Stéphane Pradines, (Ph.D. in Islamic Archaeology from Sorbonne University, Paris, 2001), is Professor of Islamic Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, Aga Khan University, London and an archaeologist working in Egypt, East Africa, Pakistan and the Maldives. He is a specialist of Muslim warfare in the medieval Middle East and Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean. Professor Pradines is the Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access Journal of Muslim Material Cultures. Prior to joining the Aga Khan University in 2012, he oversaw the Islamic Archaeology Department at the French Institute in Cairo. His publications include Fortifications et urbanisation en Afrique orientale, 2004, Gedi, une cité portuaire swahilie, 2010, Earthen Architecture in Muslim Cultures: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives, 2018, and Ports and Forts of the Muslims. Coastal Military Architecture, from the Arab Conquest to the Ottoman Period, 2020.