Archaeological excavations at Mankhamba, Malawi: An early settlement site of the Maravi

Archaeological excavations at the site of Mankhamba, Malawi, have yielded information related to the subsistence strategies, technology, and long distance or international trade practised by the Maravi. This information has helped clarify, and in some cases confirm, historical evidence regarding the Maravi as presented in the oral traditions of their descendents, the Chewa, and in the written records left by early Portuguese explorers and traders. Some of the results clarify chronological issues related to their arrival at Mankhamba and their abandonment of the site, the level of complexity that they achieved as a society, and the role they played in long distance trade. The evidence shows that the Maravi at Mankhamba eventually evolved into a self-sufficient trade-based complex society that became very prosperous in the seventeenth century. That prosperity helped them establish the Maravi state with Mankhamba as its political and commercial capital.