Excerpt from sciencedaily.com
Unguja Ukuu, an archaeological settlement located on the Zanzibar Archipelago in Tanzania, was a key port of trade in the Indian Ocean by the first millennium when the island was populated by farming societies establishing trade links toward the Indian Ocean, China and beyond. New research describes how human activities modified the shoreline at Unguja Ukuu.
Humanity’s impact on the environment is often framed in the context of the post-industrial era but new archaeological research reveals how intensive land use by a medieval East African population altered their natural habitat forever.
Unguja Ukuu, an archaeological settlement located on the Zanzibar Archipelago in Tanzania, was a key port of trade in the Indian Ocean by the first millennium when the island was populated by farming societies establishing trade links toward the Indian Ocean, China and beyond.
New research published in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology describes how human activities modified the shoreline at Unguja Ukuu.
Urban growth at the coastal settlements and trade ports on the island, and associated trade, activities may have silted up the lagoon hindering the sea traffic and ultimately impacted fish numbers and played part in the community’s decline.
For millennia, the Indian Ocean was the maritime setting for a budding form of globalization, with extensive trade and exchange networks operating between eastern Africa, Southern Arabia, and Southeast Asia which foreshadowed modern global shipping networks.
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