Coastal Subsistence, Maritime Trade, and the Colonization of Small Offshore Islands in Eastern African Prehistory

Abstract

Recent archaeological research has firmly established eastern

Marginalization of the Margins: The Importance of Smaller Islands in Human Prehistory

“…In terms of world regions, the islands off the coast of Africa are well known as having been essential ports of trade and exchange between numerous cultural groups through time, but their colonization histories and the timing of when maritime activities became more commonplace is not as well understood. To address this issue, Crowther et al (2016) examined pre-Swahili contexts in the Mafia Archipelago along the eastern coast of the continent, suggesting that groups focused on a maritime lifestyle arose in the Early Iron Age, but shifted later toward a mixed subsistence that included agriculture, foraging, and fishing, indicating a need to respond to both internal and external social and environmental stimuli. Lastly Giovas (in press) uses the island of Carriacou in the southern Caribbean as a case study to argue that although small islands may be ecologically fragile, environmental 'richness' (or perceived lack thereof) should not necessarily be considered the prime factor in decision-making whether to settle or not.…”

Coastal Erosion Affecting Cultural Heritage in Svalbard. A Case Study in Hiorthhamn (Adventfjorden)—An Abandoned Mining Settlement

“…Various GIS-based tools have been developed over the years in order to realise different analyses of coastal areas; they have been used in different studies, as follows: XBeach modelling [23], Ntool [24], CERA (Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment) [25], CHW (Coastal Hazard Wheel) [26,27], CESM (Coastal Erosion Susceptibility Model) [28], CVI (Coastal Vulnerability Index) [29], DSAS (Digital Shoreline Analysis System) [30-32].Aside from the economic activities and the local population located on the coast that is under threat from climatic changes, another significant asset is often neglected when studies are made in the coastal areas-cultural heritage. Globally speaking, coastal areas have been used since Prehistory for human settlement, due to their abundance in natural resources needed for survival and development [33]. Coastal cultural heritage represents an important part of cultural resources in the coastal areas [34]; regardless of the location of cultural heritage, on the coasts of the inland shorelines of large man-made reservoirs [35,36], open seas and ocean coastal areas [37][38][39], there is a high risk of erosion [40].…”

Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar

“…As Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani fall within the MIA (mid-late first millennium CE), assessing increasing socio-economic and status differentiation in the use of mollusc resources is not possible. The trends observed here are site and location-specific, but indicate the potential for significant variation in economic structure across the eastern African coastal region through time and geographically, in a similar fashion to that seen with the transition from the Early to Mid-Iron Age deposits at Juani in the Mafia Archipelago (Crowther et al, 2016a). What these data do provide, however, is a baseline understanding of the complexity of the molluscan assemblages in eastern Africa, and a means to further explore some of the issues highlighted here across the broader region (e.g.…”

“…What these data do provide, however, is a baseline understanding of the complexity of the molluscan assemblages in eastern Africa, and a means to further explore some of the issues highlighted here across the broader region (e.g. Crowther et al, 2016a;Douglass, 2016).…”