31/08/2026
A surprising discovery from across the Red Sea
As the Lamu Museums Sites and Monuments Research Team continues to broaden its understanding of the historical connections between the Swahili coast and the wider Indian Ocean world, we have been intrigued by a remarkable and relatively little-known place: Dahlak Kebir, the largest island of Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago.
At first glance, this remote island seems far removed from Lamu. Yet its archaeological remains tell a very different story. Beneath its dry landscape are sophisticated water cisterns, coral-stone settlements, mosques and an extensive Islamic necropolis. Research has documented hundreds of funerary stelae, some dating back to the early Islamic period.
The tombstones are particularly revealing. One in the British Museum commemorates Sheikh Makki ibn Jami ibn Salim al-Sawakini, who died on Dahlak in 1210 and whose name connects him with Suakin on the Sudanese Red Sea coast. Another Dahlak tombstone was carved by a craftsman from a Meccan family specialising in funerary monuments.
For our team, this opens an intriguing line of enquiry. Dahlak's history was entangled with the political and commercial worlds of the Horn of Africa, southern Arabia, including the Yemeni dynasties and the wider Mamluk-era Red Sea. Its archaeological record reminds us that the history of East African ports such as Lamu cannot be understood only by looking along the African coastline.
The sea was not a barrier. It was the highway.
And perhaps, in trying to understand Lamu's historic connections with Hadhramaut and southern Arabia, there are still many stories waiting to be discovered on the other side of the Red Sea.
