This volume presents the eagerly awaited publication of Sam Nixon's excavations of the town of Essouk-Tadmekka in 2006. Located on the southern fringe of the Sahara in northern Mali, it is a site famous in the early Arabic sources for its role in trans-Saharan trade and has produced direct evidence for the medieval trade in gold. As Al-Bakri describes, ‘of all the towns in the world [Tadmekka] is the one that resembles Mecca the most. Its name means “the Mecca like”’. Although long suspected, the site of Essouk was only finally confirmed from a number of nearby inscriptions with the name ‘Tadmekka’. The town itself is abandoned, but remarkably upstanding with the stone ruins of houses visible over an area of c. 25 ha.
The first two parts of this volume (Chapters 1–5, pp. 3–51) provide the essential background and setting for the project. Chapter 2 is particularly helpful, providing a summary of the relevant early Arabic sources, oral histories of the Tuareg (particularly regarding the two groups: the Kel Essouk and the Tademakkat) and a history of research at the site. Chapter 4 provides a general overview of the site and an excellent description of what a medieval trading town looks like, although this is somewhat undermined by the omission of the clearest plan, which is held back until Chapter 11 (p. 104). The survey of the site including outlying cemeteries and structures is helpful if somewhat brief and not always straightforward to follow, e.g. it was not clear if all enclosures beyond the main settlement should be considered as funerary or whether some had an agricultural function. On a similar note, a plan of the wider area would have been helpful to identify the location of outlying structures, as well as (if known) the location of inscriptions, rock carvings and funerary cairns. However, the Arabic and Tifinagh inscriptions (an update on Moraes Farias Reference Moraes Farias2003), which cover a range of funerary, religious and other uses, give a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants and visitors of the site.
The third part (Chapters 6–11, pp. 55–116) details the stratigraphic excavations of three trenches located in different parts of the site and is well illustrated with a selection of plans, sections and photographs. Unit Ek-A (Chapter 7), close to the main mosque, was the most productive of these continuing to a depth of 7.68 m below the surface and a sequence of occupation from the ninth to fourteenth centuries. The deposits in Ek-B (Chapter 8), in the southern sector, were shallower (although still extending more than 2 m below the surface) and date largely to the ninth/tenth century. In Ek-C (on the island, Chapter 9) as with Ek-A the deposits extend to a depth of c. 7 m but are disturbed by a well shaft. Radiocarbon dating was carried out on a mixture of ceramics (with organic temper) and seeds from flotation (readers should note that most radiocarbon dates in the volume are mainly presented to 1-Sigma calibration). The dating of the site to c. AD 900–1400 is secure, with the site reaching its greatest extent during the tenth/eleventh centuries.
Finds from the excavation are presented in detail in the fourth part (Chapters 12–21, pp. 119–252). Much of the material culture related to trade has been published before, particularly the gold coin moulds (see Nixon et al. Reference Nixon, Rehren and Guerra2011). However, this provides a definitive publication in full and is particularly helpful for the detail and comparison with other Saharan centres such as Tegdaoust, Takedda, Kumbi Saleh and Gao. Across the different chapters, the evidence for long-distance trade is striking, with material evidence linked to the Niger River Basin (ceramics), the Azawagh (ceramics), the central Maghreb (glazed ceramics), Italy (glazed ceramics), China (porcelain, silk), Egypt (glass, glass beads), Nigeria (glass beads), India (glass beads) and the Sahara (stone beads). The finds also demonstrate a number of craft productions, apart from gold processing these include: crucible steel production, copper metallurgy, stone working/bead production, weaving and glass working/recycling. The faunal and archaeobotanical chapters give some sense of agricultural and animal husbandry. Most notable is the quantity of wheat recovered, which reflects a technological transfer of cereal production from North Africa. Further specifics and analyses on the finds are presented in the extensive appendices (pp. 283–409).
The final part of the volume (Chapters 22–24, pp. 253–280) offers a useful summary and discussion of the main themes of the volume. Of these, trans-Saharan trade figures most prominently. The existence of Tadmekka appears to be primarily related to long-distance trade with long-distance goods and probably a mixed population present from the main establishment of the town c. AD 900. Within a couple of generations it seemingly reached its greatest extent with a strong Muslim presence and the minting of blank gold dinars. However, by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, if not before, the town was in some decline in terms of both trade volume and population, although evidence for long-distance trade continues until at least the mid-fourteenth century. By the fifteenth century the town was abandoned, becoming a site of memory and pilgrimage for the Tuareg in the following centuries.
Detailed as the volume is, there are some aspects that could be further developed. There is scope for further survey around the site, particularly regarding the transition from Saharan burial cairns to Islamic cemeteries and it would be interesting to know more about the cairns that are found in the low hills around the site. The lack of obvious irrigation works is also interesting given the prominence of these at similarly dated sites in the Sahara (e.g. in Fazzan, the Kawar oases or Ghadames) and the significance of the wheat assemblage. This raises questions about how the site functioned as a city, how much of the food was imported, and what proportion of the population was partly or fully mobile.
A second issue is that while great attention is paid to comparison with other Saharan trading centres in West Africa, less attention is paid to the north. An obvious point of comparison, and of key interest to readers of this journal, are the oases of Libya that must have traded with the merchants of Tadmekka. The excavations at Jarma (Mattingly Reference Mattingly2013) produced a similar range of material and it is regrettable that a more direct comparison with the early medieval and medieval phases (Jarma Phase 4 and Phase 3) was not made, although Jarma appears somewhat disconnected from long-distance trade during this period. Zuwila and Sedrata are more likely trading partners and the coincident nature of the growth and decline of these centres and Tadmekka is notable. The issue of comparison with the north continues also into a second major theme, Islamisation. Given the evidence for a substantial immigrant population from North Africa, there appears to be further work to be done on the comparison of both religious and vernacular architecture. The use of Islamic as a period indicator is also problematic at times given the evidence for concurrent Islamic and Saharan Pagan practices across the central Sahara during the eighth to eleventh centuries.
These issues though are fairly minor and largely represent the changing landscape of Saharan archaeology. In the last few years, there have been a series of major studies on centres across the Sahara and this volume sits comfortably alongside these. It is exemplary of a modern excavation with lavish illustration in colour and discussion throughout. It is to be hoped that the opportunities for new directions in studying the archaeology of the Sahara during the historic periods will now be realised.
