Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2021
The urbanization and globalization being experienced in Africa in this early 21st century have de... more The urbanization and globalization being experienced in Africa in this early 21st century have deep foundations in the continent’s history. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, theories on the origin of urbanization have developed through the 20th century from an external origin emphasis. There was little recognition of the greater part played by the local people. The producers of these cultures engaged in activities shaped by the environment and sociocultural, political, and economic connections. For instance, in Eastern Africa, Iron Age people became united by language and religion, and exploited the coast and sea during the medieval period (from the end of the early Iron Age c. 500 ce to the arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th and to the early 16th century). Iron Age people traded with inland Africa, East and Southern Asia, and Europe, producing what has become popularly known as the “Swahili civilization.” This civilization along the coast of Eastern Africa is marked...
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2021
The continent of Africa has had a lengthy involvement in global maritime affairs and archaeologic... more The continent of Africa has had a lengthy involvement in global maritime affairs and archaeological research with Middle Stone Age people using marine resources on the coasts of southern Africa, the Classical Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria, and Medieval Indian Ocean trade on the Swahili coast to the Atlantic triangular slave trade. Maritime archaeology is the identification and interpretation of physical traces left by people who use the seas and oceans. Middle Stone Age sites in South Africa such as Klasies River Mouth and Pinnacle Point have the earliest evidence for human use of marine resources including birds, marine mammals, and shellfish. This exploitation of marine resources was also coincident with the use of pigment, probably for symbolic behavior, as well as the production of bladelet stone tool technology. The extensive timespan of human activity on the coast around Africa occurred during changing relative sea levels due to Ice Ages and tectonic movement affecting the l...
Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iro... more Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iron Age to the early medieval period from northern Spain to Scotland. Their coastal location renders them susceptible to erosion and loss to history, a situation exacerbated by increased storm frequency and sea level rise. Reconstruction of their original form is important to determine their role in the society of the time. This paper concentrates on a particularly notable group of promontory forts along the Copper Coast of Co. Waterford, where traces of up to 32 remain today within a 24 km stretch of coastline. The methodology has involved using oral tradition, historical records and field survey. This has been enhanced by aerial survey using drones and light aircraft. This paper models the data to estimate areas eroded and show how forts were once significantly larger and dominated coastal resources with an economy of farming, fishing, mining and trading. This paper calculates a likely e...
Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archa... more Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archaeological survey was undertaken of the islands and mainland to study Swahili trade, clarify the sequence of settlement development and record the exploitation of resources during the medieval and postmedieval periods. Previous archaeological investigations have revealed local ceramics from the early second millennium AD and imports from the late fifteenth century. According to oral traditions and ancient sources, Angoche's growth is associated with the arrival of coastal settlers from Kilwa in 1485. The survey revealed evidence for occupation dating from c. AD 500 and trading evidence from the late first millennium AD. Artefacts from the thirteenth to sixteenth century on the islands are similar to those found at Kilwa and Sofala, which shows a link to Kilwa earlier than the oral traditions and the name of one of the Angoche Islands 'Quilua', is Kilwa in Portuguese. The islands are well resourced in terms of rice, mangrove wood, seafood and farmland and offer sheltered inlets and access to the coastal trade route. The name of Angoche relates to a port of call and the presence of ninth-tenth-century-storage vessels from southern Iran Afr Archaeol Rev
, more than 100 international scholars met in Livingstone, Zambia, to consider southern Africa's ... more , more than 100 international scholars met in Livingstone, Zambia, to consider southern Africa's place in the world. Although other 'south-south' relationships were considered, the conference focused primarily on southern Africa's relationship with 'the BRICS', an economic consortium made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Last to join, South Africa is, economically, the 'least' (though it represents a crucial gateway to sub-Saharan Africa). Conference papers also elucidated broader and historically deeper south-south links and provided detailed analyses of regionally important centres. For example, topics included 'Chinese spaces'-enclaves of economic and social development-established or imagined in places like Cyrildene and Modderfontein in the burgeoning suburbs of Johannesburg. Topics also included Zambia's Copperbelt, whose recurrent cycles of prosperity and recession-and its (pre)histories of trade that assisted the growth of the region's dominant polities, Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe-have influenced the Indian Ocean world and China beyond. While some of the topics reflected JSAS's aim to increase its lusophone coverage, with speakers offering papers on