This is a coin, a chinece coin from the song dynasty dated between 1040-1050 ad found in harlaa site near dire dhabe. Does this date mean anything to you? It should cause it's really close to the date of the very first official delegation sent by the sammalan kingdom to the chines court in 1003 ad but also according the chinese accounts there were more such expedition sent by the sammalan kingdom up until the mongol era.
One such expedition very close to the date of this coin happened in 1053 ad. They also found a coin from the tang dynasty and although it was made in 621 ad or one year before hijra it was in circulation for a long time. At it's earliest it could've come to northern somalia around the eighth century which corresponds to the account of jia dan.
Any literature on the history of northern somali especially during this particular time time period cannot be found hence why the somali people are considered to be an oral society but even then oral history doesn't talk much about maritime history of somalis. This discovery are in effect an archaeological account of the journey embarked by somali sailors to the far east through the rough seas all the way to the middle kingdom.
Map of the harlaa site.
These coins alongside many other artefacts were found in harlaa a site that is about 158,2 miles from the coast which speaks volumes of the extend, size and power of the sammalan kingdom. Matter of fact it's size corresponds to the kingdom of zeila which was part of ifat. The site has tightly pact dense construction in comparisons to it's surroundings which indicates it's important and with the amount of stuff found in this site i'd be reasonable to assume that it might've been the capital of the sammalan kingdom.
Jewellery molds found in harlaa and some some somali jewels.
If anything this showcases that the sammalan kingdom was far from a simple kingdom and it was well organised, vast and urbanized. Although the site has material culture from 11th-10th century the site itself is way older than this and goes back all the way to the 6th century which also happens to be the very first mention of berbera in arab account.
An arabian poet and a prince from the kingdom of kinda right in the middle of the arabian peninsula talked about the the horses bought from berbera and of a mercenary contingent in the army of kinda consisting of solders from berbera. The site also has cave paintings similar to these found all over north somalia which means that long before it was settled it use to be in the somali cave painting cultural sphere.
Cave paintings.
In conclusion this discovery dates back to the expedition of the sammalan kingdom and it was brought by it to east africa by somali sailors. The sammalan kingdom is very old but also powerful and what would later became the kingdom of zeila in arab accounts is but a successor of the sammalan kingdom who's king was also called amir of zeila.
Song dynasty coins of various time period from between 1030-1100 ad were found in that area alone which would be in line with the song dynasty account of the numerus envoys sent by the kingdom of sammalan to china. There is also older tang dynasty coins also found in the site which could be a hint to the age of the sammalan kingdom mind you the same location was also called sanlan/samlan in jia dan account around the eighth centruy.
