Archaeology and Heritage in Eastern Africa

2022: Anjouan Island, Comoros

Director: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU)

Partner institutions: CNDRS, Moroni, Association pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine des Comores.

Outline: Study of the Ujumbe, a Swahili palace from the 18th c. and excavations in the city Mutsamudu, capîtalm of Anjouan Island. Fieldwork and excavations fully supported by the Charity Sauvegarde du patrimoine des Comores thought a grant from the French Embassy in Comoros.

Publications

  • 2025 – with Olivier Onezime, “The Ujumbe of Mutsamudu, an 18th century Swahili stone house in the Comoros”, Journal18, Issue 19 Africa: Beyond Borders, (Spring 2024), https://www.journal18.org/7780.

2018: Kua, An Ancient Swahili Town, Mafia Island, Tanzania

Co-Directors: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU) and Pierre Blanchard (WMF).

Partner institutions: AKU, World Monument Funds and the Tanzanian Antiquities.

Outline: My new project is located in the Mafia Island region at the mouth of the Rufiji, the main River in Tanzania. Located off the coast of Tanzania on the island of Juani, which is part of the Mafia archipelago, the town of Kua is one of the largest medieval Swahili sites in East Africa, and probably the least studied. Kua is one of the largest Swahili stone towns on the East African coast. The site was never excavated, only few houses and mosques were recorded and published by Peter Garlake in 1966. With Cape Town University, we create an accurate map of the site and structures as a first step for the conservation programme and as a management tool for archaeological excavations. The Zamani team (surveyors from Cape Town used new technologies: drone and 3D scans to produce 3D models of all the main monuments on the site (Mosques, palaces, houses and tombs). With our two field schools (archaeology & conservation), this project was a perfect strategic support for the AKU in East Africa, in term of research, education, heritage and tourism development. The partnership with Tanzanian institutions such as the Antiquities and Dar es-Salaam University will fully support the development of the new AKU campus in Arusha and also the engagement of the AKDN in Mombasa. ISMC-AKU is working in partnership with the World Monument Fund (WMF), The Tanzanian Antiquities and the Dar es-Salaam University. The AKTC has been present in East Africa for many years, especially in Zanzibar and Mozambique. The AKDN is present in Mombasa and finally the AKU is now present in Nairobi and Arusha. The project of the ISMC-AKU will be a perfect support for the deployment of the AKU and AKDN educational activities in East Africa. Tanzanians students are also very interested in our MA programme and the Dar es-Salaam University would like to send us some students.

Publications

  • 2021 – et alii, “Kua,Tanzania, excavation report 2018” in Nyame Akuma 93, June, University of Alberta, pp.36-45
  • 2005 – with Pierre Blanchard, « Kilwa al-Mulûk. Premier bilan des travaux de conservation-restauration et des fouilles archéologiques dans la baie de Kilwa, Tanzanie », Annales Islamologiques 39, IFAO, Le Caire, p.25-80.

2011-2015: Excavations Dembeni, Mayotte (Comoros Archipelago)

Director: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU).

Partner institutions: Direction of Cultural Affairs in Indian Ocean, Reunion (DRAC); General Council and Prefecture, Mayotte (CG); CNRS – UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée, Islam Médiéval, Paris.

Outline: The trade with the Abbasids and the Fatimids pushed people to live together in port-cities and influenced the urbanisation of the east African coast. Dembeni is one of the largest and richest archaeological sites in all east Africa. Its apogee in the 9th – 12th centuries was a period of intensive trade, first with the Abbasids in the Persian Gulf then with the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Dembeni delivered an archaeological material of unprecedented wealth for the time, with a large amount of Chinese and Persian ceramics, as well as glassware from all over the Islamic world. In 2013, with my team, we discovered that the accumulation of wealth on the site was not made ​​by chance but it was the rock crystal trade that provided huge financial income to the inhabitants of Dembeni. From Malagasy origin, the rock crystal was exported to Mayotte. Arriving in Mayotte, the Muslim traders exchanged ceramics, fabrics, beads and glass for the precious rock crystal, but only the best parts were stored for export and for ‘the great journey’. Dembeni appears as a major distribution center for rock crystal in the Indian Ocean. The life and wealth of the site was connected to the international trade of the rock crystal trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid dynasties (9th to 12th C.) Our excavation is part of the CNRS’s programme “Atlas ports et itinéraires maritimes de l’Islam medieval”.