Brazil and its links with Angola and Mozambique, others contributed to panels that emphasised the journal's multidisciplinary strengths. Such panels broke the mould of previous BRICS studies, which have been dominated by international relations, politics and economics. For the speakers, this required producing papers based on bodies of evidence that have not been much explored in relation to southern Africa. This unusual disciplinary mix is reflected in the issue's clusters, which include archaeology, literary studies, comparative urban studies and cross-cultural studies of violence, in addition to political economy. The articles gathered here could have emerged only in an intellectual setting that encouraged the crossing of disciplinary boundaries. Neither did the conference neglect the more familiar set of disciplines that examine the impact of BRICS; although not all are published here, it included papers on BRICS countries' influence on agricultural development, transport infrastructure and the construction industry. And JSAS sought particularly to bring internationally recognised scholars to Zambia to join internationally recognised scholars from southern Africa. This resulted in a line-up of keynote speakers that included
This article investigates foreign trading patterns along the east African or Swahili coast in the... more This article investigates foreign trading patterns along the east African or Swahili coast in the late 1st millennium CE. It is based on recent archaeological investigations around Bagamoyo and Kilwa in Tanzania and a desktop study of imported artefacts in ports from Kenya to Mozambique. Exports from Africa included ivory, gold, and slaves in exchange for beads, cloth, ointments, perfumes, oils, syrups, and decorated bowls from the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Far East. The changes in quantities of imported vessels in different settlements suggests that the north Swahili coast, from Lamu to Unguja (Zanzibar), was used by vessels from the Middle East and western India and included Swahili transshipment ports for vessels coming from and going to the south Swahili coast. The proportion of Far East ceramic to Middle East is greater in the southern Swahili coast, reflecting more valuable items or an alternative route from southern India to Madagascar. A zone of low imports south of Unguja and north of Comoros that includes Kilwa suggests less interest in the trade or a border zone between Middle Eastern-and Austronesianinfluenced trading areas. Large proportions of imported pot at Comoros and glass beads in Mozambique suggest that the Comoros was a port of call on the trade route to Chibuene in Mozambique, where inland trade routes met the coast. The difference in maritime and imported artefacts between Bagamoyo and Kilwa, in the high and low import zone, suggest, respectively, alternative outlooks and reliability on the sea as an area of resources, trade and transport.
With the archaeological survey of shipwrecks on the East African coast in its infancy, ship engra... more With the archaeological survey of shipwrecks on the East African coast in its infancy, ship engravings are a source for maritime information for the medieval period. This paper reports on the discovery of engravings incised into the plaster of the internal wall of a fifteenth-century house on the island of Kilepwa at Mida Creek, Kenya. The engravings show Indian Ocean vessels resembling mitepe at rest and at sail, including mast, sail, prow and planking details. The function of the building is discussed and the evidence from the engravings considered in terms of boat technology, navigation and local belief. The engravings are considered to have been drawn by people involved with the oceanic economy at Kilepwa, a convenient port for large vessels close to the main channel. Finally, possible purposes of the drawings are discussed, including that of a votive or charm function. RESUME L'étude archéologique des épaves sur la côte de l'Afrique de l'Est étant à ses débuts, les gravures de navires offrent une source d'informations maritimes pour la période médiévale. Cet article rend compte de la découverte de gravures incisées dans le plâtre de la paroi interne d'une maison du quinzième siècle sur l'île de Kilepwa à Mida Creek, au Kenya. Les gravures montrent des navires de l'océan Indien ressemblant à des mitepe et au repos et avec les voiles déployées, montrant le mât, la voile, la proue et les détails du bordage. La fonction du bâtiment est considérée et les données fournies par les gravures sont examinées en termes de la technologie du navire, la navigation, et les croyances locales. Les gravures ont probablement été effectuées par des personnes qui étaient impliquées dans l'économie océanique à Kilepwa, un port commode pour les grands navires à proximité du canal principal. Enfin, les fonctions possibles des dessins sont considérées, y compris une possible fonction votive ou en tant que charme.
Investigation of the inter-tidal heritage of the Orkney Islands is used to interpret a previously... more Investigation of the inter-tidal heritage of the Orkney Islands is used to interpret a previously perplexing complex at Weelie's Taing on Papa Westray. The study revealed a previously unknown type of harbour since identified in several locations around Orkney. Situated in exposed environmental situations, shelter is formed by an 'ayre', a type of spit that encloses a loch, and which has been used historically as a landing place or crossing of the inter-tidal zone. A complex landing area, pier, tower and ship-blockage suggest Weelie's Taing was used as a harbour. Important fishing grounds exploited since the Neolithic are nearby, and Papa Westray was the site of water-focussed religious communities. It is suggested that Weelie's Taing was in use in the medieval period when Papa Westray was less isolated than today with the presence of ecclesiastical communities and situation on the Orkney-Shetland route.
