Garumele (Wudi) as a Sayfawa Capital

 

Plans of the Garumele site by Binet, Bivar & Shinnie, Haour and the area displayed with geophysics (Source)

One important site in modern Niger, Garumele, is said to have once been a Sayfawa capital. Heinrich Barth, drawing on oral traditions, believed it had been a royal site. Nachtigal and other others similarly believed this. Landeroin, for the Tilho Mission's Notice historique, compiled traditions that referred to the site as a capital of Ali b. Dunama before he established Gazargamo. Palmer, Urvoy, Bivar & Shinnie, Lange, Gronenborn and others have all, in one form or another, argued for Garumele (or Wudi, the name of the successor settlement) as a Sayfawa capital before Gazargamo. Despite its alleged importance in the history of the Sayfawa dynasty, the area was not seriously surveyed or excavated until recently. Fortunately, Haour, Magnavita, Robertshaw, and others have been able to examine middens, find faunal remains and ceramics, engaged in chemical analysis of glass bead finds and get radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples. The best evidence clearly shows use of the site for inhabitants in the 17th and 18th centuries, but was it a Sayfawa capital in the 15th or even late 14th century?

Satellite image of the site (Source)

The historical sources, primarily oral, strongly suggest a deeper antiquity for the site. Landeroin, for instance, was told that the Sayfawa went to Woudi (Wudi) after leaving Kanem (Landeroin 354). However, the site was said to have been unhealthy and caused frequent fevers. In connection to this tradition, a Magumi woman was said to have complained to Ali b. Dunama about Tuareg raiders. So, the mai left Mankinta in charge at Wudi while he attacked the Tuareg from Agram, or Fachi (355). While it is likely that oral tradition may have compressed a number of different reigns of Sayfawa monarchs, Tuareg oral traditions of Air do remember a period of Bornoan attacks and raids. Furthermore, the Kano Chronicle includes a reference to a Bornoan attack on Asben (Air). This suggests that the traditions associating the Mankinta as the leader of Wudi appointed by Ali b. Dunama may be accurate. Furthermore, Bedde traditions reported by H.R. Palmer similarly refer to the Mankinta (makinta) of Wudi in relation to the foundation of Gazargamo. In Palmer's Sudanese Memoirs, leaders named Makinta Baro, Makinta Yatku and Kaloma Arge were remembered as brothers who came to Borno from Wudi. The site of Wudi may very well have been under the administration of a makinta of Bedde origin who served the Sayfawa. This official may have been responsible for provisioning the palace kitchen of the mai. It is possible that in the 15th century, the fired-brick structure was used by the maiwa but a Bedde official was appointed to administer the territory. 

Garumele's outer wall of egg-shaped bricks in "Old Kanuri Capitals"

As for the earlier history of the site, it is currently impossible to determine if it was identical with the Kagha capital of Umar b. Idris (reigned c. 1382-1385) after the Sayfawa left Kanem permanently. Lange has suggested Kagha was likely the Kaka of al-Qalqashandi and the Jaja of Ibn Sa'id, but the bulk of the archaeological evidence points to a later occupation of Garumele. Another historian, Muhammad Nur Alkali, has also described Wudi briefly. Wudi was said to have been attacked by the Bulala in c. 1471, during the reign of Ali b. Dunama (Alkali 88). According to this historian, Wudi, also called Abadam, was a site that grew through its fishing industry (121). This fishing industry may have also been supplemented by a pastoral herding economy in the Sahelian landscape. Linseele's study of animal remains from Garumele noted the greater number of sheep than goats and has proposed that a pastoral nomadic element was a source of livestock for the site. This may have been why the site was said to be under the control of a makinta, an official who may have gathered fish and herds of sheep or cattle for feeding the Sayfawa royal court.

