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Initial results of scientific drilling in southern coastal Tanzania are described. A total of five sites was drilled (mostly using continuous coring) by the Tanzania Drilling Project for paleoclimate studies. The sediments are predominantly clays and claystones deposited in a deep marine shelf environment and often contain excellently preserved microfossils suitable for geochemical analysis. The studies reported here include summaries of the lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy (planktonic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils, benthic foraminifers, and palynology), magnetostratigraphy, and organic geochemistry. TDP Site 1 was drilled near Kilwa Masoko airstrip (8°54.516^′S, 39°30.397^′E). It yielded 8.55 m of barren blue-grey clays that may be Miocene in age, followed by 1.2 m of greenish-black to dark greenish-grey clay probably of the same age. The remainder of the hole cored 62.35 m of lower Oligocene sediments …