating. These include four bottoms of mold-blown glass flasks with flower or honeycomb designs that are common between the tenth and twelfth centuries (Rougeulle, 2015: 330–331, fig. 241–242; Swan Needell, 2018: pl. 5, cat. 48) and three pieces of marvered glass, which is common in levels of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries in Egypt (e.g. Whitcomb, 1983: 103–104). The early glass appears on the eastern part of the site, in the area of mounds 4, 5 and 6 (Fig. 10).
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