From Mombasa to Malindi – Mapping Africa's

An archaeological survey of coastal Kenya

By Angela Kabiru*, Pamela Ochungo*, John Kanyingi*, John Munyiri** & Franklin Onyango**

*British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), **National Museums of Kenya (NMK)

[This contribution contains several tiled galleries of images: click on an image to open for larger images]

The team from left to right: Pamela Ochungo, Lyrics Otunga, Angela Kabiru, John Munyiri, Franklin Onyango, James Njenga around the Great Baobab of Mnarani ruins, Malindi. Baobab trees may live for several thousand years and are thought to be an abode for the spirits and therefore considered sacred by local communities.

Angela Kabiru, Pamela Ochungo & John Kanyingi from the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) and John Munyiri & Franklin Onyango from the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) launched their second phase of archaeological fieldwork along the coast of Kenya. From Mombasa to Malindi, 41 archaeological sites and commemorative monuments were located, digitally recorded and assessed in terms of their current state of conservation. Below is their account.

Our March 2023 fieldwork formed part of the second phase of our coastal survey in Kenya. Previously, the team visited an area that stretches over 100 km between Vanga (at the border with Tanzania) and Mombasa, with the aim of verifying sites identified through remote sensing and revisiting a selection of sites known through legacy records (i.e., sites and monuments reports, site index cards, topographic maps) to establish their current state of conservation. What we found during this initial investigation was that many locations of sites reported from archival records were problematic with some sites located hundreds of metres from reality. This second phase of fieldwork was therefore aimed at not only documenting sites further along the coast but to see if we could address some of the challenges in verifying the location of these sites on the ground. Here we extended the survey to include an additional area of 117 km from Mombasa to Malindi along the 420km Kenyan coastline (see map above).

In total 41 sites were confirmed and digitally documented using the project’s KoBoCollect app. Five previously unreported sites were found, adding to an already complex and rich history of this region. Sites included mosque ruins, slamic tombs, gazetted heritage properties and commemorative sites. We started our survey in Mombasa conducting conservation assessments on several gazetted properties that are protected under the Museums and Heritage Act (2006) of Kenya and managed by the National Museums of Kenya. On the fourth day of our survey, we located Mtwapa, a Swahili port city located on the north side of Mtwapa Creek which had been gazetted in 1935. In the late 1960s, Garlake documented over 60 houses there (see Wilson 1980 and Kusimba 1998). Wilson (1980:54) observed that the site was of great archaeological potential for settlement pattern studies, surveying and mapping, architectural study and excavation with few other sites rivalling it in quantity and quality of its standing remains. The site was considerably larger than it is today. Upon our visit we found that some elements of the site have been partially destroyed by private developments including modern housing as well as by the unmonitored growth of thick vegetation causing some structural damage to the architecture. We later recorded a remarkably well-preserved temple ruin in Watamu which is now situated within a modern housing complex. Towards the end of our survey, we visited Mnanari Ruins in Malindi. Mnarani was one of the first properties to be gazetted when the Preservation Ordinance Act came into effect in 1927. Kirkman (1959) reported that tombstones from several of the tombs fell around 1925 when firewood cutters and cultivators moved into the area. The Public Works Department then worked to consolidate the mihrab and two tombs. Today, Mnarani is a popular tourist site with many tourists coming from Malindi.

In his detailed reports on the state of conservation on Kenyan coastal sites, Wilson (1978, 1980, 1982) identified several threats to coastal heritage sites, and similar threats were identified during our survey. The most severe of these is mechanical and chemical weathering due to erosion by wind and water. Changing land use patterns including urban expansion are other areas of concern. On our visit we found that many of the sites were well maintained and are currently in a stable or good condition. However, others require urgent interventions in terms of repairs and maintenance, especially those located on private land.