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2016
This paper reports on the artefacts and environment of marine ballast and pottery sites identifie... more This paper reports on the artefacts and environment of marine ballast and pottery sites identified through inter-tidal and underwater survey around Kilwa, Tanzania, one of the most important medieval sultanates along the east African coast. An inter-tidal site on the limestone fringing reef on the approaches to Kilwa Kisiwani Harbour and an underwater site within the harbour have been dated from associated pottery to c.8th-10th century and the 13th-16th century respectively. The presence of exotic basalt ballast is discussed as an indicator of wreck-sites. Ikisiri: Makala hii inaelezea ugunduzi wa viashiria vya meli kale mbili zilizozama katika mwambao wa pwani ya Kilwa Kisiwani zikiwa zimesheheni badhaa mbalimbali, vikiwemovyombo vya udongo. Soroveya iliyofanyika ndani ya bahari na maeneo ya fukwe za mwambao wa Kilwa Kisiwani, mojawapo ya miji mikongwe katika Pwani ya Afrika Mashariki, ilibainisha kwamba, meli mojawapo ilizama katika lango kuu la kuingilia bandari ya Kilwa Kisiwani, ilihali nyingine ilizama pembezoni mwa 'jiwe la jahazi'. Masalia ya meli kale hizi pamoja na bidhaa zilizokuwemo ndani vinaashiria kwamba tukio la kuzama kwa meli mojawapo lilitokea kati ya karne ya nane na ya kumi, ilihali meli nyingine ilizama kati ya karne ya kumi na tatu na ya kumi na sita. Ugunduzi huu unatanabaisha kuwepo kwa mahusiano ya kibiashara baina ya wenyeji wa pwani ya Kilwa na kati ya mataifa ya Uarabuni, 'mashariki ya kati' na 'mashariki ya mbali' kwa kipindi cha kati ya karne ya nane na ya kumi na sita-takribani miaka 1300 iliyopita.
The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2016
ABSTRACT The east African Swahili ports developed extensive maritime trading links around the Ind... more ABSTRACT The east African Swahili ports developed extensive maritime trading links around the Indian Ocean, and supported economic, political, and urban growth in the early second millennium AD. This article identifies ports of varying function and importance in SE Tanzania, and seeks to understand their development in the context of natural harbor advantage, boat technology, sailing practice, and resource needs. Field data from landing places are combined with weather patterns, historical documents, and oral traditions to provide an integrated survey of the ports and harbors that once sustained medieval commerce along this section of the Swahili coast. The emergence of Kilwa as an entrepôt to become the key center is based initially upon its naturally advantageous harbor facilities, safety and flexibility of approach in days of sail, and assurance of monsoon winds. Original natural advantages gradually become self-sustaining with its economic and political growth. To the north and south of Kilwa a series of ports of call with drinking water and boat servicing supported trade to and from the pre-eminent city, although some such as Kisimani Mafia and Kwale-Kisuju developed important trade functions of their own.
Training and Practice for Modern Day Archaeologists, 2012
The archaeology of the coastal zone has emerged as a recognised area of research that informs an ... more The archaeology of the coastal zone has emerged as a recognised area of research that informs an understanding of cultural heritage with a particular focus on maritime culture (O’Sullivan 2001; McErlean et al. 2002; O’Sullivan and Breen 2007). Ireland’s island entity presents an ideal opportunity to engage with this study. Significant progress has been made over the last two decades as researchers have become increasingly aware of the dynamic nature of the littoral landscape. Attention has concentrated on issues relating to changes in the natural environment. Geological processes relating to isostatic response and geomorphological processes of erosion and deposition are being considered in terms of how they might affect the surviving archaeological record (Bell et al. 2006; Edwards and O’Sullivan 2007). It is a subject area that is growing alongside global realisations of climate change and rising sea levels. One area that awaits assessment is the impact of development activities on the coastal environment (Williams 2002).
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2011
... Although the lack of material remains associated with boats and sailing makes for difficultie... more ... Although the lack of material remains associated with boats and sailing makes for difficulties in fully understanding the lives of Mesolithic inhabitants of western Scotland and Ireland, the emphasis on sea-scape is considered the most relevant context in which to examine the ...
Insights from archaeological analysis and interpretation of marine data sets to inform marine cul... more Insights from archaeological analysis and interpretation of marine data sets to inform marine cultural heritage management and planning of wave and tidal energy development for Orkney Waters and the
The towns of the Swahili coast of East Africa are widely acknowledged as the remains of a maritim... more The towns of the Swahili coast of East Africa are widely acknowledged as the remains of a maritime society whose relationship with the ocean was fundamental to their economy and identity. Yet research that links the terrestrial environments of the towns to their adjacent maritime landscapes is rare, and urgently required in the light of marine erosional processes unmitigated by human actions. In the Kilwa archipelago of southern Tanzania, survey of the coastal foreshore has documented maritime architecture-particularly a series of coral-built causeways-that serve to link the medieval towns of this area to coastal resources and to expand the limits of the settlements themselves. This paper reports on survey recovering these causeways on Songo Mnara Island, putting the structures into context as part of the broader spatial manifestation of the island's fourteenthfifteenth century town. Several possible uses of the causeways are discussed, including functional explanations linked to the exploitation of oceanic resources, and more social reasons of territoriality and spatial demarcation.