Publications

  • 2024- Stephane Pradines, Mayotte au temps des Califes (IXe-XIIe siècle). Archéologie de l’Océan Indien à Ironi Be, Commune de Dembeni, British archaeological report S3199, Archaeopress, Oxford, 270 p.
  • 2024 – The Rock Crystal of Dembeni, Mayotte Mission report 2013, Nyame Akuma 80, SAFA, p. 59-72.
  • 2023 – with Gwénaël Herviaux, « Dembéni, un site urbain bipolaire ? Mayotte, rapport intermédiaire 2014 » in Nyame Akuma, n°83, University of Alberta, p. 128-141.
  • 2022 – with Hélène Renel, Danael Veyssier et Bing Zhao, « Irone Be (Dembeni, Mayotte) Rapport de mission 2015 » in Nyame Akuma, 85, June, University of Alberta, p. 44-56.
  • 2021 – « Dembéni (Mayotte). Dembéni Tsararano », Archéologie médiévale, 46, 177-178.
  • 2019 – « Dembéni : un site majeur pour la connaissance des réseaux commerciaux de l’océan indien médiéval » in Océan Indien, Mayotte. 40 années de recherches archéologiques, Drac-Inrap, Mamoudzou, pp. 34-35
  • 2026 – with Pierre Brial, « Dembéni, Mayotte (976). Archéologie swahilie dans un département français » in Nyame Akuma 77, p. 68-81.

2004-2006 : Excavations Songo Mnara & Sanje ya Kati (Kilwa), Tanzania

Co-Directors: Stephane Pradines and Pierre Blanchard (WMF).

Partner institutions: French Embassy, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEE), Tanzanian Antiquities; UNESCO; British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA).

Outline: My research concerned the relationship between trade and Islam in the Indian Ocean: especially on the Swahili Coast.  I focused particularly on the beginnings of the Muslim connections with East Africa and how trade propagated Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. This point is crucial to understanding the beginning of the Swahili Culture. Our project was linked to a conservation project and a regional development project lead by UNESCO and the French Embassy. Our team was composed of heritage architects in charge of the conservation of the sites of Kilwa Kisiwani, Songo Manara and Sanje ya Kati. I was in charge of the archaeological excavations in Songo Mnara and Sanje ya Kati. We created a references map of the sites and found precious information that helped us understand local and internal trade in the region. Our project was also developed as a field school in archaeology and conservation.

Publications

  • 2009 – « L’île de Sanjé ya Kati (Kilwa, Tanzanie). Un mythe Shirâzi bien réel », Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, Vol. 44, Issue 1, Routledge, p. 49 – 73.
  • 2006 – « Sanjé ya Kati, Kilwa, Tanzanie, 2005 – 2006 », Nyame Akuma, n°66, Bulletin of the Society of Africanist Archaeologist, University of Alberta, p. 64-70.
  • 2005 – Stéphane Pradines & Pierre Blanchard. Archéologie et préservation du patrimoine : le projet franco-tanzanien de Kilwa, 2002-2005, Nyame Akuma, n°63, Bulletin of the Society of Africanist Archaeologist, University of Alberta, p. 20-26.

1999-2003: Excavations Gedi, Kenya

Director: Stephane Pradines.

Partner institutions: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEE), National Museums of Kenya; British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), CNRS – UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée, Islam Médiéval, Paris.

