Publications
Journal Articles
In review Alders, W. Evaluating forced displacement on the eastern African Swahili Coast, 500–1900 CE. In review for the edited volume Archaeologies of Forced Displacement: Methods, Case Studies, and Prospects, eds. Aaron Burke and Li Min. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.
In review Dumitru, I. A., Alders, W., Kristiansen, S. M., Lupien, R., Raja, R., Sindbæk, S. M., Olsen, J. Climate migrants and the origins of Swahili society in eastern Africa. In review with PNAS. Preprint
2026 Alders, W., Juma, K., Manzi, Z., Muhammed, H., Musa, H., Suleiman, H., Ubwa, A., Vuai, A., Ali, A. Persistence on a perilous coast: Swahili responses to raiding, instability, and colonial violence in eastern Africa. Current Anthropology 67(4). https://doi.org/10.1086/742009
2026 Alders, W. Townlands of the Swahili Coast: A framework for compact, high-density tropical urbanism on eastern Africa’s Indian Ocean rim. Journal of Archaeological Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-025-09218-9
2025 Alders, W.; Lim, J.; Brunner, L. Detecting baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) in drone imagery and evaluating their anthropogenic legacy in eastern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106280
2025 Haji, F.; Haji, K. S.; Ally, A.; Alders, W.; Othman, B.; Mussa, M.; Kasala, A.; Hamad, H. F.; Khamis, A. A. Archaeological investigations at Pungume, a small island off the coast of southern Unguja in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 102, 76–84.
2024 Alders, W. Rural settlement dynamics in a rapidly urbanizing landscape: insights from satellite remote sensing and archaeological field surveys in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Journal of Field Archaeology 49(8), 634–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2024.2402962
2024 Alders, W., Davis, D.; Haines, J. Archaeology in the fourth dimension: studying landscapes with multitemporal PlanetScope satellite data. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 31: 1588–1621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09644-x
2024 Alders, W. Clientage, debt, and the integrative orientation of non-elites on the East African Swahili coast. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101553
2023 Alders, W. Open-access archaeological predictive modeling using zonal statistics: a case study from Zanzibar, Tanzania. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology 6(1): 117–142. https://doi.org/10.5334/jcaa.107
2023 Alders, W. The archaeology of social transformation in rural Zanzibar, Tanzania, eleventh to nineteenth centuries CE. African Archaeological Review 40: 741–760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-023-09523-y
2020 Alders, W. Preliminary results of a 2019 survey in inland Zanzibar, Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 94: 38–45.
2016 Alders, W. Archaeological survey and landscape history at Gede, Kenya. Nyame Akuma 85: 33–43.
Manuscripts in Progress
In prep. Alders, W., Dumitru, I., Mjema, E. Coral harbors of Africa’s Indian Ocean Coast: Evaluating site selection factors for ancient Swahili settlements. In preparation for Archaeological Prospection.
In prep. Alders, W. Becoming Zanzibar: An Archaeology of Socioecological Transformation, Globalization, and Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World from AD 800–1900. A monograph in preparation for British Archaeological Reports.
Public-Facing Writing
Accepted Alders, W. Baobabs, monsoons, and tsunamis: Exploring the hidden landscapes of the Swahili Coast with geospatial data and technologies. Backdirt: Annual Review of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
2025 Alders, W. Zanzibar’s baobab trees used to be a valued part of society – drone images help prove it. The Conversation. Read online
2024 Alders, W. Researcher at CAST uses satellite imagery to investigate ancient urbanism in eastern Africa. University of Arkansas Newsletter. Read online
Dissertation
2022 Alders, W. Uneven Ground: The Archaeology of Social Transformation in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Department of Anthropology Dissertation, UC Berkeley. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3n46k1w9