This article addresses two related themes: the response of coastal communities to the impact of e... more This article addresses two related themes: the response of coastal communities to the impact of environmental processes and human actions as reflected in archaeology, and threats to the archaeological record emanating from current natural and human agencies. The geographical context is the entire east coast of Africa, although emphasis is placed on Swahili settlements in the light of their long-standing dependence upon maritime resources and trading opportunities. Evidence is derived from documentary sources and field studies with detailed data from Kilwa, Tanzania. Physical conditions are relatively benign, but threats are identified in adverse weather events, erosion, and sedimentation processes. Knowledge of past climatic impacts upon shipping is restricted by limited research of the offshore environment. Onshore , the archaeological record provides evidence of protective construction work, possibly where erosion precipitated by removal of mangroves. However, unless significant port investments required safeguarding, relocation of landing area and settlement was principal response to erosion and sedimentation. Current threats to archaeology are far more significant both from natural processes of marine erosion and vegetation growth encouraged by urban decline and neglect. Limited legislation and resources are seen as the greatest impediments to investigation and protection of heritage from urban and tourism inspired development in future.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2021
The urbanization and globalization being experienced in Africa in this early 21st century have de... more The urbanization and globalization being experienced in Africa in this early 21st century have deep foundations in the continent’s history. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, theories on the origin of urbanization have developed through the 20th century from an external origin emphasis. There was little recognition of the greater part played by the local people. The producers of these cultures engaged in activities shaped by the environment and sociocultural, political, and economic connections. For instance, in Eastern Africa, Iron Age people became united by language and religion, and exploited the coast and sea during the medieval period (from the end of the early Iron Age c. 500 ce to the arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th and to the early 16th century). Iron Age people traded with inland Africa, East and Southern Asia, and Europe, producing what has become popularly known as the “Swahili civilization.” This civilization along the coast of Eastern Africa is marked...
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2021
The continent of Africa has had a lengthy involvement in global maritime affairs and archaeologic... more The continent of Africa has had a lengthy involvement in global maritime affairs and archaeological research with Middle Stone Age people using marine resources on the coasts of southern Africa, the Classical Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria, and Medieval Indian Ocean trade on the Swahili coast to the Atlantic triangular slave trade. Maritime archaeology is the identification and interpretation of physical traces left by people who use the seas and oceans. Middle Stone Age sites in South Africa such as Klasies River Mouth and Pinnacle Point have the earliest evidence for human use of marine resources including birds, marine mammals, and shellfish. This exploitation of marine resources was also coincident with the use of pigment, probably for symbolic behavior, as well as the production of bladelet stone tool technology. The extensive timespan of human activity on the coast around Africa occurred during changing relative sea levels due to Ice Ages and tectonic movement affecting the l...
Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iro... more Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iron Age to the early medieval period from northern Spain to Scotland. Their coastal location renders them susceptible to erosion and loss to history, a situation exacerbated by increased storm frequency and sea level rise. Reconstruction of their original form is important to determine their role in the society of the time. This paper concentrates on a particularly notable group of promontory forts along the Copper Coast of Co. Waterford, where traces of up to 32 remain today within a 24 km stretch of coastline. The methodology has involved using oral tradition, historical records and field survey. This has been enhanced by aerial survey using drones and light aircraft. This paper models the data to estimate areas eroded and show how forts were once significantly larger and dominated coastal resources with an economy of farming, fishing, mining and trading. This paper calculates a likely e...
Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archa... more Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archaeological survey was undertaken of the islands and mainland to study Swahili trade, clarify the sequence of settlement development and record the exploitation of resources during the medieval and postmedieval periods. Previous archaeological investigations have revealed local ceramics from the early second millennium AD and imports from the late fifteenth century. According to oral traditions and ancient sources, Angoche's growth is associated with the arrival of coastal settlers from Kilwa in 1485. The survey revealed evidence for occupation dating from c. AD 500 and trading evidence from the late first millennium AD. Artefacts from the thirteenth to sixteenth century on the islands are similar to those found at Kilwa and Sofala, which shows a link to Kilwa earlier than the oral traditions and the name of one of the Angoche Islands 'Quilua', is Kilwa in Portuguese. The islands are well resourced in terms of rice, mangrove wood, seafood and farmland and offer sheltered inlets and access to the coastal trade route. The name of Angoche relates to a port of call and the presence of ninth-tenth-century-storage vessels from southern Iran Afr Archaeol Rev
, more than 100 international scholars met in Livingstone, Zambia, to consider southern Africa's ... more , more than 100 international scholars met in Livingstone, Zambia, to consider southern Africa's place in the world. Although other 'south-south' relationships were considered, the conference focused primarily on southern Africa's relationship with 'the BRICS', an economic consortium made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Last to join, South Africa is, economically, the 'least' (though it represents a crucial gateway to sub-Saharan Africa). Conference papers also elucidated broader and historically deeper south-south links and provided detailed analyses of regionally important centres. For example, topics included 'Chinese spaces'-enclaves of economic and social development-established or imagined in places like Cyrildene and Modderfontein in the burgeoning suburbs of Johannesburg. Topics also included Zambia's Copperbelt, whose recurrent cycles of prosperity and recession-and its (pre)histories of trade that assisted the growth of the region's dominant polities, Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe-have influenced the Indian Ocean world and China beyond. While some of the topics reflected JSAS's aim to increase its lusophone coverage, with speakers offering papers on Brazil and its links with Angola and Mozambique, others contributed to panels that emphasised the journal's multidisciplinary strengths. Such panels broke the mould of previous BRICS studies, which have been dominated by international relations, politics and economics. For the speakers, this required producing papers based on bodies of evidence that have not been much explored in relation to southern Africa. This unusual disciplinary mix is reflected in the issue's clusters, which include archaeology, literary studies, comparative urban studies and cross-cultural studies of violence, in addition to political economy. The articles gathered here could have emerged only in an intellectual setting that encouraged the crossing of disciplinary boundaries. Neither did the conference neglect the more familiar set of disciplines that examine the impact of BRICS; although not all are published here, it included papers on BRICS countries' influence on agricultural development, transport infrastructure and the construction industry. And JSAS sought particularly to bring internationally recognised scholars to Zambia to join internationally recognised scholars from southern Africa. This resulted in a line-up of keynote speakers that included
This article investigates foreign trading patterns along the east African or Swahili coast in the... more This article investigates foreign trading patterns along the east African or Swahili coast in the late 1st millennium CE. It is based on recent archaeological investigations around Bagamoyo and Kilwa in Tanzania and a desktop study of imported artefacts in ports from Kenya to Mozambique. Exports from Africa included ivory, gold, and slaves in exchange for beads, cloth, ointments, perfumes, oils, syrups, and decorated bowls from the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Far East. The changes in quantities of imported vessels in different settlements suggests that the north Swahili coast, from Lamu to Unguja (Zanzibar), was used by vessels from the Middle East and western India and included Swahili transshipment ports for vessels coming from and going to the south Swahili coast. The proportion of Far East ceramic to Middle East is greater in the southern Swahili coast, reflecting more valuable items or an alternative route from southern India to Madagascar. A zone of low imports south of Unguja and north of Comoros that includes Kilwa suggests less interest in the trade or a border zone between Middle Eastern-and Austronesianinfluenced trading areas. Large proportions of imported pot at Comoros and glass beads in Mozambique suggest that the Comoros was a port of call on the trade route to Chibuene in Mozambique, where inland trade routes met the coast. The difference in maritime and imported artefacts between Bagamoyo and Kilwa, in the high and low import zone, suggest, respectively, alternative outlooks and reliability on the sea as an area of resources, trade and transport.
With the archaeological survey of shipwrecks on the East African coast in its infancy, ship engra... more With the archaeological survey of shipwrecks on the East African coast in its infancy, ship engravings are a source for maritime information for the medieval period. This paper reports on the discovery of engravings incised into the plaster of the internal wall of a fifteenth-century house on the island of Kilepwa at Mida Creek, Kenya. The engravings show Indian Ocean vessels resembling mitepe at rest and at sail, including mast, sail, prow and planking details. The function of the building is discussed and the evidence from the engravings considered in terms of boat technology, navigation and local belief. The engravings are considered to have been drawn by people involved with the oceanic economy at Kilepwa, a convenient port for large vessels close to the main channel. Finally, possible purposes of the drawings are discussed, including that of a votive or charm function. RESUME L'étude archéologique des épaves sur la côte de l'Afrique de l'Est étant à ses débuts, les gravures de navires offrent une source d'informations maritimes pour la période médiévale. Cet article rend compte de la découverte de gravures incisées dans le plâtre de la paroi interne d'une maison du quinzième siècle sur l'île de Kilepwa à Mida Creek, au Kenya. Les gravures montrent des navires de l'océan Indien ressemblant à des mitepe et au repos et avec les voiles déployées, montrant le mât, la voile, la proue et les détails du bordage. La fonction du bâtiment est considérée et les données fournies par les gravures sont examinées en termes de la technologie du navire, la navigation, et les croyances locales. Les gravures ont probablement été effectuées par des personnes qui étaient impliquées dans l'économie océanique à Kilepwa, un port commode pour les grands navires à proximité du canal principal. Enfin, les fonctions possibles des dessins sont considérées, y compris une possible fonction votive ou en tant que charme.
