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Chapter 28 From 2010–13, Peking University and the National Museum
of Kenya undertook a project entitled ‘Sino–Kenyan
Ming Ceramics Cooperative Archaeological Project in Lamu Archipelago
1
Areas’, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the
Discovered in Kenya and People’s Republic of China. As part of this project, the
School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University
Some Related Issues carried out excavations and also conducted a thorough study
of Chinese ceramics unearthed in Kenyan coastal areas
from previous archaeological excavations and surveys.
Qin Dashu Research on Chinese ceramics in Kenya’s coastal areas

The joint archaeological team from Peking University and
the National Museum of Kenya conducted three studies of
Chinese ceramics unearthed in Kenya. The examined
objects were from 37 sites or shipwrecks located through
formal excavation and investigations at locations along the
Kenyan coast from 2010 to 2013. These included Fort Jesus
in Mombasa, the Gedi Ruins of Malindi, the site of Shanga
2
3
4
on Pate Island and the Manda town ruins on Manda
5
Island. Chinese ceramics of unknown provenance held at
the Fort Jesus Museum, the Gedi Ruins Museum and the
Lamu Museum were also examined. A total of 9,552
Chinese ceramic sherds were collected and studied from
these varied sources. An additional 1,060 Chinese ceramic
sherds uncovered during the excavation projects and a small
number of Japanese and Southeast Asian ceramics were
analysed and sorted. In terms of scale, this Kenyan coastal
project is the second biggest of all the sites around the Indian
Ocean rim to have yielded finds of Chinese ceramics. The
largest project is the work on Chinese ceramics from the site
of Fustat, the old town of Cairo. 6
The project proceeded as follows: 1) selecting and piecing
together ceramic sherds excavated from Kenyan coastal
sites; 2) conducting a typological study identifiying the place
of manufacture, the classification of types and dating the
finds; 3) compiling statistics according to their types; 4)
measuring, cataloguing and illustrating the samples (Pl.
28.1), and photographing all the ceramics with a colour
chart in raw format; 5) creating a database of Chinese
ceramics from the coastal areas of Kenya and publishing the
final report. The research methodologies were as follows:
1. The identification of production areas or kiln origins

Plate 28.1 The China-Kenya joint archaeology team illustrating
Chinese ceramics unearthed in Kenya

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