A view of the eastern tubali wall (Source)

What does the archaeological evidence suggest? Haour, using one charcoal sample that requires further confirmation by other types of evidence, has date ranges from 1280-1330 or 1350-1390 for Garumele (Haour 361). This would suggest that Garumele was either the Jaja/Kagha/Kaka of medieval Arabic sources and the Diwan or settled in the late 13th or 14th centuries. Despite this early date, the Garumele pottery was of a more recent type (366). It was also closest in type to the Yobe and Lake Chad sites north of the firki soils (368). Haour has even proposed identifying Garumele with Gatiga, a settlement mentioned by Ahmad b. Furtu (372). The Magnavitas, in "Garumele Revisited: Retracing Vanished Fired-Brick Elite Constructions and New Data on Settlement Foundation," found evidence of Garumele's occupation in more recent times. For example, radiocarbon dating of wood charcoal suggest construction of the town wall between 1459-1644 (166). The finding of a pipe fragment found in a layer was also consistent with a late 1500s or early 1600s foundation of Garumele as an enclosed urban settlement (172). Of course, this does not mean there were no earlier, non-brick structures and use of the site. Further evidence of more recent occupation of Garumele can be seen in the chemical composition analysis of glass beads by Robertshaw et al. Their conclusions suggest a 17th and 18th century occupation based on the European beads (Robertshaw 602). Overall, the bulk of the evidence favors a later date for the site's wall and brick structures. An earlier occupation in the 1400s, or perhaps even the 1300s, is still possible if one recalls the perilous state of the Sayfawa dynasty during an era of internal conflicts and wars with the Bulala rulers of Kanem or the Sao in Borno. Thus, the earlier Sayfawa use of Garumele as a capital or royal settlement may not have included fired-brick structures or walls. Later, however, after the consolidation of Sayfawa power in Borno, subsequent maiwa may have sponsored the brick structures at Garumele or Wudi.

Evidence of the widespread looting of Garumele for bricks (Source)

Despite the chronological uncertainties and the lack of dated bricks from the elite structure, the site of Garumele presents a number of unique features. The use of egg-shaped bricks for the outer wall is more similar to Hausa architectural practices. This raises the question of possible influences from Hausaland in this site, since it differs so markedly from the outer walls of other Borno towns or cities. Furthermore, the Magnavitas noted that the mounds or middens of Garumele included ruins of clay buildings or home structures. In addition, smaller, fired-brick structures outside the elite compound were present (Magnavita 165). This suggests the town included smaller homes of more perishable material as well as circular brick structures like that of Gambaru. The area was, of course, much smaller than Gazargamo, but Garumele's distinctive outer wall and fired brick structures indicate the site was definitely occupied by an elite group and may have had influences from the west. Acquiring dates for the elite brick structure may finally establish when the Sayfawa sponsored elite architecture at the site. Meanwhile, historians should revisit Kanuri and Bedde tradition and the written sources. If Garumele was not the Jaja, Kaka or Kagha of medieval sources, it was likely located nearby and this region near the northern shore of Lake Chad deserves close scrutiny for any understanding of early Sayfawa expansion by the 13th century. 

Bibliography

Alkali, Mohammad Nur. 2013. Kanem-Borno under the Sayfawa: A Study of the Origin, Growth, and Collapse of a Dynasty (891-1846) . Nigeria: University of Maiduguri.

Bivar, A. D. H., and P. L. Shinnie. “Old Kanuri Capitals.” The Journal of African History 3, no. 1 (1962): 1–10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/179796.

Haour, Anne, and Boube Gado. “Garumele, Ville Médiévale Du Kanem-Borno? Une Contribution Archéologique.” The Journal of African History 50, no. 3 (2009): 355–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25622052.

Lange, Dierk. Le Dīwān Des Sultans Du (Kānem-)Bornū: Chronologie Et Histoire D'un Royaume Africain (de La Fin Du Xe Siècle Jusqu'à 1808). Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1977.

