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Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): preliminary results from the 2015–2016 field seasons

ABSTRACT Somaliland was a key region in the trade routes connecting the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean from antiquity to the nineteenth century. However, little archaeological work on this topic has been carried out in the region to date. A new project by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) intends not only to assess the role of Somaliland in the Indian Ocean network, but also to understand the participation of local communities in long distance trade and the impact this had on their sociopolitical organisation and culture. This paper presents data from two field seasons undertaken respectively in 2015 and 2016. These included a preliminary survey of the ports of Zeila and Berbera and the latter’s hinterland that gathered important data that help illuminate the relationship between Somaliland and the wider world, between the coast and the interior and between merchants and local societies during the second millennium AD. The survey also casts light on the little known pastoralist communities of the region and their funerary rituals.