No. 18

Djenne-Djenno

On land Egypt & Africa

Seated figure grom Mali, Inland Niger Delta region, 13th century, Djenné peoples, Terracotta, 10 x 11 3/4in. (25.4 x 29.9cm), ceramics, Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 1981.218 — Wmpearl, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Travel there with Lyra

Where: Mali
Built by: West African city builders
Era: 250 BCE-1400 CE
Known for: One of the oldest known cities south of the Sahara.
How it ended: Abandoned around 1400 as people moved to nearby Djenne.

Exhibit in the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. — Daderot, Public domain

African art in the Indianapolis Museum of Art — Sailko, CC BY 3.0

Lyra Kael can take you here on the globe, tell you the story out loud and answer your questions. Start the time jump.

Background

Djenné-Djeno (also Jenne-Jeno; ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali. Literally translated to "ancient Djenné", it is the original site of Djenné and is considered to be among the oldest urbanized centers and best-known archaeological sites in West Africa.

This archaeological site is located about three kilometres (two miles) from the modern town, and is believed to have been involved in long distance trade and the domestication of African rice. The site is an occupation mound up to six meters high that covered 33 hectares (82 acres) in area when first mapped in 1977. Based on archaeological excavations mainly by Roderick and Susan McIntosh, the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to 1400 AD. Previously, scholars did not believe that advanced trade networks and complex societies developed in West Africa until traders started coming from the north. However, sites such as Djenné-Djeno disprove this, as these traditions in West Africa flourished long before.

More recently, scholars have concluded that the egalitarian civilization of Djenné-Djeno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people. Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 14th century CE.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.