Tom Fitton
Tom is an Africanist landscape archaeologist, with a particular interest in the survey and investigation of early medieval settlements, and coastal and maritime activity of the Swahili Coast of East Africa.
He is currently Research Fellow in GIS and Spatial Archaeology at UCL Institute of Archaeology on the Everyday Islam Project under Dr Corisande Fenwick. Until September 2022 he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate on Dr Stephanie Wynne-Jones Leverhulme-funded Urban Ecology and Transitions in the Zanzibar Archipelago Project (UETZAP).
Having graduated with a BA Archaeology from the University of Southampton in 2007, he went on to study Near Eastern landscape archaeology at Durham University under Professor Tony Wilkinson, completing his MA dissertation on the early Islamic ports of the Persian Gulf in 2009. Between 2009-2011 he worked as a self-employed archaeological researcher and GIS specialist with projects at Durham University and The British Museum; as a part-time geophysical surveyor for Archaeological Services Durham University; and on various fieldwork projects in the UK, France, and Kuwait. In 2013 he was also employed to build and print a series of 3D models representing key archaeological phases of the Sacred Garden at Lumbini, Nepal, for the Durham University/UNESCO excavations of the protected WHO site. These models were used by the team in the National Geographic documentary 'Buried Secrets of The Buddha' in February 2014.
Tom went to York in 2011 and spent two years as the Archaeology Department's Computing Officer, before he was awarded an AHRC Doctoral Studentship in January 2014. His PhD thesis, Pushing the Boat Out, on the nature of the early Swahili harbours of the Zanzibar Archipelago, was supervised by Dr Stephanie Wynne-Jones and was completed in 2017. Following his PhD he was appointed an Associate Lecturer in Archaeology in January 2017, teaching History and Theory of Archaeology to first-years and practical skills in archaeological computing and survey to second-year undergraduates, as well as the MA Historical Archaeology, focusing on the archaeology of the African diaspora, European colonisation, and globalisation. He took up a position as postdoctoral research associate with UETZAP under Professor Stephanie Wynne-Jones in April 2019.
He is currently Research Fellow in GIS and Spatial Archaeology at UCL Institute of Archaeology on the Everyday Islam Project under Dr Corisande Fenwick. Until September 2022 he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate on Dr Stephanie Wynne-Jones Leverhulme-funded Urban Ecology and Transitions in the Zanzibar Archipelago Project (UETZAP).
Having graduated with a BA Archaeology from the University of Southampton in 2007, he went on to study Near Eastern landscape archaeology at Durham University under Professor Tony Wilkinson, completing his MA dissertation on the early Islamic ports of the Persian Gulf in 2009. Between 2009-2011 he worked as a self-employed archaeological researcher and GIS specialist with projects at Durham University and The British Museum; as a part-time geophysical surveyor for Archaeological Services Durham University; and on various fieldwork projects in the UK, France, and Kuwait. In 2013 he was also employed to build and print a series of 3D models representing key archaeological phases of the Sacred Garden at Lumbini, Nepal, for the Durham University/UNESCO excavations of the protected WHO site. These models were used by the team in the National Geographic documentary 'Buried Secrets of The Buddha' in February 2014.
Tom went to York in 2011 and spent two years as the Archaeology Department's Computing Officer, before he was awarded an AHRC Doctoral Studentship in January 2014. His PhD thesis, Pushing the Boat Out, on the nature of the early Swahili harbours of the Zanzibar Archipelago, was supervised by Dr Stephanie Wynne-Jones and was completed in 2017. Following his PhD he was appointed an Associate Lecturer in Archaeology in January 2017, teaching History and Theory of Archaeology to first-years and practical skills in archaeological computing and survey to second-year undergraduates, as well as the MA Historical Archaeology, focusing on the archaeology of the African diaspora, European colonisation, and globalisation. He took up a position as postdoctoral research associate with UETZAP under Professor Stephanie Wynne-Jones in April 2019.
less
InterestsView All (10)
Uploads
Publications by Tom Fitton
Conference Presentations by Tom Fitton
The deadline for submissions is 11th February, and the EAA 2021 conference will take place in Kiel and online between the 8th-11 September 2021. Abstracts up to 300 words should be submitted through EAA 2021 website (https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2021). For more details please get in touch through tom.fitton@york.ac.uk.
