Posted in research on Jul 18th, 2009 4 Comments »
Our excavations at Mtwapa have the main research goal of acquiring as many samples of human remains as possible, in order to analyze their DNA and determine who, genetically speaking, was living at the site during the early 2nd millennium AD. For me, it would be wonderful if we find that Arabs and Africans were [...]
Posted in travel on Jun 29th, 2009 1 Comment »
After getting off my second international red-eye flight and waiting in the (almost) laughably long line to get a Kenyan visa, the man in whose excavation I’m participating took me to his brother’s house in Nairobi. While he ran errands, I stayed at the house. He told me before he left, “You are safe [...]
Posted in research on Jun 20th, 2009 1 Comment »
I want to find those you-got-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter cultural products where it is entirely clear that Islamic traders and traditional Africans both contributed.