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

对古老的斯瓦希里石镇松戈·姆纳拉进行的考古调查和发掘将使人们能够探索东非沿海地区古代城市规划的各个方面。莱斯大学的Jeffrey Fleisher博士和约克大学的Stephanie Wynne-Jones博士将领导一个由美国、英国和坦桑尼亚的专家组成的国际小组，调查Songo Mnara的经济和仪式活动，以及它们与城镇规划和非规划部分的关系。由国家科学基金会与联合王国艺术和人文研究理事会合作提供的支持，允许在坦桑尼亚南部海岸的这个地点进行三个季节的实地考察。斯瓦希里石镇位于东非海岸，是一种原住民和世界性城市化的发源地，从公元700年到1500年，这种城市化将非洲与印度洋世界体系联系在一起。作为世界遗产，Songo Mnara被认为是斯瓦希里所有城镇中最令人印象深刻的，包括40多座珊瑚建造的房屋和房间大楼、5座清真寺和多个墓地。从公元14世纪到16世纪，该遗址被占领的时间很短，恰逢斯瓦希里沿海城镇的黄金时代，特别是在其邻近的基尔瓦基西瓦遗址。这项工作将有助于更广泛地讨论古镇规划中的组织原则，并研究由运动、活动和使用形成的城镇布局的各个方面，而不是从上方进行正式规划。通过探索人们的行动如何塑造和被城镇规划塑造，这项研究将提供一个整体的案例研究，解决当前对古代复杂社会的规划和空间实践的担忧。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)通过在建筑物内和周围挖掘进行家庭活动；(2)在该遗址的开阔区域和纪念碑中进行公共和社区实践；(3)准确绘制遗址平面图；(4)该遗址将位于其更广阔的岛屿景观范围内。Songo Mnara的特殊保存使我们能够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未规划的。这将提供对城镇规划出现的多种方式的洞察-通过有权势的人的努力，也通过那些在城镇居住和迁徙的人更基本和日常的行为。该项目的更广泛影响包括为美国、英国和坦桑尼亚的研究生和本科生提供重要的培训。此外，该项目还有助于Songo Mnara的保存和保护，Songo Mnara仍是“濒危”的世界遗产。长期致力于该遗址的考古研究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存和记录方面可以发挥的独特作用。

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.