Afriques ()
Tadmekka. Archéologie d’une ville caravanière des premiers temps du commerce transsaharien
Abstract
This paper reports the first systematic excavations of Tadmekka, one of the major West African trading towns that enabled the huge growth of cross-Saharan trade during the early Islamic era (c. AD 650-1500). In 2005 excavations at Tadmekka’s contemporary site (‘Essouk’ in northern Mali) yielded a 6.5 m excavated sequence, dating from the mid-first millennium AD to c. 1400. Subsequent analysis has significantly improved understanding of the town’s ‘prehistoric’ and historic periods, and shown how the archaeology presents a wealth of evidence of significance for wider debates. Following a background to the project and a full presentation of its results, we build up an improved story of Tadmekka’s development, by placing the archaeology side by side with the evidence provided by early Arabic records of Tadmekka. We then focus on a number of specific studies conducted on the material. Particularly important areas of the evidence focused on are Tadmekka’s building traditions, defined in historical records as amongst the most noteworthy in medieval West Africa, and also its gold coinage, a unique and fascinating offshoot of the West African gold trade. We also concentrate on other important new evidence of relevance for wider West African debates, including trade goods from across the Sahara, important patterns in the ceramic sequence, evidence of local industries, and interesting findings related to dietary practices.
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