The archaeological site of Jenne-jeno (or Djenné-djenno) is a mound located in the Niger Inland Delta, a region of West Africa just south of the Sahara and part of modern-day Mali, characterized by lakes and floodplains. It was continuously inhabited between 250 BCE and 1400 CE. ’Jenne-jeno III’ refers to the period from 400 to 900 CE. This roughly corresponds to the region’s ’urban prosperity’ phase.
[1]
Though subsistence strategies remained largely unchanged, a number of important transformations occurred: the inhabitants of Jenne-jeno grew in number, established long-distance trade networks, and developed more sophisticated metalworking techniques.
[2]
[1]
Population and political organization
Between 400 and 800 CE, Jenne-jeno grew from 25 to 33 hectares. Population density was likely high, and a conservative estimate puts the population of Jenne-jeno and its satellites within a one-kilometre radius at 10,000-26,000 people around 800 CE.
[3]
The political organization of Jenne-jeno may have been quite different from that of other ancient cities. In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters ‒ suggests a resistance to centralization.
[4]
It is possible that, at this time, Niger Inland Delta society was organized ’heterarchically’ rather than hierarchically: that is, it was divided into multiple components, each deriving authority from separate or overlapping sources, with mechanisms in place to prevent any one group from monopolizing power.
[5]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 175-76) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1) Roderick J. McIntosh and Susan K. McIntosh. 1981. ’The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-jeno’. Journal of African History 22 (1): 1-22.
[3]: (McIntosh 2006, 174-75) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (McIntosh 2006, 228-29) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
| 30 P |
| Jenne-jeno III |
| Jenne-jeno Phase III | |
| Djoboro | |
| Do-Dojobor | |
| Zoboro | |
| Old Jenne | |
| Djenne-jeno |
| unknown [---] |
| Jenne Culture |
| Jenne-Jeno IV |
| 25,000 km2 |
| continuation |
| Preceding: Jenne-jeno II (ml_jenne_jeno_2) [continuation] |
| quasi-polity |
| [7,000 to 8,000] people |
| 1,100 km2 |
| [10,000 to 26,000] people |
| unknown |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| present |
| absent |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| present | |
| absent |
| present | |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| Year Range | Jenne-jeno III (ml_jenne_jeno_3) was in: |
|---|---|
| (400 CE 899 CE) | Niger Inland Delta |
Djoboro [1] , Do-Dojobor and Zoboro. [2] Jenne-jeno ("Old Jenne"; Djenne-jeno) [3]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1)
[2]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 9)
Djoboro [1] , Do-Dojobor and Zoboro. [2] Jenne-jeno ("Old Jenne"; Djenne-jeno) [3]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1)
[2]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 9)
Djoboro [1] , Do-Dojobor and Zoboro. [2] Jenne-jeno ("Old Jenne"; Djenne-jeno) [3]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1)
[2]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 9)
Djoboro [1] , Do-Dojobor and Zoboro. [2] Jenne-jeno ("Old Jenne"; Djenne-jeno) [3]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1)
[2]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 9)
Phase III: 400-900 CE. Urban expansion. apogee 750-1150 CE.
[1]
"Jenne-jeno’s floruit: 450-1100 C.E."
[2]
"Jenne-jeno’s floruit between 800-1000 C.E."
[2]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 16)
[2]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500)
Earlier coded as Sahel Tell Culture. In this more developed phase there presumably developed a more distinct local identity, so the supracultural entity will be a much smaller area. Al Sa’di’s describes the territory of Jenne as "from Lake Debo in the north to the Volta Bend in the south, and borders on the Bandiagara highlands to the east. It is not clear whether Jenne’s territory was defined by political suzerainty, economic domination, or some other means entirely." [1]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 6)
km squared. Al Sa’di’s describes the territory of Jenne as "from Lake Debo in the north to the Volta Bend in the south, and borders on the Bandiagara highlands to the east. It is not clear whether Jenne’s territory was defined by political suzerainty, economic domination, or some other means entirely." [1] With Google area calculator this works out at about 25,000 km2.