Investigation of the inter-tidal heritage of the Orkney Islands is used to interpret a previously... more Investigation of the inter-tidal heritage of the Orkney Islands is used to interpret a previously perplexing complex at Weelie's Taing on Papa Westray. The study revealed a previously unknown type of harbour since identified in several locations around Orkney. Situated in exposed environmental situations, shelter is formed by an 'ayre', a type of spit that encloses a loch, and which has been used historically as a landing place or crossing of the inter-tidal zone. A complex landing area, pier, tower and ship-blockage suggest Weelie's Taing was used as a harbour. Important fishing grounds exploited since the Neolithic are nearby, and Papa Westray was the site of water-focussed religious communities. It is suggested that Weelie's Taing was in use in the medieval period when Papa Westray was less isolated than today with the presence of ecclesiastical communities and situation on the Orkney-Shetland route.
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2016
This paper reports on the artefacts and environment of marine ballast and pottery sites identifie... more This paper reports on the artefacts and environment of marine ballast and pottery sites identified through inter-tidal and underwater survey around Kilwa, Tanzania, one of the most important medieval sultanates along the east African coast. An inter-tidal site on the limestone fringing reef on the approaches to Kilwa Kisiwani Harbour and an underwater site within the harbour have been dated from associated pottery to c.8th-10th century and the 13th-16th century respectively. The presence of exotic basalt ballast is discussed as an indicator of wreck-sites. Ikisiri: Makala hii inaelezea ugunduzi wa viashiria vya meli kale mbili zilizozama katika mwambao wa pwani ya Kilwa Kisiwani zikiwa zimesheheni badhaa mbalimbali, vikiwemovyombo vya udongo. Soroveya iliyofanyika ndani ya bahari na maeneo ya fukwe za mwambao wa Kilwa Kisiwani, mojawapo ya miji mikongwe katika Pwani ya Afrika Mashariki, ilibainisha kwamba, meli mojawapo ilizama katika lango kuu la kuingilia bandari ya Kilwa Kisiwani, ilihali nyingine ilizama pembezoni mwa 'jiwe la jahazi'. Masalia ya meli kale hizi pamoja na bidhaa zilizokuwemo ndani vinaashiria kwamba tukio la kuzama kwa meli mojawapo lilitokea kati ya karne ya nane na ya kumi, ilihali meli nyingine ilizama kati ya karne ya kumi na tatu na ya kumi na sita. Ugunduzi huu unatanabaisha kuwepo kwa mahusiano ya kibiashara baina ya wenyeji wa pwani ya Kilwa na kati ya mataifa ya Uarabuni, 'mashariki ya kati' na 'mashariki ya mbali' kwa kipindi cha kati ya karne ya nane na ya kumi na sita-takribani miaka 1300 iliyopita.
The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2016
ABSTRACT The east African Swahili ports developed extensive maritime trading links around the Ind... more ABSTRACT The east African Swahili ports developed extensive maritime trading links around the Indian Ocean, and supported economic, political, and urban growth in the early second millennium AD. This article identifies ports of varying function and importance in SE Tanzania, and seeks to understand their development in the context of natural harbor advantage, boat technology, sailing practice, and resource needs. Field data from landing places are combined with weather patterns, historical documents, and oral traditions to provide an integrated survey of the ports and harbors that once sustained medieval commerce along this section of the Swahili coast. The emergence of Kilwa as an entrepôt to become the key center is based initially upon its naturally advantageous harbor facilities, safety and flexibility of approach in days of sail, and assurance of monsoon winds. Original natural advantages gradually become self-sustaining with its economic and political growth. To the north and south of Kilwa a series of ports of call with drinking water and boat servicing supported trade to and from the pre-eminent city, although some such as Kisimani Mafia and Kwale-Kisuju developed important trade functions of their own.
Training and Practice for Modern Day Archaeologists, 2012
The archaeology of the coastal zone has emerged as a recognised area of research that informs an ... more The archaeology of the coastal zone has emerged as a recognised area of research that informs an understanding of cultural heritage with a particular focus on maritime culture (O’Sullivan 2001; McErlean et al. 2002; O’Sullivan and Breen 2007). Ireland’s island entity presents an ideal opportunity to engage with this study. Significant progress has been made over the last two decades as researchers have become increasingly aware of the dynamic nature of the littoral landscape. Attention has concentrated on issues relating to changes in the natural environment. Geological processes relating to isostatic response and geomorphological processes of erosion and deposition are being considered in terms of how they might affect the surviving archaeological record (Bell et al. 2006; Edwards and O’Sullivan 2007). It is a subject area that is growing alongside global realisations of climate change and rising sea levels. One area that awaits assessment is the impact of development activities on the coastal environment (Williams 2002).
