On the coast of East Africa there were, in addition to walled towns such as Gedi, Mombasa, Ungwana, etc., numerous small settlements consisting of one or two houses and a mosque, which corresponded to the villas of the late Roman Empire or the manors of contemporary Europe. One of the most interesting of these minor sites is at Kurwitu, between Takaungu and Kikambala, about twenty-five miles north of Mombasa (Fig. 1).