Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue
Title:The oldest extant writing of West Africa: medieval epigraphs from Essuk, Saney, and Egef-n-Tawaqqast (Mali)
Author:Moraes Farias, P.F. deISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Journal des africanistes
Volume:60
Issue:2
Pages:65-113
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subject:rock art
Abstract:Seven medieval Arabic inscriptions from three sites in the Sahara and the Niger Valley - Essuk (A.dagh-n-Ifoghas), Saney (Gao), and Egef-n-Tawaqqast (Bentiya), in Mali - are discussed in historical context. This new evidence includes the oldest extant specimens of writing from West Africa (eleventh century). It demonstrates that before the introduction of royal epitaphs of Iberian origin, Arabic epitaphs were already produced at Gao-Saney, under the influence of Essuk (Tadmakkat). Light is shed on the cultural roots of the Kal-Essuk (specialists of Islam and calligraphy among the Tuareg), and on attitudes to time within Tuareg society. Attention is called for the first time to a site possibly included in the archaeological complex of Kukiya, a historical capital of the Songhay. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. also in French.
Views