Ancient Middle Niger Urbanism and the Self-organizing Landscape [Hardcover]

Survey of the emergence of the ancient urban civilization of Middle Niger.The cities of Middle Niger, although the oldest in sub-Saharan Africa, are the most recently 'discovered' of all the an cient urban civilisations known to archaeology. Emerging in the first millennium BC, they were marked by a unique non-nucleated, clustered city plan and by the absence of kingship or centralised state-focused power. This innovative survey explores the origins and development of these cities, comparing them with the indigenous urban landscapes of Mesopotamia, the Nile valley and northern China, making us rethink cherished beliefs about the 'whys' and 'wheres' of ancient urbanism.The cities of Middle Niger, although the oldest in sub-Saharan Africa, are the most recently 'discovered' of all the an cient urban civilisations known to archaeology. Emerging in the first millennium BC, they were marked by a unique non-nucleated, clustered city plan and by the absence of kingship or centralised state-focused power. This innovative survey explores the origins and development of these cities, comparing them with the indigenous urban landscapes of Mesopotamia, the Nile valley and northern China, making us rethink cherished beliefs about the 'whys' and 'wheres' of ancient urbanism.The cities of West Africa's Middle Niger, only recently brought to the world's attention, make us rethink the 'whys' and the 'wheres' of ancient urbanism. They present the archaeologist with a novelty; a non-nucleated, clustered city-plan with no centralized, state-focused power. This book explores the emergence of these cities in the first millennium B.C. and the evolution of their hinterlands from the perspective of the self-organized landscape. Cities appeared in a series of profound transforms to the human-land relations and this book illustrates how each transform marked a leap in complexity.1. Discovery; 2. Transformed landscapes; 3. Accommodation; 4. Excavation; 5. Surveying the hinterland; 6. Comparativl1