Linseele, Veerle, and Anne Haour. “Animal Remains from Medieval Garumele, Niger.” Journal of African Archaeology 8, no. 2 (2010): 167–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43135516.

Magnavita, Carlos, and Sonja Magnavita. “Garumele Revisited: Retracing Vanished Fired-Brick Elite Constructions and New Data on Settlement Foundation.” The African Archaeological Review 34, no. 2 (2017): 155–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44988621.

Palmer, H.R. Sudanese Memoirs: Being Mainly Translations of a Number of Arabic Manuscripts Relating to the Central and Western Sudan. 1st ed., new impression. London: Cass, 1967.

Robertshaw, Peter, Marilee Wood, Anne Haour, Karlis Karklins, and Hector Neff. 2014. “Chemical Analysis, Chronology, and Context of a European Glass Bead Assemblage from Garumele, Niger.” Journal of Archaeological Science 41 (January): 591–604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.08.023.

Tilho, Jean (editor). Documents Scientifiques De La Mission Tilho. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1910.

The Little Ice Age and the Oyo Empire

We found the above talk on Oyo b Akin Ogundiran rather fascinating. Gathering data or sources from archaeological, climatological and historical information, an interesting look at the rise of the Oyo Empire is possible.

Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia

Derek Welsby's The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile is a great synthesis of archaeology and historical studies on a period of over 1000 years in Nubia. Beginning with the late Meroitic period and post-Meroitic period, better represented in northern Nubia, Welsby outlines the entire history of Medieval Nubia from the emergence of Nobadia, Alwa and Makuria to the spread of Christianity and their eventual decline in the late Christian period by the end of the 15th century. Sadly, Lower Nubia is better represented by archaeological surveys and excavations and northern Nubian towns like Qasr Ibrim possessed more favorable conditions for the preservation of records. Thus, most of the book is really on the kingdoms of Nobadia and Makuria (both as independent states in the post-Meroitic period and as a unified kingdom). Alwa, the lesser known southern kingdom said to have been wealthier in some of the medieval Arabic sources, remains a mysterious entity but one that may, with future archaeological excavations at Soba and other sites, potentially elucidate the relationship of medieval Christian Nubia with African societies to the east, west and south. 

The main theme, if one can be selected for this detailed work, is that of continuity. Viewing Nubia through the lens of continuity beginning with the Kushite kingdom does suggest that Nubia, despite experiencing obvious historical changes and transformations, remains a civilizational unit defined by geography and culture. Indeed, even the Christian states which emerged by the 6th century were, during phases of the post-Meroitic period, preserving the Meroitic script and continuing to use and worship at Kushite temples or the temple of Isis at Philae. That said, the spread of the waterwheel and the adoption of Christianity changed the nature of worship while also continuing Nubia's ties to Coptic, Byzantine and Eastern Christian influences. But even that development can be partly traced to the Meroitic era, when Kush was closely connected to the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Indeed, Greek became an important language for inscriptions of Nobadian and Blemmye rulers in the 5th and 6th centuries  as these peoples became federates of the Roman Empire in the turbulent 5th century. Intriguingly, the archaeological evidence does not support a large-scale migration along the Middle Nile of Blemmyes or Noubades, suggesting that the bulk of the population in medieval Nubia were likely descendants of the population already living in the region for millennia. In fact, Welsby even finds evidence of this development in the post-Christian period, when Makuria and Alwa fragmented and the formal Church disappeared. Even then, after centuries, some Christian-derived traits persisted in Nubia.

