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4/2/2009

Rice anthropologist to lead archeology expedition to East Africa

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

A group of Rice students and faculty will embark on an archeological expedition to East Africa this summer to explore 500-year-old remnants of a Swahili trading port.

The 2009 Rice University Archaeological Field School will be held at Songo Mnara, located on a small island just off the southern Tanzanian coast. The importance of the site is underscored by its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage site list, properties deemed to be of "outstanding value to humanity." The six-week field school will investigate the extensive standing ruins at the site and will focus on the houses and central area.

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Jeffrey Fleisher, assistant professor of anthropology, will accompany four Rice undergraduates and two Rice graduate students to Songo Mnara, one of the more prominent ancient Swahili towns. It will be the first time the Rice field school visits the site, although Susan McIntosh, professor of anthropology, has led two groups to Senegal in the past. Fleisher has worked in Tanzania since 1993. They plan to alternate the field school between eastern and western African locations in coming years.

"The field school is an important part of our graduate and undergraduate training as it provides an opportunity for students to participate in a working archaeological research project," Fleisher said. "For graduate students, this will provide a firm foundation for them as they plan their own research projects, and for undergraduates, the field school offers intensive training in archaeological methods." 

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Find out how Rice is developing tomorrow's leaders While Songo Mnara is well-preserved, investigators have conducted only cursory recording of architectural features. Most research in the region has been focused on the nearby site of Kilwa Kisiwani. Songo Mnara is dominated by the remains of more than 40 large domestic room blocks, five mosques and numerous tombs. Room blocks wrap around and enclose an open, central area of the site where tombs, a walled cemetery and a small mosque are located. Compared with the 800-year occupation of Kilwa, the relatively short, 200-year occupation of Songo Mnara makes it an ideal candidate to examine household and public spaces from a discrete period in time.

Today the island is home to small communities of fishermen and farmers. Kilwa Masoko, on the mainland opposite the islands, is the administrative center of the district and the place where the inhabitants of Songo Mnara can access markets, telephones and transport for the rest of Tanzania.

Participants in the field school will camp on Songo Mnara and bring supplies from the mainland. A boat travels between Kilwa Masoko and the island most days.

"The project includes an international team of scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Kenya," Fleisher said. "Specialists in geoarchaeology, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems and architectural rendering will be participating in the project; this will provide students experience with a broad range of archaeological methodologies." 

For more on the expedition, visit http://www.songomnara.rice.edu.