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 6)
There is no evidence of a hierarchical social system and centralized control
[1]
Jenne-jeno was "a large, complex, but non-coercive urban settlement."
[2]
"the demands of specialization pushed groups apart while the requirements of a generalized economy pulled them together ... created a dynamism that ensured growth and the establishment of urban settlements. And they were non-coercive settlements. Groups congregated by choice. This is an instance of transformation from a rural to an urban society that did not establish a hierarchical society and coercive centralized control... The process in the delta and at Jenne-jeno in particular, was one of ’complexification’ rather than centralization."
[3]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 219)
[2]: (Reader 1998, 225)
[3]: (Reader 1998, 228)
Inhabitants. The most up-to-date source
[1]
cites S. McIntosh’s 1995 population estimate for the wider Jenne-jeno area: "Archaeologists shrink (with justification) from making population estimates; let us just guess at a low-end figure of 10,000 to 26,000 people in Jenne-jeno and the 1-kilometer radius satellites (see below) by AD 800 (S. McIntosh 1995: 395)."
[2]
. As for Jenne-jeno itself, the 1995 document suggests a population of about 7,300
[3]
"At its most densely populated (around AD 800) Jenne-jeno housed up to 27,000 people.
[4]
Estimate hectare size phase II:
settlement size "possibly exceeding 10 hectares"
[5]
1977 archaeological investigation established the 3rd century BCE date and showed that by the eighth-ninth century it had become "an urban center of considerable proportions"
[6]
Estimated hectare size early phase III:
"by 450 C.E., the settlement had expanded to at least 25 hectares (over 60 acres)."
[7]
Estimate size at height phase III/phase IV:
"The total surface area of Jenne-jeno and its satellites was 69 hectares; the total population when most densely occupied approached 27,000."
[8]
"At its most densely populated (around AD 800) Jenne-jeno housed up to 27,000 people.
[4]
33 hectares. 9 hectare Hambarketolo connects to Jenne-jeno via an earthern dike.
[5]
this maximum area extent by 900-1000 CE
[9]
"During this time, the settlement continued to grow, reaching its maximum area of 33 hectares by 850 C.E. We know that this is so because sherds of the distinctive painted pottery that was produced at Jenne-jeno only between 450-850 C.E. are present in all our excavation units, even those near the edge of the mound. And we find them at the neighboring mound of Hambarketolo, too, suggesting that these two connected sites totaling 41 hectares (100 acres) functioned as part of a single town complex (Pl. 4).
[7]
modern town of Jenne (to be distinguished from ancient Jenne-jeno) was occupied by 500 CE.
[10]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 174-175) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. “Ancient Middle Niger”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (McIntosh 2006, 175) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. “Ancient Middle Niger”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (McIntosh 1995, 374) Susan McIntosh. 1995. Excavations at Jenné-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana (Inland Niger Delta, Mali): the 1981 season. Berkeley; London: University of California Press.
[4]: (Reader 1998, 219)
[5]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 16)
[6]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 1)
[7]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500)
[8]: (Reader 1998, 230)
[9]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 19)
[10]: (Reader 1998, 232)
in squared kilometers
1,100 square kilometer hinterland
[1]
"over 60 archaeological sites rise from the floodplain within a 4 kilometer radius of the modern town"
[2]
"The mound that rose from the Niger floodplain with the growth of Jenne-jeno did not stand alone. Indeed, it was surrounded by twenty-five smaller mounds, all within a distance of one kilometre, all occupied simultaneously. The total surface area of Jenne-jeno and its satellites was 69 hectares; the total population when most densely occupied approached 27,000."
[3]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 22)
[2]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500)
[3]: (Reader 1998, 230)
People. According to the most up-to-date estimate. "Archaeologists shrink (with justification) from making population estimates; let us just guess at a low-end figure of 10,000 to 26,000 people in Jenne-jeno and the 1-kilometer radius satellites (see below) by AD 800 (S. McIntosh 1995: 395)."
[1]
.
