As part of the British Council Cultural Protection Fund climate impact funded projects, collaborators from the University of St Andrews and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) are implementing an initiative of digital capture and training at two cultural heritage sites in Tanzania. These sites, namely Locality 11 of Laetoli footprint site dated 3.66mya and the 19th century slave warehouse complex on the Swahili coast at Winde, are of international importance but, unfortunately, under severe threat from climate change.
Laetoli is the site where Mary Leakey found the oldest (3.6mya) hominid footprints amongst multiple animal and bird tracks. The footprints are preserved in volcanic tuff that is fragile and susceptible to amplified erosion due to increased rainfall. Because of the nature of the tuff, in-situ conservation is challenging. Digital documentation of the site will create a permanent copy before the features are lost.
The Winde complex represents a typical Swahili coastal settlement in Tanzania at the heart of the 19th-century slave and ivory trade between the main termini of Bagamoyo and Pangani. With increased sea level rise, a large part of the building complex measuring 152m long and 102m wide is now underwater. Excavation and digitization of the remaining buried is necessary before complete loss.
These two sites (Winde and Laetoli) represent a range of climate-related impacts that demonstrate the complexity and often interlinked relationship between tangible and intangible cultural heritage threatened with loss. The project addresses the issues of loss through a program of in-country training to develop digital capture skills followed by appropriate in-field recording using both low-cost digital methods and state of the art recording, together with training on data processing and integration for both 1) archiving information within national databases and 2) for use in a variety of outreach methods.
At both Laetoli and Winde, the project focuses on training staff from various government departments (Museums, Antiquities, Conservation authorities, etc.) to enable the digital capture of the sites, the preservation of digital material (archiving for national records) and the dissemination of the data for use by both academic and public audiences. The training has been delivered through classroom-based workshops and field schools:
Training in digital capture techniques has been given to 3 UDSM staff and 5 UDSM students, 2 National Museum of Tanzania (NMT) staff, 2 Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) staff, 3 staff of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), and 5 local volunteers,
27 local volunteers were trained at the sites regarding the cultural heritage survey methods.
The project has also produced the following output:
- 10 short films/documentaries were released on social media platforms (YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook).
- A temporary, multimedia exhibition (August 19-25) as part of the UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition which was attended by over 700 visitors including students from local schools, local people and tourists.
- Multiple illustrations/cartoons by a Tanzanian artist have been produced and distributed to the public through social media platforms.
- Exhibition and presentation of documentaries at the Bagamoyo International Film Festival, 2024 attended by over 1,000 people.