This edited volume provides a compilation of research carried out on the Swahili coast and its archaeological sites. It is divided into three parts: Part I: environment, background and Swahili historiography; Part II: the Swahili age; and Part III: the early modern and modern Swahili coast. The Introduction explains that the book focuses on pre-colonial Swahili, in other words what they refer to as ‘the Swahili age’. The editors criticise the myth of external origins for the Swahili and rightly emphasise that the Swahili are Africans. They have more difficulty, however, when trying to integrate recent research findings extending inland, arguing that the Swahili are not just a coastal people. I would argue that the Swahili (not only in respect of their very recent name: ‘those of the coast’) are a primarily maritime culture with networks of exchange spread all around the Indian Ocean. Although this Introduction is far from comprehensive, the editors do acknowledge a link between the medieval Swahili and the modern Swahili, and they recognise the Swahili as a Muslim culture.

After two good chapters on the coastal landscape and the resources of the ocean fringe there follows a more critical chapter on history and archaeology: a tentative historiography. John Sutton explains that James Kirkman, the pioneer of Swahili archaeology, worked in virtual academic isolation. This seems slightly nonsensical; surely all pioneers are to some degree isolated? Sutton is, in my opinion, overly critical of Kirkman and his colleague Neville Chittick, and some of this criticism is entirely unwarranted. He suggests that these two deliberately avoided using radiocarbon dating because they were sceptical of the technique, but his example of how this led to erroneous conclusions is from a part of the site of Gede (outside the city wall), which was not discovered until after Kirkman's death. Chapters 6 and 8, entitled ‘Defining the genetic ancestry of the Swahili’ and ‘The Swahili language and its early history’, respectively, are very clear and informative. They demonstrate the diversity of the Swahili and the ways in which different Indian Ocean peoples and languages were integrated with local Bantu/African populations and cultures.

Part II starts with an interesting chapter on the Swahili origins, co-written by Horton and Chami, two important figures of Swahili archaeology who hold very different opinions on this topic. Horton promoted the Nilotic origin of the Swahili, whereas Chami emphasised the role of Bantu populations. This excellent chapter combines these two different visions to argue for the now established conclusion, supported by most linguists and biologists, that the Swahili have multiple origins including Arabia, India and Persia.

There then follows a succession of very short chapters all relating to the main Swahili archaeological sites, from Manda, Shanga and Malindi in the north to Pemba and the Zanzibar islands in the south. Throughout this section, and to some degree the whole book, there is a marked absence of illustrations, with almost no plans of the sites and monuments or material culture. Researchers or students will have to refer to articles or monographs to access the material mentioned. A notable exception is the chapter on ‘Gede’ (Gedi) by Matthew Pawlowicz, which is well documented, includes a good description of the site and (at last!) a good plan. The historiography of the site is, however, divided into three parts, giving equal weight to 10 years of work by Kirkman, five years of my own research and a single season by a PhD student. One might argue that affording equal prominence to investigations that lasted a mere one and a half months as to a combined 15 years of work (Kirkman and Pradines) is not scientifically realistic!

Wynne-Jones provides a chapter on the sites of Kilwa and Songo Mnara, although she makes limited reference to the previous research and conservation work carried out in Kilwa over a period of 10 years, and without mentioning the previously drawn map of Songo Mnara. Then we have two chapters on the Comoros: the first human settlements in the Comoros are still subject to discussion due to some suspicious radiocarbon dating, but most probably date to around the sixth to the eighth centuries AD. It would be extremely interesting for research purposes to understand what motivated these first settlements. It is, however, clear that by the ninth century, the main archaeological site of Dembeni was an active centre for the international trade of rock crystal, exporting to the Abbasid caliphate and Fatimid Egypt.

In the ‘Daily life’ section, it is encouraging to see that the editors have started to use ethnography to understand the Swahili. I agree with them that we have to distance ourselves a little from using comparative material, as the modern Swahili society is different from that of the medieval period, albeit not entirely. The chapter on metal work by Bertram could have benefited from greater engagement with historical sources. Although we have very limited historical information on sub-Saharan Africa, texts such as that of al-Idrisi specifically mention iron production on the East African coast and the quantities exported to India. Swahili archaeology is not just African archaeology or Islamic archaeology, it is a discipline related to medieval archaeology or historical archaeology, and therefore primary sources are important in order to understand and situate past material culture.

The next sub-section is devoted to trade and connectivity, with an interesting, although again poorly illustrated, chapter on dhow trade. Two further high-quality chapters by Walz and Kusimba examine the relationships between the Swahili and inland areas. The chapter on the currencies of the Swahili world is rather vague and would have benefited from greater input from numismatists. On the other hand, the chapters by Marilee Wood (on beads), by Seth Priestman (on Islamic ceramics) and by Bing Zhao and Dashu Qin (on Chinese ceramics) are excellent and well documented, with ceramic drawings and even photographs of the Chinese material.

Horton's chapter on the Islamic architecture of the Swahili coast deals exclusively with religious architecture: mosques and tombs. I would question whether this categorisation is appropriate—one could equally argue that Islamic architecture also encompasses palaces, forts, town walls and houses. This chapter also misses out some key German and French publications. Fortunately, the following chapter by Gensheimer does deal with Swahili houses and is more grounded in recent literature, despite again having too few illustrations.

Part III is devoted to the early modern and contemporary Swahili coast. I am pleased that this part attempts to acknowledge that Swahili culture is still very much alive. The chapter on ‘Islam in the Swahili world’ by Bang is essential to understanding coastal Muslim traditions and society. It is important to take into consideration the Sufi brotherhoods throughout the Indian Ocean, not only for anthropologists but also for archaeologists seeking to explain the presence of multiple mosques at sites such as Songo Mnara or Kua on the Tanzanian coast. The article by Biginagwa and Mapunda on the Kilwa-Nyasa caravan route provides insights into a major axis of the ivory/slave trade with the hinterland, an alternative to the famous route from Bagamoyo-Ujiji. Overall, this book has many positives, but is firmly focused on the Anglophone world.