"The mound that rose from the Niger floodplain with the growth of Jenne-jeno did not stand alone. Indeed, it was surrounded by twenty-five smaller mounds, all within a distance of one kilometre, all occupied simultaneously. The total surface area of Jenne-jeno and its satellites was 69 hectares; the total population when most densely occupied approached 27,000."
[2]
"At its most densely populated (around AD 800) Jenne-jeno housed up to 27,000 people.
[3]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 175) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. “Ancient Middle Niger”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (Reader 1998, 230)
[3]: (Reader 1998, 219)
levels.
1. Town (20,000-30,000 people)
2. Large village (2,000 people)3. Small agricultural settlement
"During the late first millennium A.D., several nearby settlements comparable in size to Jenne-jeno existed, and the density of rural settlements may have been as great as ten times the density of villages in the hinterland today."
[1]
"The mound that rose from the Niger floodplain with the growth of Jenne-jeno did not stand alone. Indeed, it was surrounded by twenty-five smaller mounds, all within a distance of one kilometre, all occupied simultaneously."
[2]
"people were kept apart by virtue of their occupations and their ethnic identities. Sedentary communities, though clustered were dispersed."
[3]
"Sudanic societies were built on small agricultural villages or herding communities, sometimes but not always integrated into larger tribal and linguistic groups."
[4]
"In the deposits dated from the fifth century, there are definite indications that the organization of society is changing... The round houses at Jenne-jeno were constructed with tauf, or puddled mud, foundations, from the fifth to the ninth century."
[5]
"As we currently understand the archaeology of the entire Jenne region, where over 60 archaeological sites rise from the floodplain within a 4 kilometer radius of the modern town (Pl. 7) , many of these sites were occupied at the time of Jenne-jeno’s floruit between 800-1000 C.E.. We have suggested that extraordinary settlement clustering resulted from a clumping of population around a rare conjunction of highly desirable features (Pl. 8) : excellent rice-growing soils, levees for pasture in the flood season, deep basin for pasture in the dry season and access to both major river channels and the entire inland system of secondary and tertiary marigots from communication and trade."
[5]
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 22)
[2]: (Reader 1998, 230)
[3]: (Reader 1998, 242)
[4]: (Lapidus 2012, 590)
[5]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500)
levels.
At this time, polities in the Niger Inland Delta may have been organized ’heterarchically’ rather than hierarchically: divided into multiple components, each deriving authority from separate or overlapping sources, with mechanisms in place to prevent any one group from monopolizing power.
[1]
There is no evidence of a hierarchical social system
[2]
Jenne-jeno was "a large, complex, but non-coercive urban settlement."
[3]
"the demands of specialization pushed groups apart while the requirements of a generalized economy pulled them together ... created a dynamism that ensured growth and the establishment of urban settlements. And they were non-coercive settlements. Groups congregated by choice. This is an instance of transformation from a rural to an urban society that did not establish a hierarchical society and coercive centralized control... The process in the delta and at Jenne-jeno in particular, was one of ’complexification’ rather than centralization."
[4]
Clan
(General reference for West African states) "the basic social and political unit appears in the past to have been the small local group, bound together by ties of kinship. When a number of groups came together they formed a clan. The heads of local clans were usually responsible for certain religious rites connected with the land."
[5]
Kinship group
(General reference for West African states) "the basic social and political unit appears in the past to have been the small local group, bound together by ties of kinship. When a number of groups came together they formed a clan. The heads of local clans were usually responsible for certain religious rites connected with the land."
[5]
In West Africa "Early states were simple in their government ... Some were ruled by a single chief or king and his counsellors. Others were governed by a council of chiefs or elders. Others again were formed by several neighbouring peoples whose chiefs were bound in loyalty to one another. Elsewhere, at the same time, there were people who found it better to get along without any chiefs."
[6]
"Traditional groups such as clans ... or age-sets of people born at about the same time, had influence in these early states, as in later times, because they could underpin a system of law and order."
