Welcome to CONCH, a co-productive heritage research project centred in Tanzania and funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

This project brought together UK and African archaeologists, heritage professionals, and community groups in discussions and activities surrounding the built heritage of the East African, or Swahili, coast. CONCH has explored and celebrated the rich architectural heritage of this region, during fieldschools at key sites in Pangani and Kilwa. We have worked with different local stakeholders at each site, and hope to continue working with and boosting existing initiatives and agendas among our colleagues.

The fieldschool projects for CONCH has ended and this website will no longer edited after September 30th 2019. You can follow how the project developed through our BLOG. You can also follow the evolution of the project through our Facebook and Instagram sites. 

Whilst the project is ended, the connections made through the fieldschool are ongoing and we would still like to hear from you! See our Projects Team page to get in contact.

>> Find out more about the project

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Updates

13th May 2020

Dr Elinaza Mjema's research at Pangani has been featured in the latest edition of National Geographic, highlighting his identification of an ancient tsunami in the Pangani area. Mjema's excavations have uncovered mass burials relating to an inundation event 1,000 years ago. The work has also recently been published in Geology.

6th May 2020

It is with great sadness that we hear of the passing of Noel Lasway. He was a wonderful member of our team, a great colleague and an excellent person. He will be greatly missed by all of us, and by Tanzanian heritage in general.

19th August 2019

The CONCH project has been completed in two fieldschool projects: one in Pangani in 2018 and another in Kilwa this summer. 

We are very happy with how these two fieldschool projects have been undertaken: we have learnt about both the archaeological aspects and the community needs for heritage management in these areas. You can see how this understanding unfolded within our 'Research' menu, where you will find all of the project blogs and also via our Facebook & Instagram pages (search @conchpro).

We are currently in the process of winding down the CONCH project - this website will be live until Sept 30th. 

If you have any questions please email info@conchproject.org (this email account will be monitored until Sept 30th). 

 

Find out more about the CONCH project, including our objectives, the team and our partner organisations.
Learn more about the CONCH project's outreach programmes with local Tanzanian communities.
Explore our gallery to discover more about the buildings and communities that we are working with.
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