DOCSLIB.ORG

(Mali) by Mamadou Cisse a THESIS SUBMITTE

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(Mali) by Mamadou Cisse a THESIS SUBMITTE RICE UNIVERSITY Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney (Mali) By Mamadou Cisse A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFULMENT OF THE REGUEREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE Doctor of Philosophy APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE: Susan Keech McIntosh, Professor, Anthropology Je frey FleIsher, ro essor, Anthropology ~~ Ro rick J. McIntosh, Professor, Anthropology Ie University HOUSTON, TEXAS OCTOBER 2010 Abstract Excavations at the mound site of Gao Saney, located near the historic town of Gao eastern Niger Bend, Mali, revealed over six meters of domestic deposits and debris from secondary processing of glass and copper dating to the period 700--1100 A.D. This is 200-300 years earlier than anticipated and points to the early development oflong distance trade networks. Lead isotope analysis of copper and glass samples using LA­ ICP-MS points to multiple sources areas, including copper ores in Tunisia and glass production areas in the Middle East. Secondary processing of copper and glass took place at the site, and a substantial portion ofthe sequence comprised mud brick structures and associated domestic trash and wall collapse episodes. The distinctive polychrome pottery assemblage found in the Gao Saney deposits occurs along a 500 km stretch of the Niger Bend between Bentia to the south and Timbucktu to the west, where it appears suddenly and intrusively c. 650-700 A.D. This thesis documents the excavations and the material culture, chronology, subsistence economy and production activities at the site. It argues that the findings support the identification of Gao Saney with the trading town Sarneh mentioned in a tenth century Arab chronicle. The relationship of Gao Saney to Gao Ancien, the putative "royal town" of Kawkaw, is considered through a comparison of material excavated from a massive stone building complex there with the material from Gao Saney. The first millennium pottery at both sites is identical, but elite goods and stone architecture are present in abundance only at Gao Ancien. The evidence supports the identification of a royal town linked to Gao Saney by market and trade relations linked to early long-distance trade. ii This thesis is cordially dedicated to the memory of the late Tereba Togola, my mentor and boss in the Direction National du Patrimoine Culturel of Mali, and to my daughter, Bailo Cisse. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Numerous individuals, organizations and institutions have provided assistance, interest, generosity and encouragement during the course of my research in Gao and my graduate studies at Rice. I am grateful for their help and support. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Susan Keech McIntosh and also my professor Jeffrey Fleisher for their help, support, patience, advice and wonderful supervision throughout the PhD. My dissertation research was generously supported by S. K. McIntosh's research funds. lowe also a special debt of gratitude to the rest of my committee members including Roderick J. McIntosh (my dad and first mentor in field excavation) and Kathryn de Luna for reading and commenting on draft copies of this dissertation. I Thank also the staff and students of the Rice University Anthropology Department who have offered enthusiastic support, encouragement and generosity. Being together during these four years has been a true pleasure. Special thanks are addressed to my friends and office mates Brian Clark, Tsholofelo Dichaba and Abidemi Babalola (Tunde), and also my friend Lem-Lem for their wonderful help and kindness. Special thanks also to Takezawa Choichirio and his institution, the Osaka National Museum of Ethnology (Japan) for the various help and support during the research in Gao. Thanks are extended to the Najan University and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (Japan), the African Archaeology Network, the US Embassy in Mali and Rice University for their financial support during the various archaeological campaigns in Gao. I thank also Felix Chami, coordinator of African Archaeology network, for supporting and encouraging me during my English training in Dar es Salam iii (Tanzania). African Archaeology Network graciously funded this English training and my stay in Dar. I thank also Timothy Insoll for the gift of his two main books on Gao (Insoll 1996 and 2000). My research was strongly supported by the Ministry of Culture of Mali and its national and local branches (the Direction Nationale du Patrimoine Culturel (DNPC), the Gouvemorat ofGao, the Direction Regionale de la Jeunesse, des Sports, des Arts et de la Culture (DRJSA C) of Gao and the Mission Culturelle of Gao). I would like to thank the Ministers of Culture, Mohamed EI Moctar, and Cheick Oumar Sissoko, and also the General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Al Hady Koita, who granted official permissions and actively supported the Gao projects. lowe a special