[6]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 228-29) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (Reader 1998, 219)
[3]: (Reader 1998, 225)
[4]: (Reader 1998, 228)
[5]: (Bovill 1958, 53)
[6]: (Davidson 1998, 13) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
At Jenne-jeno no evidence of "social ranking or authoritarian institutions such as a ’temple elite’ has been found. [1] ’In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters - suggests a resistance to centralization.’ [2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230)
[2]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
At Jenne-jeno no evidence of "social ranking or authoritarian institutions such as a ’temple elite’ has been found.
[1]
’In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters - suggests a resistance to centralization.’
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230)
[2]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
’In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters - suggests a resistance to centralization.’ [1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
’In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters - suggests a resistance to centralization.’ [1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
50-400 CE West African rice (Oryza glaberrima) domesticated. [1] In the Inland Delta region irrigation systems are unnecessary due to the annual inundation of the Niger river. Domesticated rice planted before the flood grows high enough to sprout above the flood waters. However, "Archaeological evidence affirms that the building of terraces and irrigation canals in sub-Saharan Africa pre-dates external influence..." [2] which suggests that irrigation systems are present in the archaeological sub-tradition.
[1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 16)
[2]: (Reader 1998, 248 cite: Adams 1989)
Level of urbanism and domestication of rice and irrigation systems might suggest agricultural surpluses may have been possible and these could have been stored.
"The middle section of the Niger, linking Timbuktu to Djenne (about 400 km upstream), and to Gao (about the same distance downstream), was the busiest inland waterway in West Africa... With its development, water transport transformed the middle Niger into one of the great centres of indigenous trade in Africa. It encouraged the growth of specialized occupations, such as the building and operation of canoes; it lead to the development of specialized ports on the water-ways; and it contributed to the political and economic homogeneity of the region." [1]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 271)
iron mining [1] stone quarries, copper mines [2] Iron Age from 600 BCE in West Africa (e.g. Benue valley in Nigeria and upper Niger River) "the development and spread of the basic technologies of metal production and the forging and smithing of metal tools, notably in iron." [3]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 22)
[2]: (Posnansky 1981, 723, 719)
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 8) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D." [1] "The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events." [2] Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao. [3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
barter economy and no professional merchants. "The non-essential items and foreign durables found at sites remote from their point of origin were traded from village to village, in relays, as part of what was certainly a vigorous trade in essential goods between local centres." [1]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 261)
Level of urbanism and economic development (e.g. market and port) might suggest a messenger would have been necessary.
Iron Age from 600 BCE in West Africa (e.g. Benue valley in Nigeria and upper Niger River) "the development and spread of the basic technologies of metal production and the forging and smithing of metal tools, notably in iron." [1] "Iron-headed hoes, probably invented some time after iron-pointed spears." [2] "Iron also brought, from about 600 BC onwards, a new source of military power." [3]
[1]: (Davidson 1998, 8) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
[2]: (Davidson 1998, 12) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 13) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
Iron Age from 600 BCE in West Africa (e.g. Benue valley in Nigeria and upper Niger River) "the development and spread of the basic technologies of metal production and the forging and smithing of metal tools, notably in iron." [1] "Iron-headed hoes, probably invented some time after iron-pointed spears." [2] "Iron also brought, from about 600 BC onwards, a new source of military power." [3]
[1]: (Davidson 1998, 8) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
[2]: (Davidson 1998, 12) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
[3]: (Davidson 1998, 13) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.
Inferred from the absence of spears in previous and subsequent polities in the Niger Inland Delta.
Inferred from the absence of polearms in previous and subsequent polities in the Niger Inland Delta.
Inferred from the absence of daggers in previous and subsequent polities in the Niger Inland Delta.
"The earliest irrefutable evidence of horses in sub-Saharan Africa comes from the Arabic texts, beginning with the writings of Al-Muhallabi from about AD 985. By then, however, the horse was a highly valued prestige animal, and camels were the vehicle of trans-Saharan trade." [1]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 266)
"The earliest irrefutable evidence of horses in sub-Saharan Africa comes from the Arabic texts, beginning with the writings of Al-Muhallabi from about AD 985. By then, however, the horse was a highly valued prestige animal, and camels were the vehicle of trans-Saharan trade." [1]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 266)