Rural Settlement Dynamics in a Rapidly Urbanizing Landscape: Insights from Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeological Field Surveys in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Africa, rapid urbanization covers archaeological sites and limits the utility of traditional archaeological field survey methods. This is not only a crisis for archaeological heritage conservation, but it also distinctly impacts anthropological understandings of African urban trajectories since much evidence for precolonial urbanism lies within areas of rapid expansion. However, high-resolution multitemporal satellite data may facilitate reconstructions of urban growth in African cities, enabling archaeological surveys to target undeveloped areas for prospection within the interstices of modern urban development. This paper describes an application of satellite remote sensing for archaeological prospection within the rapidly urbanizing hinterland of Zanzibar Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Survey results reveal settlement trajectories around the city over the last millennium, drawing attention to the role of rural agricultural land as a factor in the emergence of precolonial urbanism and the continued significance of rural places as urbanization progressed into the Colonial era.