Ancient Mediterranean, Red Sea and Afro-Asia links across the Western Indian Seaboard.
Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.
Dublin Core
Title
Ancient Mediterranean, Red Sea and Afro-Asia links across the Western Indian Seaboard.
Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.
Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.
Description
Coastal communities of the east African coast have, for millennia, traded with the Far East, the Mediterranean
Region, India and the Red Sea going back to at least the first millennium BCE or before. These trade links across the
Indian Ocean seaboard reached to lands as far as China and the Americas. The east African seaboard, popularly
referred in the ancient time as Azania, was, by the first millennium BCE, also known to the Romans who visited and
reported about this territory and its settlements. Terrestrial archaeological studies along this coast have shown
existence of trade routes connecting the coast with the hinterland of Africa where some merchandise for international
commerce was collected. Recently underwater archaeological surveys have recovered materials that indicate ancient
global maritime trade connections extending back to the Graeco-Roman period. That the east Africa coast was a
major player in the ancient international maritime trade makes it an important area for maritime archaeological
studies. This paper reports on findings from a recent underwater archaeological survey in the Mafia archipelago in
the central coast of Tanzania. The findings confirm the existence of ancient international maritime connectivity
between the East African coast and the Mediterranean region, Red Sea, India and the Far East.
Region, India and the Red Sea going back to at least the first millennium BCE or before. These trade links across the
Indian Ocean seaboard reached to lands as far as China and the Americas. The east African seaboard, popularly
referred in the ancient time as Azania, was, by the first millennium BCE, also known to the Romans who visited and
reported about this territory and its settlements. Terrestrial archaeological studies along this coast have shown
existence of trade routes connecting the coast with the hinterland of Africa where some merchandise for international
commerce was collected. Recently underwater archaeological surveys have recovered materials that indicate ancient
global maritime trade connections extending back to the Graeco-Roman period. That the east Africa coast was a
major player in the ancient international maritime trade makes it an important area for maritime archaeological
studies. This paper reports on findings from a recent underwater archaeological survey in the Mafia archipelago in
the central coast of Tanzania. The findings confirm the existence of ancient international maritime connectivity
between the East African coast and the Mediterranean region, Red Sea, India and the Far East.
Creator
Caesar Bita
Publisher
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
Date
2023
Language
English
Bibliographic Citation
Bita, Caesar . 2023. “Ancient Mediterranean, Red Sea and Afro-Asia links across the Western Indian Seaboard. Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Brian Fahy. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1986.
Files
Citation
Caesar Bita
, “Ancient Mediterranean, Red Sea and Afro-Asia links across the Western Indian Seaboard.
Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.,” Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings, accessed September 16, 2026, https://apconf.omeka.net/items/show/1986.
Recent Underwater Discoveries in Mafia Archipelago, Central Coast of Tanzania.,” Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings, accessed September 16, 2026, https://apconf.omeka.net/items/show/1986.