Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter February 2022

FEBRUARY-2022 PRESERVATION  EDUCATION  RESEARCH  INSPIRE Dear Member: On January 22, we hosted the Science Table at the Sarasota Farmer’s Market. It was cold (45) rainy but Mary, Jean, Sherry & I talked to people about Archaeology, Florida History and Time Sifters. Thanks to the team and to Bea for all of the help. We are scheduled to do it again on March 12th. Come join us. We have added two new speakers to our Calendar … Michael Jorden will give us an “Update on the CSS Georgia and the Further Excavations in the Savannah River” on April 20 and Professor David Jacques will tell us about his work at “Blick Mead: The Cradle of Stonehenge” on May 18. Please join us. Thank you for being a Time Sifters member. Darwin “Smitty” Smith, President [email protected] February 16 - at 6:00 PM – ZOOM. The Afterlife of Carthage: Archaeology and Colonialism in Medieval North Africa Matt King book, “Dynasties Intertwined: The Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Assistant Professor, Department of History, Normans of Sicily”, is forth- University of South Florida Tampa coming in May 2022. He is also active with the National History The ruins of Carthage in these ruins. Day outreach program, which modern-day Tunisia had a vivid Matt King is an assistant encourages K-12 students to afterlife in the medieval period undertake research projects on as a source of marble for local professor of medieval history historical leaders and, occasionally, as a and digital humanities at the topics that focus of power in the politically University of South Florida. resonate decentralized landscape of His research focuses on the with them. medieval North Africa. relationship between Christians, Muslims, and Jews across the Unfortunately, the mark that Mediterranean during the age many of these leaders left on of the Crusades. His first the landscape has been minimized by French colonial archaeologists, who were so determined to find evidence of Christian and Roman inhabitation at Carthage that they destroyed stratigraphic layers that testified to the presence of Muslim activity in Instructions for real time viewing: Register in advance for this meeting: Go to the Time Sifters website, www.timesifters.org and click on the registration url. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Notes from a Time Sifter moat that is three miles long and 659 feet wide. The sandstone Gentrification blocks were carried in from quarries 18 miles away. That By Evelyn Mangie, Time Sifters Board Member kind of labor must have required a Gentrification is a word population of at least 80-150 created in 1964 by British thousand residents (officials, sociologist Ruth Glass to labor, and farmers) but the describe the “displacement of thick jungle hides any evidence of the poor in London as upper-class a supporting population people moved in to refurbish surrounding the temples houses in previously working- leading to legends that class areas.” It is a process claimed that the temples were that is occurring worldwide built magically overnight by and has drastically changed the gods. When tourists began to communities. For example, visit in the 19th century, the housing in San Francisco became jungle was cleaned away from scarce, so San Francisco the temple the wealthy stones. bought old UNESCO inner-city declared the houses and temple complex turned them a World into expensive Heritage Site homes in 1992 but eliminating the jungle still Miami obliterated any affordable evidence of a housing for population the working Dallas class and Angor Wat losing social diversity. An American Community Survey showed that many cities such as New York City—Before & After Miami, Dallas, and New York happened at City have undergone major Angor Wat, gentrification in many of their Khmer for neighborhoods. Temple City, where magnificent, large enough to build it. The Gentrification can happen for connected temples stand in Leiden archaeologists were a variety of reasons such as the midst of the Cambodian able to find that evidence by housing shortages, transportation jungle without any visual using helicopter-mounted problems, conflict between ethnic evidence of those who built it lidar that scanned the thick or political groups, etc. Any and made it function. The Leiden jungle. They identified a city group displacing another can archaeologists began a search in with hundreds of housing make drastic changes in the 2012 to find out why it was foundations, roads, farms, and flavor of a community as well deserted. small urban centers, enough as its economy. Sometimes the We know that the temple to house nearly one million loss of a specific group causes was constructed in the 12th people who lived in an area of change so great that eventually century CE on a giant fertile more than a thousand square the neighborhood or even the floodplain. It is one of the miles around the temples. city is abandoned. largest religious building The area was originally settled Archaeologists at Leiden complexes ever created, covering by farmers long before the University believe that is what 420 acres surrounded by a Continued on page 4 ...