Outline: Originally this project was connected to my Ph.D. research on the Swahili town walls and urbanization. Gedi is an iconic Swahili city with two town walls from different periods (15th and 16th c.), but during our excavations I identified a new great mosque built outside the town walls, which was the center of the old medieval city (11th-14th c.) but totally ignored by the previous archaeologists. It was the beginning of a new project supported by “La Commission des Fouilles” from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We worked on a new plan of the site and the study of the Swahili urbanism from the foundation of the city to the arrival of the Europeans in the Indian Ocean.

Publications

  • 2010 – Gedi, une cité portuaire swahilie. Islam médiéval en Afrique orientale, Monographies d’archéologie islamique, IFAO, Le Caire, 302 p.
  • 2004 – « Gedi : une cité médiévale swahili », In Archéologies. 20 ans de recherches françaises dans le monde, ERC- Maisonneuve et Larose, Paris, p. 340-343.
  • 2003 – Islamization and Urbanization on the Coast of East Africa: recent excavations at Gedi, Kenya, Azania 38, BIEA, Nairobi, p. 180-182.
  • 2002 – « La bipartition des cités swahili : l’exemple de Gedi (Kenya) », in Southern Africa and the Swahili World, Studies in the African Past n°2, 2002, University of Dar es Salaam Press, p. 66-75.
  • 2002 – Architecture domestique swahili, les fouilles de Gedi : la mission de 2002, Nyame Akuma, n°58, Bulletin of the Society of Africanist Archaeologist, University of Alberta, p. 13-18.
  • 2001 – Une mosquée du XIIe siècle à Gede (Kenya, Mission de Juillet-Août 2001), Nyame Akuma, n°56, Bulletin of the Society of Africanist Archaeologist, University of Alberta, p. 23-28.
  • 2000 – Mission archéologique de Gedi, Kenya (juillet-août 1999), Archéologie islamique, n°10, Paris, p. 195-196.
  • 2000 – Nouvelles recherches archéologiques sur le site de Gedi (Kenya, Mission de Juillet-Août 1999), Nyame Akuma, n°53, Bulletin of the Society of Africanist Archaeologist, University of Alberta, p. 22-28.

