Journal Articles
In Press 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. Accepted and in press in Current Anthropology.
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.
Non-Academic Publications
In press 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. https://theconversation.com/zanzibars-baobab-trees-used-to-be-a-valued-part-of-society-drone-images-help-prove-it-258996
2024 Alders, W. Researcher at CAST uses satellite imagery to investigate ancient urbanism in eastern Africa. University of Arkansas Newsletter. https://arkansasresearch.uark.edu/researcher-at-cast-uses-satellite-imagery-to-investigate-ancient-urbanism-in-eastern-africa/
