Les fils à double tête en alliage à base de cuivre de Koumbi Saleh (Mauritanie)

Abstract

Numerous “double-headed threads” were found scattered all over the site of Kumbi Saleh, the presumed site of the capital of ancient Ghana. Based on the records of Ibn Battutah, an Arab traveller of the 14th cent. A.D., these threads have been identified as a currency; their ubiquity in the past excavations evoking ”small change” of low exchanges of low-value objects.The re-examination of these threads from various perspectives drawing upon diverse material –archaeological data, the results of compositional analyses of the metal of these threads, early arabic sources– leads the discussion to wider inquiries: the use of copper as a currency in Kumbi Saleh and in the realm of ancient Ghana, the value of copper, the copper-gold transactions, etc. The presence of these threads reveals certain economical changes which occurred in westernmost Africa after the mid 11th cent. Furthermore, they would testify, long before it becomes ascertained by the written records, of a ”medieval” exploitation of West african copper deposits.

Keywords

• compositional analyses
• currency
• Ancient Ghana