Thematic overview publications

  • 2026 – Stephane Pradines & Helene Renel, “Asian ceramics in dialog with Swahili architecture. Wangwana trading networks and Indian Ocean kinships”, Monsoon journal 4-1, Duke University Press, 62-85.
  • 2025 – “Ivory and Rock Crystal Trade in East Africa, Eight to Twelfth Centuries”, Land and Trade in Early Islam. The Economy of the Islamic Middle East 750-1050 CE. edited by Hugh Kennedy and Fanny Bessard, Cambridge, CUP, 392-423.
  • 2024 – with Olivier Onezime, “Functions and historical significance of Swahili wall niches”, Nouvelles Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen 19, pp. 137-219.
  • 2024 – “Early Swahili Mosques: The Role of Ibadi and Ismaili Communities, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries” In Muslim Cultures of the Indian Ocean, ISMC-EUP, p. 215-245.
  • 2024 – « Les échanges avec l’Afrique orientale » in Atlas des mondes médiévaux musulmans, sous la direction de Sylvie Denoix et Hélène Renel, Paris, CNRS, 272-273.
  • 2022 – Historic mosques in sub-Saharan Africa, Brill, Leiden
  • 2021 – with Blanchard, Pierre. “From Zanzibar to Kilwa: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Omani Forts in East Africa”, Fort 47, pp. 39-69.
  • 2021 – “Islamic Archaeology in the Comoros: The Swahili and the Rock Crystal Trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates” in Journal of Islamic Archaeology 6.1, p. 109–134.
  • 2021 – “Swahili pre-modern warfare and violence in the Indian Ocean” in Ports and Trans-Ports Evolution and Revolution(s) in the Indian Ocean World, Proceedings of the Workshop GUtech March 4-6, 2019, Editors Michael Jansen Michaela Liehner-Jansen, Freunde des Reiff e.V. at RWTH Aachen University, pp. 249-275.
  • 2020 – “Warfare in the Indian Ocean: the walled cities of the Swahili” in Ports and Forts of the Muslims. Coastal Military Architecture, from the Arab Conquest to the Ottoman Period, IFAO (French institute of Archaeology), Cairo, pp. 173-200.
  • 2020 – “Madagascar, the Source of the Abbasid and Fatimid Rock Crystals: New Evidence from Archaeological Investigations in East Africa”. Seeking Transparency: Rock Crystals across the Medieval Mediterranean, Shalem, Avinoam & Hahn, Cynthia editors, Gebr. Mann, Berlin, pp. 35-50.
  • 2019 – “Swahili Archaeology”. In: Smith C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Springer, Cham, second edition.
  • 2019 – “Swahili past in peril. New archaeology in East Africa” in Journal of oriental and African studies 26, Athens, pp. 211-236
  • 2019 – “Portuguese fortresses in East Africa” in Forts 44, Fortress Study Group, Totton, p. 50-75.
  • 2019 – “La civilisation swahilie (VIIIe-XVe siècle) ” in Atlas historique de l’Afrique, François-Xavier Fauvelle and Isabelle Surun (eds.), Autrement, Paris, pp. 26-27.
  • 2019 – « Du nouveau à l’ouest de l’océan Indien : le cristal de roche et l’ivoire swahilis », in Sur les Chemins d’Onagre, Histoire et archéologie orientales, Hommage à Monik Kervran, Hardy-Gilbert, Renel Rougeulle and Vallet Editors, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 153-167.
  • 2014 – « Les villes médiévales swahilies : une perspective est-africaine », dans Taarifa 4, Publication des archives départementales de Mayotte, Mamoudzou, p. 9-27.
  • 2014 – “Swahili Archaeology. Islamic Archaeology in Eastern Africa”, Encyclopaedia of Global Archaeology, Smith, Claire Ed., Springer, New York, p.7162-7173.
  • 2011 –  « Commerce maritime et islamisation dans l’océan Indien : les premières mosquées swahilies (XIe-XIIIe siècles) », dans La mer et le sacré dans le monde musulman, Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée n°130, Presses universitaires de Provence, p. 131-149.
  • 2010 – François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar, Bertrand Hirsch, Clément Ménard, Romain Mensan, Stéphane Pradines. « Archéologie et histoire de l’Islam dans la Corne de l’Afrique : état des recherches », Civilta del mediterraneo, n°16-17, Ed. Di Storia e Leteratura, p. 29-58.
  • 2004 – Fortifications et urbanisation en Afrique orientale, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 58, BAR S1216, Archaeopress, Oxford, 374 p.
  • 2003 – « Le mihrab swahili : Evolution d’une architecture islamique en Afrique subsaharienne», Annales Islamologiques 37, IFAO, Le Caire, p. 355-381.
  • 2003 – L’Afrique noire et la Chine. La céramique importée : symbole du pouvoir des marchands swahili, in L’Odyssée de la porcelaine chinoise, RMN, Paris, p. 35-41.
  • 2002 – « L’art de la guerre chez les Swahili : les premiers forts d’Afrique orientale», Journal des Africanistes 72-2, Société des Africanistes, Paris, p. 71-87.
  • 2002 – « Des forts omanais en Afrique orientale : une protection des intérêts économiques du sultanat de Zanzibar », La défense des côtes et cartographie historique, CTHS, Paris, p. 163-180.
  • 1999 – « L’influence indienne dans l’architecture swahili », Swahili Forum VI, AAP n°60, Institut für Afrikanistik, Université de Köln, p. 103-120.
  • 1999 – « L’archéologie swahili et la collection Révoil au Musée de l’Homme (Paris) », Mvita n°8, Nairobi : Regional Centre for Archaeology National Museums of Kenya, p. 20-28.
  • 1998 – « Enceintes urbaines swahili et forts omanais », Les Cahiers de l’IFRA, n°11, Nairobi : Institut Français de recherche en Afrique, p. 4-23.