Process-based models for port evolution and wreck site formation at Mombasa,Kenya

Mombasa Island, settled for almost 2000 years, played a central role in the development of the central seaboard of East Africa, emerging by the 16th century as a centre of sustained port dominance. Marine geoarchaeological surveys were conducted in Mombasa Harbour in 2001 (i) to quantify the nature and extent of the submerged archaeological resource, (ii) to investigate site formation and preservation potential of historic shipwrecks, and (iii) to explore the natural evolution of the Old Port and adjacent basins in the context of hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes. Backscatter and single-beam echo-sounder data were acquired, interpreted and diver-truthed using surface-demand and SCUBA systems. It is proposed that sustained scour processes, resultant from the interaction of ebb and flood tidal currents with bedrock ridges, control the bathymetric evolution of Mombasa Harbour, negating requirement for mechanical dredging. The submerged archaeological resource in the area comprises fish traps and shipwrecks. Physical processes govern shipwreck site formation, with scour and bed-migration dominant, ultimately leading to structural instability and site degradation. The wreck of Santo António de Tanná (1697) has been subject to gravitational collapse and mass down-slope movement of material, concentrating wreck structure and material along the portside stern third of the vessel.     

Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective

Mombasa’s strategic position on the Swahili Coast and fine harbours were key factors in its emergence as a prosperous city state during the early second millennium AD. These same attributes drew the attention of rival powers in the struggle to control the lucrative Indian Ocean trade network, particularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing from a rich legacy of cartographic and documentary sources created in the course of Mombasa’s turbulent history, this paper presents the results of a coastal archaeological survey undertaken in 2001 as part of a wider collaborative maritime project.     

An Armada wreck on Fair Isle

Colin Martin has been associated with the excavation of Armada ships for four years. In 1968–9 he took part in Sydney Wignall's Spanish Armada Expedition as archaeologist and deputy leader and since 1968 has carried out research into the Armada campaign, particularly in the fields of ship construction and gunnery. In 1971, he worked as archaeologist and project co-ordinator on the wreck of La Trinidad Valencera in Donegal; and during the same year he became Director of the Maritime Archaeological Institute which has been set up in association with St. Andrew's University .