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Plate 28.5 Longquan ware shards from the early Ming period (early Plate 28.6 Blue-and-white shards from the Yuan dynasty unearthed
15th century) unearthed from Gedi Ruin from Gedi Ruin
of context. In order to examine the quantity of Chinese Ming period is due to the fact that there is not enough
ceramic exports from a chronological perspective, studying material from shipwrecks to cover this period in time.
a coherent context or stratum of an ancient trading site is a However, there are sufficient discoveries on land to show
better way of understanding the issue of the evolution of the that the ‘Ming Gap’ did not exist at this time. The
export of Chinese ceramics. Longquan kilns have been extensively excavated in recent
Research by our team as part of this project in the coastal years and the dating of late 14th and 15th century wares is
areas of Kenya shows that the absence of export ware during now more securely linked to archaeological evidence from
the late Yuan to the Hongwu reign (1325–98) in the early the production sites in the Longquan area of Zhejiang
province. A large quantity of Longquan ware dating to this
Plate 28.7 Underglazed copper-red Yuhuchun vase unearthed from period has been discovered along the coast of Kenya (Pl.
Gedi Ruin (restored) 28.5), in addition to a few blue-and-white (Pl. 28.6) and
underglaze copper-red wares from Jingdezhen (Pl. 28.7).
Following on from this, we can now use data derived
from our investigation of Chinese ceramics unearthed from
the Gedi Ruins on the outskirts of Malindi to examine
thoroughly the state of Chinese ceramic exports during the
late Yuan to early Ming periods. The Gedi site is located
15km southwest of Malindi in the central part of the Kenyan
coastal region. It was the largest and most important ancient
settlement in the region and judging by the size of the site,
academics believe that it was a settlement of 3,000 people.
On the basis of archaeological excavation and related
research, scholars estimate that it was built in the 12th or
13th century. It slowly developed into a prosperous
settlement and lasted until the 16th century when it was
abruptly abandoned. James Kirkman was in charge of
archaeological excavations at the site for a period of more
12
than ten years from 1948 and it is the most extensively
excavated site in the Kenyan coastal area. As part of our
project, we conducted research on all the ceramic pieces (a
total of 1,257) excavated from the site, identifying the areas
of production and determining the dates of manufacture. 13
In terms of the production areas, 732 pieces (58.23%)
were Longquan wares (including Longquan type wares
made in the broader area of Longquan in China), 469
(37.71%) were made in Jingdezhen, 30 (2.39%) were Fujian
wares, 14 (1.11%) were from Guangdong, 1 (0.08%) was
Cizhou ware and 6 pieces (0.48%) remain unidentified. An
investigation into the Longquan wares revealed that almost
none of them could be dated to the Southern Song and most
248 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450