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2011
... Although the lack of material remains associated with boats and sailing makes for difficultie... more ... Although the lack of material remains associated with boats and sailing makes for difficulties in fully understanding the lives of Mesolithic inhabitants of western Scotland and Ireland, the emphasis on sea-scape is considered the most relevant context in which to examine the ...
Insights from archaeological analysis and interpretation of marine data sets to inform marine cul... more Insights from archaeological analysis and interpretation of marine data sets to inform marine cultural heritage management and planning of wave and tidal energy development for Orkney Waters and the
The towns of the Swahili coast of East Africa are widely acknowledged as the remains of a maritim... more The towns of the Swahili coast of East Africa are widely acknowledged as the remains of a maritime society whose relationship with the ocean was fundamental to their economy and identity. Yet research that links the terrestrial environments of the towns to their adjacent maritime landscapes is rare, and urgently required in the light of marine erosional processes unmitigated by human actions. In the Kilwa archipelago of southern Tanzania, survey of the coastal foreshore has documented maritime architecture-particularly a series of coral-built causeways-that serve to link the medieval towns of this area to coastal resources and to expand the limits of the settlements themselves. This paper reports on survey recovering these causeways on Songo Mnara Island, putting the structures into context as part of the broader spatial manifestation of the island's fourteenthfifteenth century town. Several possible uses of the causeways are discussed, including functional explanations linked to the exploitation of oceanic resources, and more social reasons of territoriality and spatial demarcation.
This article addresses two related themes: the response of coastal communities to the impact of e... more This article addresses two related themes: the response of coastal communities to the impact of environmental processes and human actions as reflected in archaeology, and threats to the archaeological record emanating from current natural and human agencies. The geographical context is the entire east coast of Africa, although emphasis is placed on Swahili settlements in the light of their long-standing dependence upon maritime resources and trading opportunities. Evidence is derived from documentary sources and field studies with detailed data from Kilwa, Tanzania. Physical conditions are relatively benign, but threats are identified in adverse weather events, erosion, and sedimentation processes. Knowledge of past climatic impacts upon shipping is restricted by limited research of the offshore environment. Onshore , the archaeological record provides evidence of protective construction work, possibly where erosion precipitated by removal of mangroves. However, unless significant port investments required safeguarding, relocation of landing area and settlement was principal response to erosion and sedimentation. Current threats to archaeology are far more significant both from natural processes of marine erosion and vegetation growth encouraged by urban decline and neglect. Limited legislation and resources are seen as the greatest impediments to investigation and protection of heritage from urban and tourism inspired development in future.
The importance of material culture underscores the relevance of Archaeology to cultural discourse... more The importance of material culture underscores the relevance of Archaeology to cultural discourse, yet it is necessary to continually reaffirm this message. Of late, it is most interesting to sense the growing comfort that medieval archaeologists have with the interplay between material remains and written sources. Hopefully gone are the days when archaeologists stood at a remove from documents, just as historians failed to grasp the relevance of objects. Mark Hall's report on the recent AS exhibition at the BM suggests this positive shift, while the Society's forthcoming conference on the Black Death will surely be a tour de force of such interdisciplinarity.
