Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
Published on 18. March 2020
766 pages
978-1-108-78717-8 (ISBN)
Description
The themes of sedentarisation, urbanisation and state formation are fundamental ones in the archaeology of many diverse parts of the world but have been little explored in relation to early societies of the Saharan zone. Moreover, the possibility has rarely been considered that the precocious civilisations bordering this vast desert were interconnected by long-range contacts and knowledge networks. The orthodox opinion of many of the key oasis zones within the Sahara is that they were not created before the early medieval period and the Islamic conquest of Mediterranean North Africa. Major claims of this volume are that the ultimate origins of oasis settlements in many parts of the Sahara were considerably earlier, that by the first millennium AD some of these oasis settlements were of a size and complexity to merit the categorisation 'towns' and that a few exceptional examples were focal centres within proto-states or early state-level societies.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 10 Tables, black and white; 63 Halftones, color; 12 Halftones, black and white; 65 Line drawings, black and white
File size
27,28 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-108-78717-8 (9781108787178)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Martin Sterry | David J. Mattingly
Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
Book
03/2020
Cambridge University Press
€204.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Content
Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction to the themes of sedentarisation, urbanisation and state formation in the ancient Sahara and beyond David J. Mattingly and Martin Sterry; Part II. Oasis Origins in the Sahara: A Region-By-Region Survey: 2. Garamantian oasis settlements in Fazzan David J. Mattingly, Stefania Merlo, Lucia Mori and Martin Sterry; 3. Pre-Islamic oasis settlements in the eastern Sahara David J. Mattingly, Martin Sterry, Louise Rayne and Muftah Al-Haddad; 4. The urbanisation of Egypt's western desert under Roman rule Anna Lucille Boozer; 5. Pre-Islamic oasis settlements in the northern Sahara David J. Mattingly, Martin Sterry, Muftah Al-Haddad and Pol Trousset; 6. Pre-Islamic oasis settlements in the north-western Sahara Martin Sterry, David J. Mattingly and Youssef Bokbot; 7. Pre-Islamic oasis settlements in the southern Sahara Martin Sterry and David J. Mattingly; 8. Discussion: sedentarisation and urbanisation in the Sahara Martin Sterry and David J. Mattingly; Part III. Neighbours and Comparanda: 9. Early states and urban forms in the middle Nile David N. Edwards; 10. Mediterranean urbanisation in North Africa: Greek, Punic and Roman models Andrew I. Wilson; 11. Numidian state formation in the Tunisian High Tell Joan Sanmarti, Nabil Kallala, Maria Carme Belarte, Joan Ramon, Francisco Jose Cantero, Dani Lopez, Marta Portillo and Silvia Valenzuela; 12. The origins of urbanisation and structured political power in Morocco: indigenous phenomenon or foreign colonisation? Youssef Bokbot; 13. Architecture and settlement growth on the southern edge of the Sahara: timing and possible implications for interactions with the north Kevin C. Macdonald; 14. Long-distance exchange and urban trajectories in the first millennium AD: case studies from the middle Niger and middle Senegal River valleys Susan Keech Mcintosh; 15. First millennia BC/AD fortified settlements at Lake Chad: implications for the origins of urbanisation and state formation in sub-Saharan Africa Carlos Magnavita; 16. At the dawn of Sijilmasa: new historical focus on the process of emergence of a Saharan state and a caravan city Chloe Capel; 17. The early Islamic trans-Saharan market towns of West Africa Sam Nixon; 18. Urbanisation, inequality and political authority in the Sahara Judith Scheele; Part IV. Concluding Discussion: 19. State-formation in the Sahara and beyond David J. Mattingly and Martin Sterry.
