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Abstract

This chapter introduces the neglected Islamic archaeology of the Sahara. First, it draws together for the first time some of the important but little-known archaeological sites of the early Islamic Sahara. This is then followed by an exploration of key research themes: trade; urban planning and architecture; technology; religion and the early Islamization of the Sahara. The chapter is framed in reference to the particular conditions of Islam in the Sahara, as both a region removed from the landscape of the core centers of power within the Islamic world and one strongly influenced by its role in long-distance “trans-Saharan” trade and exchange networks.

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Most cited references 70

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Excavating Essouk-Tadmakka (Mali): new archaeological investigations of early Islamic trans-Saharan trade

Sam Nixon (2009)

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Early primary glass production in southern Nigeria

James W. Lankton, O. Ige, Thilo Rehren (2006)

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Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Nige r Bend in the First Millennium CE

Mamadou Cissé, Susan McIntosh, Laure Dussubieux … (2013)

Along with Ghana, Gawgaw (Gao) was an important regional trading polity mentioned by Arab chroniclers in the later first millennium CE. In the later tenth century, al-Muhallabi wrote of the dual towns of Gawgaw, one the residence of the king and the other a market and trading town called Sarneh. The large settlement mound of Gao Saney, located seven kilometers east of Gao, has long been thought to be the site of Sarneh. Excavations in 2001–2 and 2009 were the first sustained archaeological explorations of the main, 32-hectare mound, providing new information on function, subsistence economy, material culture, and chronology, and expanding considerably on earlier investigations by T. Insoll and R. Mauny. This article presents a broad overview of the recent excavations, focusing particularly on the evidence for spatial differentiation (domestic and workshop areas), chronology (both radiocarbon and ceramic) and involvement in trade networks.