タグ： %e3%82%a2%e3%83%95%e3%83%aa%e3%82%ab

中国からの水中考古学チームがマリンディ、ラム海岸で事前調査（サーヴェイ）を行っています。すでに陸での発掘も同時に行われているようです。水中からすでに１０世紀の中国の陶磁器や１４世紀のイスラムの土器などが発見されているようです。これから少しづつですが、いろいろと発見できることでしょう。東アフリカ、イスラム文化圏、東南アジア、中国は歴史の研究からだけではわからなかった何か大きなつながりがあったのかもしれませんね。今後の成果に期待して待ちましょう。

Archaeologists digging a historic site in Malindi have come across interesting findings that show there was settlement in the area by 10th century and trade links with the other parts of the world.

Chinese and Kenyan archaeologists have pitched tent in Mambrui area, to unravel historical connections between the two countries way before the arrival of Europeans in the East African Coast.

The head of Kenya’s Coastal Archaeology, Dr Herman Kiriama, said the excavators who have not gone beyond one metre since they started the works on Tuesday last week have found pottery and artefacts that point to existence of early settlement and trade.

“The progress is good because we have been able to find local pottery that can be traced to the Tenth Century and Islamic pottery of the 14th century.

“Other interesting findings include Chinese porcelain, one of the key items that the Chinese experts led by archaeologists from Peking University have been interested in,” Dr Kiriama said in an interview.

The new historical journey, according to archaeologists, starts in Malindi where a terrestrial excavation has already started before a complicated underwater survey in a few months’ time off the Lamu archipelago.

The experts are probing say a 9th Century kingdom in Malindi is the subject of a major archaeological research.

The archaeologists have teamed up with their counterparts at the National Museums of Kenya.

There are seven archaelogists from China and eight from the NMK assisted by a group of about 40 local people.

The underwater excavation near Shanga will try to unravel a Chinese ship that sank 600 years ago.

アフリカのモザンビーク近海で１９９９年から何隻か沈没船が発掘されていたそうです。詳しいことはよくわかりませんが、サルベージ会社と政府が協力をして発掘を行っていたようです。遺物の一部は博物館などに寄贈されます。これらの展示を通して得られた観光収入をもとに地域の活性化を促すこともそうですが、遺物をを見て興味を持った若い学生などが水中考古学に興味を持ってくれることを文化管理局は語っています。大学などでも学術的な水中考古学の発達をのぞんでいるそうです。

Maputo — Património Internacional SARL, a company dedicated on the research and underwater archaeology, currently working under the aegis of the Mozambican government’s Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), has delivered in Maputo on Wednesday its findings of archaeological research carried out in the vicinity of the Island of Mozambique.

The project, started in 1999, was conducted in close coordination with the Mozambican authorities, through the Education and Culture Ministry (MEC) in compliance with a contract signed between both parties.

These findings include 14 gold coins, 443.6 grams of gold and 600 coins of silver worth at current price market about 35,570, 14,259.10 and 120,000.00 euros respectively.

The MEC will take the responsibility of delivering some of these artefacts to the relevant institutions, such as the Museum of Geology and Money Museum.

The shipwrecks where artefacts were found had already been plundered, having been recovered only those that were protected by ballasts, with few a exceptions.

Património Internacional SARL reassured that this project would bring added value to national tourism, by promotion of scientific and tourist diving expeditions on a number of shipwrecks that have already been identified in Mozambican waters, and turn them as an attractive for tourism development in the Island of Mozambique.

Speaking during the ceremony, Education and Culture Minister, Aires Aly, urged the academic community, through higher education institutions, to engage in training young students in underwater archaeology.

These artefacts will be exhibited at the Marine Museum of the Island of Mozambique that is expected to be open soon by the Education and Culture Minister.