Ancient cities of africa series#

The earliest publication of the site (Rees 1929) describes it as a fishing village with several rectangular houses, and a series of fish traps jutting onto the adjacent mudflat. The site was largely destroyed by a large quarrying operation in 2008: but the examination of documents and artifact collections created in a handful of investigations in the 20th century has allowed scholars to redate the site and place it in context with the newly burgeoning study of Islamic history (Kennedy 2011). The oldest pottery collected from the site dates to the Late Byzantine- Umayyad and/or Abbasid periods of the Islamic Civilization. Hibabiya (sometimes spelled Habeiba) is an early Islamic village located on the fringe of the northeastern desert in Jordan. Artisans mixed lead, silica, lime, tin, iron, aluminum, potash, magnesium, copper, bone ash or other types of material to the glass to make it shine. The state mint has yet to be found the city was surrounded by a wall.Р”В¬hemical analysis of glass beads from al-Basra indicated that at least six types of glass bead manufacturing were used at Basra, roughly correlating to color and luster, and a result of the recipe. Residential house compounds, ceramic kilns, subterranean water systems, metal workshops, and metal-working locations have been identified there. It produced many goods for the extensive Mediterranean and sub-Saharan trade market, including iron and copper, utilitarian pottery, glass beads, and glass objects.Р”Р„l-Basra extends over an area of some 40 hectares (100 acres), only a tiny piece of which has been excavated to date. It was founded circa AD 800 by the Idrisids, who controlled must of what is today Morocco and Algeria during the 9th and 10th centuries.Р”Р„ mint at al-Basra issued coinsР’В and the city served as an administrative, commercial and agricultural center for the Islamic civilization between ca AD 800 and AD 1100. The survey identified pottery at the site, including Chinese celadon, dated to the late 11th/early 12th century AD, and a series of black, burnished geometric potsherds that may date as early as the 8th century AD.Р”Р„rchaeologist Timothy Insoll began work there in the 1990s, but he has discovered quite a high level of disturbance, partly a result of its long and varied political history, and partly from the environmental impact of centuries of sandstorms and flooding.Р”Р„l-Basra (or Basra al-Hamra, Basra the Red)Р’В is a medieval Islamic city located near the modern village of the same name in northern Morocco, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the Straits of Gibraltar, south of the Rif Mountains. The first substantive archaeological survey of the area was by Susan Keech McIntosh and Rod McIntosh in the 1980s. Also of importance are two French forts, Fort Bonnier (now Fort Chech Sidi Bekaye) and Fort Philippe (now the gendarmerie), both dated to the late 19th century. Important architectural elements still standing at Timbuktu include three medieval Butabu (mud brick) mosques: the 15th-century mosques of Sankore and Sidi Yahya, and the Djinguereber mosque built 1327. Timbuktu has been ruled by a string of different overlords since that time, including Moroccan, Fulani, Tuareg, Songhai and French. The city expanded around the well, and became known as Timbuktu, 'the place of Buktu.'Р’В Timbuktu's location on a camel route between the coast and salt mines led to its importance in the trade network of gold, salt, РІР‚вЂ№and enslavement.

It reports that Timbuktu began about AD 1100 as a seasonal camp for pastoralists, where a well was kept by an enslaved woman named Buktu. The origin myth of the city was written in the 17th century Tarikh al-Sudan manuscript.

Timbuktu (also spelled Tombouctou or Timbuctoo) is located on the inner delta of the Niger River in the African country of Mali.

Ancient cities of africa