13 with sites of the last 1500 years that share common cultural, religious and artistic traditions; no doubt these were maintained by frequent and substantial coastal voyaging. Swahili towns are often described as ports, yet they were more than simply destinations for coastal and international voyagers. The sites of the coast were also home to a diverse group of inhabitants, with a range of relationships with their terrestrial hinterland. This paper explores the role of the sea in this society, not just as a medium for commercial voyaging, but as an ever-present aspect of coastal life. The role of the sea in local economies, diets, and ritual practices will be explored, as well as the ways that coastal sites colonised and domesticated coastal environments.
This paper presents a limited set of harbour activities which can be expected to have taken place, the archaeological traces of these activities, and the techniques we might use to identify them. The identification of these activities has the potential to reshape our understanding of the development of the early Swahili coast, and the formation of the long-distance maritime networks across the Indian Ocean.
The methodology is presented with reference to previous work at Manda and Shanga, and the results of the authors own fieldwork at Unguja Ukuu, Zanibar. The results of this recent work justify a reappraisal of the settlement, and it will be argued that an open beach, rather than sheltered mangrove creek was the primary harbour, and that the shoreline may have hosted an array of resource-processing and industrial activities.
In response, we have conducted 2 seasons of magnetic gradiometry at the 7th-10th century site of Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, in order to map the layout of the site, identify structural plans and materials such as wattle-and-daub, and assess the potential of magnetometry for archaeological use in the Zanzibar Archipelago. The work, funded by the Entrepot Project (Danish Research Council, University of York, University of Aarhus), has resulted in the identification of previously unknown structures at the estimated limits of the site, and several areas in proximity to the harbour indicative of industrial activity.
The results justify a reappraisal of the relationship between the harbour and urban zones of this principal settlement of Zanzibar. We argue that the open beach of Menai Bay was the primary harbour, as opposed to the sheltered mangrove creek to the east, and that the shoreline may have hosted an array of resource-processing and industrial activities. We also discuss the strengths of magnetometry in identifying daub structures and activity sites, and the limitations of geophysics in the geology of Zanzibar.
As well as promoting the use of non-invasive geophysics in African coastal contexts, this work indicates that Unguja Ukuu was a maritime-oriented, African-origin and active agent in the Indian Ocean networks of the 1st millennium CE.
The deadline for submissions is 11th February, and the EAA 2021 conference will take place in Kiel and online between the 8th-11 September 2021. Abstracts up to 300 words should be submitted through EAA 2021 website (https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2021). For more details please get in touch through tom.fitton@york.ac.uk.
13 with sites of the last 1500 years that share common cultural, religious and artistic traditions; no doubt these were maintained by frequent and substantial coastal voyaging. Swahili towns are often described as ports, yet they were more than simply destinations for coastal and international voyagers. The sites of the coast were also home to a diverse group of inhabitants, with a range of relationships with their terrestrial hinterland. This paper explores the role of the sea in this society, not just as a medium for commercial voyaging, but as an ever-present aspect of coastal life. The role of the sea in local economies, diets, and ritual practices will be explored, as well as the ways that coastal sites colonised and domesticated coastal environments.
This paper presents a limited set of harbour activities which can be expected to have taken place, the archaeological traces of these activities, and the techniques we might use to identify them. The identification of these activities has the potential to reshape our understanding of the development of the early Swahili coast, and the formation of the long-distance maritime networks across the Indian Ocean.
The methodology is presented with reference to previous work at Manda and Shanga, and the results of the authors own fieldwork at Unguja Ukuu, Zanibar. The results of this recent work justify a reappraisal of the settlement, and it will be argued that an open beach, rather than sheltered mangrove creek was the primary harbour, and that the shoreline may have hosted an array of resource-processing and industrial activities.
In response, we have conducted 2 seasons of magnetic gradiometry at the 7th-10th century site of Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, in order to map the layout of the site, identify structural plans and materials such as wattle-and-daub, and assess the potential of magnetometry for archaeological use in the Zanzibar Archipelago. The work, funded by the Entrepot Project (Danish Research Council, University of York, University of Aarhus), has resulted in the identification of previously unknown structures at the estimated limits of the site, and several areas in proximity to the harbour indicative of industrial activity.
The results justify a reappraisal of the relationship between the harbour and urban zones of this principal settlement of Zanzibar. We argue that the open beach of Menai Bay was the primary harbour, as opposed to the sheltered mangrove creek to the east, and that the shoreline may have hosted an array of resource-processing and industrial activities. We also discuss the strengths of magnetometry in identifying daub structures and activity sites, and the limitations of geophysics in the geology of Zanzibar.
As well as promoting the use of non-invasive geophysics in African coastal contexts, this work indicates that Unguja Ukuu was a maritime-oriented, African-origin and active agent in the Indian Ocean networks of the 1st millennium CE.