UNESCO World Heritage Sites #144 - Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara, Tanzania by: Smitty. Sources: World Heritage Site, Wikipedia, World History Encyclopedia. The two great East African houses, public squares, burial port cites, Kilwa Kisiwani and grounds, etc. Songo Mnara are located on two islands close to each other The ruins of Songo Mnara, just off the Tanzanian coast at the northern end of the island, about 187 miles south of Dar consist of the remains of five es Salaam. The larger, Kilwa mosques, a palace complex, Kisiwani, was occupied from and some 33 domestic the 9th to the 19th century and dwellings constructed of coral reached its peak of prosperity in stones and wood within enclosing walls. the13th and 14th established a fort on Kilwa Photos: Pinterest; daigletours centuries. In 1331-1332, Kisiwani and the decline of the great traveler, Ibn the two islands began. The Great Mosque Battouta made a stop of Kilwa Kisiwani is here and described Kilwa The remains of Kilwa Kisiwani the oldest standing as one of the most cover much of the island with mosque on the East beautiful cities of the world. many parts of the city still African coast and, with unexcavated. The substantial its 16 domed and Historically, it was the center standing ruins, built of coral vaulted bays, has a unique of the Kilwa Sultanate, a and lime mortar, include the plan. Its true great dome medieval sultanate whose Great Mosque constructed in dating from the 13th was the authority, at its height, the 11th century and largest dome in East Africa stretched the entire length of considerably enlarged in the until the 19th century. the Swahili Coast. 13th century, and roofed entirely The islands of Kilwa Kisiwani with domes and vaults, some and Songo Mnara bear excep- Their prosperity was based decorated with embedded tional testimony to the expansion on control of Indian Ocean Chinese porcelain; the palace of Swahili coastal culture, the trade with Arabia, India and Husuni Kubwa built between Islamization of East Africa and China. The merchants of Kilwa c1310 and 1333 with its large the extraordinarily extensive and dealt in gold, silver, pearls, octagonal bathing pool; prosperous Indian Ocean trade perfumes, Arabian crockery, Husuni Ndogo, numerous from the medieval period up to Persian earthenware and mosques, the Gereza (prison) the modern era. Chinese porcelain; much of the constructed on the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani along with trade in the Indian Ocean thus the Portuguese fort and an the nearby stone town Songo passed through their hands. entire urban complex with Mnara was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage For approximately 500 years, Site #144 in 1981. Kilwa was minting coins. This lasted from about 1100-1600 CE and the coins have been found across the region, in- cluding Great Zimbabwe. In the 16th century, the Portuguese

Continued from page 2 ... Chaco Canyon Great Zimbabwe Machu Picchu Gentrification ... environmental ancient cities? Scholars have changes caused the temples were built. It grew until it suggested that disease or desertion of the became the capital of the “ghost” cities of the Khmer empire in 802 that included past, like Machu modern Cambodia, Laos, Picchu, Great Thailand, and Vietnam. The Zimbabwe or Chaco city had a huge population for Canyon. Perhaps it several hundred years even was the same before the temples were built. gentrification that is still happening in Why did they leave? our world today. Archaeologists believe the center of this city was taken over gradually All photos: Wikipedia by elite officials. Lidar showed that the population grew more densely packed around the ceremonial area as kings began to build palaces and religious buildings. The elite took over the small farms until centralization confiscated more and more of the land, so the farmers and service class were pushed out. That continued through the 12th century when King Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1215) began a massive building program for the construction of Angor Wat (the temple complex). He evicted all who lived in the city’s center to build roads, the moat, and a 15-foot-high wall around the temples, eliminating the elite and even more of the ordinary people. They all lost their land, their livelihoods, and their emotional ties to the temples, and eventually they left the once great city. By the 16th century, the entire area was completely abandoned except for the few monks that remained in the temple and it became a “ghost” city. Could gentrification have caused the collapse of other Board of Officers: Lifetime: $350 Pay online at: Directors Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, President Individual: $25 WWW.TimeSifters.org Sherry Svekis, Vice President Family: $35 Or mail checks to: Mary S. Maisel, Secretary Student: $10 Time Sifters, Inc. Laura Harrison, Treasurer Supporting $50 PO Box 5283 Karen Jensen, Membership Sarasota, FL. 34277 Marion Almy Jean Louise Lammie Evelyn Mangie Copyright © 2022 Time SiftersArchaeology Society,Inc., All rights reserved.