Group for the Study of Irish Historical Settlement Newsletter, 2018
P rofessor Rolf Loeber, one of the most distinguished and senior members of the Group, died after... more P rofessor Rolf Loeber, one of the most distinguished and senior members of the Group, died after a short illness in November 2017. He was a Dutchman, who first came to Ireland as a student in 1966 and continued to come, with his wife Magda, for the rest of his life 'to explore and write about Ireland and its many historical puzzles and cultural riches', as he explained. It was evident too that he loved Ireland and the Irish, and he came to understand us very well. By profession Rolf and Magda were psychologists. Rolf enjoyed an international reputation for his work on juvenile delinquency and social development, holding chairs of psychiatry in the University of Pittsburgh, where they lived, and in the Free University of Amsterdam. However, it was as an expert on settlement in early-modern Ireland that he is best known in this country and to the Group. He was made an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2008. Rolf and Magda were introduced to Irish historic settlement through the Irish Georgian Society in whose Bulletin in 1973 he made his first contribution to historic-settlement studies with 'Irish country houses and castles of the late Caroline period', which remains authoritative. His Biographical dictionary of Irish architects followed in 1981 in tandem with his 'Biographical dictionary of Irish engineers' published in volume 12 of The Irish Sword. In 1991 he responded to my invitation to participate in the Group's early publication programme by contributing an eighty-page study entitled The geography and practice of English colonisation in Ireland from 1534 to 1609, and he was subsequently involved in several Group conferences and publications with contributions to Gaelic Ireland (2001), The parish in early modern Ireland (2006) and Lough Ree: historic lakeland settlement (2015). The most ambitious of the Loeber projects was undoubtedly Rolf and Magda's 1500-page A guide to Irish fiction 1650-1900 (2006), a truly extraordinary demonstration of their scholarship and industry, deserving of much wider acclaim than it was ever accorded. There were many other publications, often jointly with other scholars such as Geoffrey Parker ('The military revolution in seventeenth-century Ireland'), Arnold Horner ('Landscape in transition: descriptions of forfeited properties in counties Meath, Louth and Cavan in 1700'), Livia Hurley ('The architecture of Irish country houses, 1691-1739'), and with John Cronin and this writer ('Prelude to confiscation: a survey of catholic estates in Leinster in 1690'). Rolf was a natural choice to be a joint editor in 2014 of the architecture volume of the Royal Irish Academy's Art and architecture of Ireland, to which he also contributed several essays on topics as diverse as demesne walls, plantation castles (with Paul Larmour), vernacular farmhouses, travel guides, early classicism (with Linda Mulvin) and artillery fortifications (with this writer). There was much else besides, an oeuvre indeed that would do any full-time scholar proud, but which was all the more remarkable as being merely a superimposition on his 'day job' as a leading research psychologist. Magda was his partner in most of these ventures, and only last year they delivered a joint paper to our 'south Kildare' conference on Mary Leadbeater's 'Annals of Ballitore', and led us in the afternoon on a tour of the historic Quaker settlement in that village, with its meeting house and small museum. Rolf was an indefatigable field worker. I recollect him in the early days standing in a hayfield as we looked at a castle in the middle of Offaly, thumbing through his card index. Later technological advances saw the cards superseded by his trusty computer, which contained amongst much else thousands, if not tens of thousands, of images of Irish buildings and their appurtenances, past and present. There was nothing he loved better than an 'expedition' into the countryside in pursuit of a plantation house, a walled garden, or to follow a trail suggested by a seventeenth-century map. It was impossible to accompany him without returning not only very much the wiser, but with self-confidence restored and Áitreabh Rolf Loeber vi batteries recharged to renew the struggle of penetrating the past as people lived it. An abiding interest were questions of estate and big-house operation and management. In recent years he had become interested in the related questions of garden layout and organisation. He planned a future book on these topics. On a second visit to Ireland last October, we explored the remnants of the great Cassell house of Waterston in south Westmeath, the dovecote, yard and outbuildings of the estate, and the impressive, extant walled gardens, which particularly excited him. It was a typical Loeber expedition. Rolf left vowing to return, but alas it was not to be. Rolf stood well above such base qualities as envy, jealousy or malicious gossip. All who knew him will testify to his extraordinary erudition, his systematic scholarship, his extensive fieldwork and his dedicated archival research. But there was much more to him than that: earnestness certainly, but also an abundance of good humour, gentleness, gregariousness towards all, sincerity, loyalty, generosity, firm and enduring friendships, and a deep sense of 'civilisation', together with a huge capacity to encourage others and to unstintingly share his great knowledge with them. It was a pleasure and an honour to have known Rolf. His many friends in the Group mourn his passing, and we express our heartfelt sympathy to Magda, his loyal wife and partner of fifty years in so many projects. We all hope that it will not be too long before she rejoins her Irish friends again.
In this article, we examine an assumption about the historic Swahili of the eastern African coast... more In this article, we examine an assumption about the historic Swahili of the eastern African coast: that they were a maritime society from their beginnings in the first millennium C.E. Based on historical and archaeological data, we suggest that, despite their proximity to and use of the sea, the level of maritimity of Swahili society increased greatly over time and was only fully realized in the early second millennium C.E. Drawing on recent theorizing from other areas of the world about maritimity as well as research on the Swahili, we discuss three arenas that distinguish first- and second-millennium coastal society in terms of their maritime orientation. These are variability and discontinuity in settlement location and permanence; evidence of increased engagement with the sea through fishing and sailing technology; and specialized architectural developments involving port facilities, mosques, and houses. The implications of this study are that we must move beyond coastal location in determining maritimity; consider how the sea and its products were part of social life; and assess whether the marine environment actively influences and is influenced by broader patterns of sociocultural organization, practice, and belief within Swahili and other societies.
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Papers by Edward Pollard