Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond

Examines key technological innovations, knowledge transfer, connectivity and social meaning in the ancient and Medieval Sahara.

C. N. Duckworth (Edited by), A. Cuénod (Edited by), D. J. Mattingly (Edited by)

9781108830546, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 September 2020

400 pages
25.2 x 18 x 3 cm, 1.2 kg

'Thanks to a new and stimulating approach, this volume sheds light on both the history of techniques and technological know-how and the cultural history of non-European worlds.' Stéphanie Guédon, Technology and Culture

The ancient Sahara has often been treated as a periphery or barrier, but this agenda-setting book – the final volume of the Trans-Saharan Archaeology Series – demonstrates that it was teeming with technological innovations, knowledge transfer, and trade from long before the Islamic period. In each chapter, expert authors present important syntheses, and new evidence for technologies from oasis farming and irrigation, animal husbandry and textile weaving, to pottery, glass and metal making by groups inhabiting the Sahara and contiguous zones. Scientific analysis is brought together with anthropology and archaeology. The resultant picture of transformations in technologies between the third millennium BC and the second millennium AD is rich and detailed, including analysis of the relationship between the different materials and techniques discussed, and demonstrating the significance of the Sahara both in its own right and in telling the stories of neighbouring regions.

1. Debating Mobile Technologies Chloë N. Duckworth, Aurélie Cuénod and David J. Mattingly
2. Technological Innovations Transfer Through the Hyper-Arid Belt Mario Liverani
3. Diffusion of Irrigation Technologies in the Sahara Andrew Wilson, David J. Mattingly and Martin Sterry
4. Crafts in Roman North Africa Touatia Amraoui
5. Movement and Management of Animals from 1000 BC to AD 1000 B. Tyr Fothergill, Veerle Linseele and Silvia Valenzuela Lamas
6. The Early History of Weaving in West Africa Sonja Magnavita
7. Metalworking: A View from the Garamantian Oases Aurélie Cuénod
8. Archaeometallurgical Record of Meroe in a Trans-Saharan Landscape Jane Humphris
9. Meaning of the Variability in Ancient Ironworking in West Africa Caroline Robion-Brunner
10. Shattering Illusions: Glass production and Trade Within Africa Chloë N. Duckworth
11. Glass Beads in African Society Peter Robertshaw
12. Three Millennia of Egyptian Glass Making Thilo Rehren and Daniela Rosenow
13. Ceramic Technology: Trans-Saharan Perspectives Maria Carmela Gatto
14. Concluding Discussion Chloë N. Duckworth, Aurélie Cuénod and David J. Mattingly

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX], Archaeology by period / region [HDD], Archaeology [HD], African history [HBJH], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]