What may be found in the ruins of Gedi? The Gedi Ruins are an archaeological and historical site on the coast of Kenya. It was named a World Heritage Site on July 29, 2024. The location is close to the town of Gedi, also called Gede, in the Kilifi District, inside the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Stretching from Barawa, Somalia, to the Zambezi River in Mozambique, Gedi is one of the ancient Swahili coastal villages. From southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu, which is close to the Kenya-Tanzania border, there are 116 Swahili sites that have been recognized. Along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros, Gedi has been one of the sites most thoroughly excavated and investigated since colonialists unearthed the ruins there in the 1920s.
The Gedi ruins’ structural design
The old Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is where the 45 acres (18 ha) of Gedi ruins are situated. The old town of Gedi is divided by two walls, the inner wall covering 18 acres (7.3 hectares) and the outer wall covering 45 acres (18 hectares). The inner wall encloses the urban core, which is made up of four massive residences, several clustered households, two mosques, a palace or Sheikh’s residence, and four enormous pillar tombs. The inner wall encloses four more houses and three more mosques. Very few stone structures between the inner and outer walls have been identified, with the exception of two mosques. Outside the outer wall are a number of unknown buildings, including one mosque.
In addition to having a well-established infrastructure, Gedi is divided by inner and outer walls, creating an urban core that is occupied by the most significant structures on the site as well as areas of occupation outside and between the outer wall. The streets in Gedi appear to be laid out according to a rigid grid pattern. Additionally, there were bathrooms and sump pumps for collecting storm water in a number of the site’s principal buildings. The majority of the structures at Gedi were thatched-roofed domestic homes arranged between the inner and outer walls. Coral stones extracted from the Indian Ocean were used to construct the few structures that still stand today.
Although some of the structures predate the fourteenth century, coral gained popularity as a building material for important structures and wealthy residences at that time. Every building at Gedi is a one-story structure. The walls and other coral buildings were constructed using lime mortar and similar methods, with the majority of foundations being filled with stones and only a foot deep. If foundations were used, they were usually no bigger than the wall they supported. There are many instances of non-utilitarian design elements. The tombs and mosques have carved or porcelain spandrels and architraves, and the buildings’ doorways have pointed archways with square frames.
Walls
The inner and outer walls were built using similar techniques. The plastered exterior wall was nine feet tall and eighteen inches thick. It is believed that the outside wall was constructed in the fourteenth century. Although gun ports indicate that the walls were not constructed earlier, the inner wall is linked to the Portuguese occupation along the coast in the sixteenth century. It is unclear if the town’s walls and gates are truly effective as defensive fortifications, given Kirkman’s assertion that they are weak. The idea that the walls and building layout were designed to maintain social barriers is supported by this.
The Grave
An architectural style typical of the old Swahili coastal villages is exemplified by the pillar tombs at Gedi. They are made up of structures with masonry foundations supported by columns or pillars. Ornamental recessed panels are a defining feature of the pillar tombs at Gedi. The “dated tomb,” located inside the inner wall of Gedi, stands apart from the other four massive pillar tombs because it bears an Arabic inscription that reads “A.H. 802” (A.D. 1399).
The Mosques
The mosques at Gedi feature wells and spaces for washing that could have been used for purification prior to prayer. However, they were not constructed with minarets for the call to prayer, in contrast to other locations. The Mihrab, which was situated on the north walls facing Mecca, was obscured by the aisles supported by pillars.
Gedi is home to two mosques that have been named “Great Mosques.” The mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, is the rectangular building inside the inner wall that was constructed in the fourteenth century. The Great Mosque’s central section has three entrances and three rows of pillars supporting the ceiling. The east entrance’s architrave is etched with a herringbone design, and above one of the apertures is a relief of a spear point with a shield on its spandrel.
With walls that are 21 inches wide and extend four feet below the surface, the structure also has one of the deepest foundations.
The second Great Mosque was located in the city’s older, eleventh-century section to the north of the walled city. The present structure was constructed in the fourteenth century and is situated on two earlier mosques from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The mosque is 26 meters (85 feet) long and extends from north to south.
The residential buildings that currently survive are entirely inside the inner wall and serve as a decent depiction of the community’s aristocracy because the majority of Gedi’s population lived in mud-thatched cottages outside the city center. The four largest houses are the Large House, the House on the Wall, the House on the West Wall, and the House of the Dhow. The four largest houses are the Large House, the House on the Wall, the House on the West Wall, and the House of the Dhow. A collection of smaller homes that are adjacent to the palace or Sheik’s residence are known as the House of Chinese Cash, the House of the Porcelain Bowl, the House of the Cistern, the House of the Two Rooms, the House of the Panelled Walls, the House of the Scissors, the House of the Venetian Bead, the House of the Sunken Court, the House of the Cowries, the House of the Iron Lamp, the House of the Iron Box, and the House of the Well.
The Houses
What may be found in the ruins of Gedi?
Although the houses in Gedi varied in size, number of rooms, and layout, the basic house is a three-room structure that usually had a forecourt and domestic court. The three-room layout frequently had a long main room with two storage areas and a bedroom at the rear of the house. A storage compartment near the ceiling was accessed by a trapdoor in one of the rear rooms. Some of the houses had wells in their courtyards, and many of the buildings featured latrines, which were frequently located at the back of the main chamber.
Because many of the buildings were created to maximize the available space and were closely crowded, there is more variance in the layout of the passages at the entrances than in other types of housing.
The Hinterland
A handful of smaller locations with a combination of several homes or solitary mosques and tombs can also be found in the hinterland of Gedi. The locations of Kilepwa and Shaka are nearby. Kilepwa is located on an island in Mida Creek, closer to Gedi, and has three stone houses. Watamu has a mosque, Kiburugeni has a mosque and tombs, and the west end of the stream has a solitary mosque.
The palace
The city’s sheikh resided in a palace with two anterooms off a large central room, each with a patio. There were other residential rooms accessible from the main hall. Two other courts that were accessible through different gates were the welcoming court and the audience court.
