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

Abstract

This paper reports the first systematic excavations at Essouk-Tadmakka (Mali), one of the major West African trading towns that enabled the unprecedented flourishing of trans-Saharan trade during the early Islamic era (c. AD 650–1500). The 6.5 m excavated sequence (dating from the mid-first millennium AD to c. 1400) significantly improves understanding of Essouk-Tadmakka's ‘prehistoric’ and historic periods and, in doing so, provides a wealth of new evidence to help answer key questions about early Islamic trans-Saharan trade. Firstly, the excavations shed light on the changing scale of trade over time and space, providing unprecedented early (eighth/ninth century AD) evidence for extensive trade and new ideas about the geography of early trade routes. Additionally, new ideas are provided on socio-cultural developments in the trade, including changes that occurred both during the Almoravid expansion and the rule of the Empire of Mali. Lastly, the excavations significantly improve understanding of the movement of trans-Saharan commodities, especially gold.

Cet article présente les résultats des premières fouilles systématiques à Essouk-Tadmakka (Mali), l'une des principales villes commerçantes ouest-africaines qui permit l’épanouissement sans précédent du commerce trans-saharien dans le début de l’ère islamique (c. AD 650–1500). Les dépôts anthropiques, fouillés sur une profondeur de 6.5 mètres, s’échelonnent entre le milieu du premier millénaire AD et AD 1400 environ. La fouille accroît considérablement notre compréhension des périodes ‘préhistoriques’ et historiques d'Essouk-Tadmakka, et ce faisant fournit d'importants éléments de réponse concernant le commerce trans-saharien du début de l’ère islamique. En premier lieu, les fouilles ont pu exposer les fluctuations du commerce dans le temps et l'espace, démontrant l'existence d'un commerce étendu dès les 8e-9e siècles, et avançant de nouvelles idées concernant la géographie des premières routes commerciales. Par ailleurs, de nouvelles hypothèses sont ici proposées concernant les développements socioculturels dans ce commerce, y compris les changements qui se produisirent pendant l'expansion almoravide et la souveraineté de l'empire du Mali. Finalement, les fouilles améliorent considérablement notre connaissance des marchandises trans-sahariennes, en particulier l'or.

Keywords:

• Essouk
• Tadmakka
• trans-Saharan trade
• Islamic archaeology
• Tuareg
• Almoravid
• Ibadi

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Kevin MacDonald for his guidance and support throughout this project and Paulo de Moraes Farias for his encouragement and discussions. In Mali, huge thanks are due first to Jean-Pierre Tita, head of the Mission Culturelle Essouk, and to other excavation team members including the archaeologists Mamadou Cissé, Fané Yamoussa and Soumaila Coulibally. The Essouk project is also indebted to the Malian Institut des Sciences Humaines, the Direction Nationale du Patrimoine Culturel and, in particular, the late Téréba Togola for his encouragement to work at Essouk. The author is very grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for funding the PhD research within which the Essouk project was undertaken and to the AHRC, University College London and the University of London Central Research Fund for funding the Essouk fieldwork. Thanks are also due to the joint NERC (Natural Environment Research Council)/AHRC Oxford Radiocarbon Dating Service (ORADS) initiative for funding the radiocarbon dating.

The findings of the project would not have been possible without the scientific and technical contributions of the following people: Elizabeth Bloxom (stone artefacts), Sandra Bond (textiles), Nafogo Coulibally (illustrations), Laure Dussubieux (vessel and bead glass and archaeometallurgy), Thomas Fenn (archaeometallurgy), Simon Groom (petrography), Maria Filomena-Guerra (archaeometallurgy), Dorian Fuller (archaeobotany), Fiona Griffin (illustrations), Tom Higham (radiocarbon dating), Derek Kennet (ceramics), Regina Krahl (ceramics), Stuart Laidlaw (photography), James Lankton (vessel and bead glass), Kevin MacDonald (faunal analysis and petrography), Mary-Anne Murray (archaeobotany), Venetia Porter (ceramics), Thilo Rehren (archaeometallurgy), Peter Robertshaw (bead glass), Jane Sidell (shell), St John Simpson (vessel glass), Ken Thomas (shell), Julia Tubman (thin sections) and Charlotte Veysey (illustrations).