Viewed through the lens of continuity, one begins to wonder if the political fragmentation of Nubia into 3 then later 2 kingdoms mirrored the political fragmentation of the declining Meroitic phase. Can one see similarities in terms of the Meroitic state's northern officials and those of Makuria with regard to the eparchs in Qasr Ibrim? And to what extent was the Kushite kingdom's relations with societies to the east, west and south similar to arrangements which characterized the medieval Nubian kingdoms? Certainly, the medieval Nubians were interested in trade through the oases to the north and west, but was this actually a major route connecting the Nubian states to societies in Darfur or further west? And what to make of the Beja polities to the east, which, according to some Arabic sources, were Christians and aligned with the Nubians? One wonders if Nubia may have had access to goods from the west and south by acting as a middleman between the Red Sea ports of Aidhab and Suakin to the kingdoms further west, like Kanem. And what, if any, were the connections between medieval Nubia and Ethiopia? The Coptic sources suggest Nubia on at least one occasion (Makuria's ruler?) intervened to request the Patriarch to send another metropolitan to Ethiopia. Were the kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia also serving as routes for Ethiopian pilgrims traveling to Egypt and the Holy Land, as suggested by Ge'ez texts in medieval Egyptian sites? And to what extent were the peoples south of Alwa, despite not being Christianized, participating in trans-Sudanic trade like the Shilluk of later centuries?

Alwa in Sudanic Context

Although we have long considered Alwa to be the more interesting of post-Meroe states in Nubia, the limited archaeological excavations and fewer references in the external Arabic primary sources makes it more of an elusive entity. Mohi el-Din Abdalla Zarroug attempts to redress this with an admittedly speculative but provocative analysis of the kingdom of Alwa. Based on the ethnographic present (after assuming probable cultural continuity in the Nubian heartland for the last several centuries), archaeological surveys, and textual sources from Antiquity, Islamic lands, and later reports or narratives, The Kingdom of Alwa proposes an interesting interpretation of Alwa as the more powerful, wealthiest state of medieval Nubia. Instead of being a peripheral Nubian state, or, as Adams wrongly assumed, a "primitive" state based on the slave trade, Alwa may have been a major state whose influence radiated far to the east and west, perhaps vying with Kanem over influence in Darfur and what later became Wadai. 

Contrary to assumptions or expectations of Makuria being the dominant Nubian kingdom, often based on the far more extensive archaeological research in northern Nubia, Alwa appears to have been able to support higher population densities while benefitting from surplus crops (through riverine and rain-based agriculture), gold exports, hides, and long-distance trade. The interdependency of the pastoralist and agriculturalist populations of Alwa became the basis for a regional economy and local exchange. Gold, iron, ivory, leather, and salt also contributed to this economy, which must have connected Alwa to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Sudanic, and trans-Saharan trade routes. The extent to which Alwa inherited aspects of Meroitic economic or administrative structures is unknown, but Zarroug sees evidence of "Meroitized" Noba in the region during the Late Meroitic Period, according to burial types and the Axumite inscription of Ezana. Geographical factors likely favored continuity, too, suggesting Alwa succeeded Meroe as the center of Nubia. This is also the impression one gains from the external Arabic sources like al-Aswani. 

Zarroug speculates that Alwa relied more on east-west trade routes that linked the kingdom to trans-Saharan routes as well as to the Red Sea. Ruins of structures in Kordofan and Darfur suggest Alwa (and probably Makuria, too) had a presence in western Sudan, likely connecting it to trade routes that led to the Fezzan and North Africa. Although the evidence is still lacking or perhaps waiting on confirmation from finds in Kanem, Darfur, and Soba, Zarroug's theory is quite plausible. We have long wondered to what extent Kanem may have played an early essential role in trade and cultural contacts across the Sudanic belt of the African continent. Hints of it can be seen in the chronicles of Ahmad b. Furtu or al-Idrisi, Ibn Said and oral traditions of Darfur suggestive of Kanem's influence further east. Perhaps Kanem and Alwa (and likely Makuria) exerted influence over the Daju and what later became Wadai as peripheral territories. Over time, secure trade routes developed which could link Alwa to the Fezzan and possibly establish a firmer "Sudan Road." The presence of Muslim traders in Alwa and Makuria may have facilitated this process, so that Christian Nubia did not represent an impenetrable barrier for Muslims of the Central Sudan.