AHRC-NSF MOU: Swahili Town Planning: The Songo Mnara Urban Landscape

对斯瓦希里人古老的Songo Mnara石城进行的考古调查和挖掘将使人们能够探索东非沿海古代城市规划的各个方面。Jeffrey Fleetman博士（莱斯大学）和Stephanie Wynne-Jones博士（约克大学）将领导一个来自美国的国际专家团队，英国，在调查Songo Mnara的经济和仪式活动以及它们与该镇计划和计划外部分的关系方面，国家科学基金会与联合王国的艺术和人文研究理事会合作提供支助，在坦桑尼亚南部海岸的这一地点进行了三个季节的实地考察。沿着非洲东部海岸发现的斯瓦希里石城是一种本土的、世界性的城市生活形式的家园，从公元700年到1500年，这种城市生活将非洲与印度洋世界体系联系在一起。作为世界遗产，松戈姆纳拉被认为是斯瓦希里所有城镇景观中最令人印象深刻的，包括40多座珊瑚建造的房屋和房间，5座清真寺和多个墓地。 从公元14世纪到16世纪，该遗址的占领时间很短，正好与斯瓦希里城镇沿着海岸的黄金时代相吻合，特别是在其邻近的基卢瓦基西瓦尼遗址。这项工作将大大有助于更普遍地讨论古代城镇规划的组织原则，并研究由运动，活动和使用形成的城镇布局的各个方面，而不是从上到下的规划。 通过探索人们的行为塑造和塑造的城市规划的方式，这项研究将提供一个整体的案例研究，解决目前的问题与古代复杂社会的计划和空间实践。 实地工作将在四个相互关联的尺度上探索Songo Mnara的城市空间：（1）通过建筑物内部和周围的挖掘进行的家庭活动;（2）在遗址的开放区域和纪念碑中的公共和社区实践;（3）准确绘制遗址平面图;（4）将遗址定位在更广阔的岛屿景观中。Songo Mnara的特殊保护允许构建一个强大的数据集，以探索斯瓦希里城镇是如何规划和计划的。 这将提供对城镇规划出现的多种方式的深入了解-通过有权势的人的努力，但也通过那些生活在城镇和在城镇中移动的人的更基本的日常行为。 该项目更广泛的影响包括对美国，英国和坦桑尼亚学生的重要培训，包括研究生和本科生。 此外，该项目有助于保存和保护松戈姆纳拉，这仍然是一个"濒危"的世界遗产。 对遗址考古研究的长期承诺将为社区参与提供重要机会，并提供教育机会，以展示考古学在其保护和记录方面所发挥的独特作用。

Archaeological survey and excavation at the ancient Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara will enable the exploration of aspects of ancient urban planning in coastal East Africa. Dr Jeffrey Fleisher (Rice University) and Dr Stephanie Wynne-Jones (University of York) will lead an international team of specialists from the U.S., U.K., and Tanzania in the investigation of economic and ritual activities at Songo Mnara and of how they related to planned and unplanned parts of the town. Support from the National Science Foundation in collaboration with the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, allows for three seasons of fieldwork at this site on the southern Tanzanian coast. Swahili stonetowns, found along the eastern African coast, were the home to an indigenous and cosmopolitan form of urbanism that linked Africa with the Indian Ocean world system from AD 700 to 1500. A World Heritage Site, Songo Mnara is recognized as the most impressive of all Swahili townscapes, including more than 40 coral-built houses and room-blocks, 5 mosques and multiple cemeteries. Occupation of the site was brief, from the 14th to 16th centuries AD, coinciding with the golden age of Swahili towns along the coast, and particularly at its neighboring site of Kilwa Kisiwani.This work will contribute substantially to discussions of organizational principles in ancient town plans more generally, and to research on aspects of town layouts that were formed by movement, activity and use, rather than formal planning from above. By exploring the way the actions of people both shaped and were shaped by town plans, this study will provide a holistic case study that addresses current concerns with the plans and spatial practices of ancient complex societies. The fieldwork will explore the urban space of Songo Mnara at four interlinked scales: (1) household activities through excavations within and around buildings; (2) public and communal practices in the open areas and monuments of the site; (3) the site plan will be accurately plotted; and (4) the site will be positioned within its broader island landscape. The exceptional preservation at Songo Mnara allows the construction of a robust dataset to explore how Swahili towns were both planned and unplanned. This will offer insight into the multiple ways that towns plans emerged - through the efforts of powerful people, but also through the more basic and daily acts of those living in and moving through the town. Broader impacts of the project include important training for American, British, and Tanzanian students, both graduate and undergraduate. Additionally, the project contributes to the preservation and conservation of Songo Mnara, which remains an "endangered" World Heritage Site. A long term commitment to archaeological research at the site will provide important opportunities for community involvement, and educational opportunities to demonstrate the unique role that archaeology can play in its preservation and documentation.