debt of gratitude to my mentor, the late Tereba Togola, tformer Director of the DNPC, for his help, support and advice. Special thanks are extended to Klessigue Sanogo, the Director of the DNPC and Moulaye Coulibaly, who generously provided a vehicle and a driver for my dissertation research at Gao Saney, and also helped and supported during my thesis work. Many thanks also to my colleagues and friends in the DNPC, the Mission Culturelle and the DRJSAC of Gao. They were very helpful in various ways during my dissertation work. My profound gratitude goes to Klena Sanogo, the Director of Institut des Sciences Humaines, Mamadi Dembele and Daouda Keita for their support, encouragement. Our workers from Gao are responsible for the success of the excavations along with site supervisors from the DNPC and partners, the Mission Culturelle and the DRJSAC of Gao. I extend my gratitude to Sidi Lamine Kone, EI Moctar Toure, the late Boubou Gassama and their family, and also our driver Issa Coulibaly for their assistance and help during my dissertation research. Special thanks also to Abigail Chipps Smith iv from the Washington University Department of Anthropology, St Louis, for accepting to be part of our excavation team and also for her help and assistance during my thesis work. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the many other people who actively participated the various Gao excavation campaigns since 2001. They include Seiji Nakao, Miku Ito, YoussoufKalapo, Nafogo Coulibaly, Dr Sakai, Dr Nakaya, Julie Menard, Yamoussa Fane, Sekou Kante, Mohamed Kassibo, Broulaye Diarra, Aminata D. Toure, Soumaila Coulibaly, Malick Koureichi, Mohamed Simaga, Raphael Kamate, Boubacar Togola, Oumou Traore. My apologies to anyone I failed to mention. Numerous scholars have spent time to the analysis of Gao materials. My gratitude goes to Laure Dussubieux for conducting LA-ICP-MS analyses of glass beads and ceramics, Daphne Gallagher for studying paleobotanical remains, Abigail C. Smith and Chet Cain for analyzing faunal material. Thomas Fenn is analyzing Gao copper-based material. I thank him and also Marilee Woods who introduced me to the systematic study of Gao glass beads. I am grateful to my father, Taba Cisse, my mother, Bailo Diaby, my uncle Bemba Seyni Fadiga and my brothers and sisters for their support and encouragement. lowe a special debt of sincere gratitude to my wife Abibata Sanogo and my daughter Bailo Cisse for their patience, help and support during my graduate study. v Table of contents Abstract i Acknowledgements 11 Table of Contents vi List of Figures ix List of Tables x Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. The Gao Region: environmental context, inhabitants and history 8 Environmental context 8 Ethnic groups 12 Historical development 19 Chapter 3. Prior Archaeological Research in the Gao Region 36 Archaeological surveys in the Gao region 37 Excavations in the Gao region 47 Chapter 4. Production, Distribution, Consumption: trade and exchange systems in West Africa 67 Trade systems: production, distribution and consumption 68 Historically documented trade systems in West Africa 76 Archaeological evidence for early trade and exchange 103 Concluding remarks 115 Chapter 5. Archaeological Excavations at Gao Saney 119 Stratigraphy and features of the excavation units 120 Site chronology 138 Chapter 6. Pottery 155 Recovery and sampling procedures 156 Recording Procedures 158 Analysis 171 Summary description of the assemblage 176 Other pottery forms 177 Imported ceramics 178 VI Chapter 7. Glass 205 Glass beads 206 Overview of the glass bead assemblage 214 Glass vessel fragments 215 Discussion 216 Chapter 8. Metal 228 Methods 230 Copper 230 Iron 232 Metallurgical debris 234 Overview of the metal assemblage 235 Chapter 9. Other Small Finds: ceramic, stone, and bone artifacts 242 Beads 242 Spindle whorls 244 Cowrie shells 245 Other bone and shell artifacts 246 Stone artifacts other than beads 247 Chapter 10. Conclusions 256 Overview of occupation and site development 256 Subsistence economy 259 Material Culture 263 Local interactions: Gao Saney and Gao Ancien 267 Bibliography 287 Appendix I. 1.1 ACGS: Level and feature summary in chronological order 300 1.2. ACGS: Level and feature descriptions 303 1.3. GS 1: Level and feature descriptions 310 1.4. GS3: Level and feature descriptions 313 Appendix II. 11.1. Rim sherd attributes and recording codes 316 11.2. Sample body sherd recording form: ACGS 318 11.3. Sample multiple attribute recording form: ACGS 320 11.4. Sample rim sherd recording form: ACGS 321 Appendix III. 111.1. LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Gao 322 by Laure Dussubieux (2009) 111.2. LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Gao Saney 329 By L. Dussubieux (2010) vii Appendix IV. Preliminary Report:Lead Isotopic Ratio Analyses of 334 Copper-Alloy Objects Excavated from the Archaeological Site of Gao Saney, Mali, West Africa" by T.R. Fenn (2011) Appendix V. Palaeobotanical Remains, by D. Gallagher 350 Vlll List of Tables 2.1. The population estimate of the Songhay from 1930 - 2009 13 2.2. List of the Za kings in the Tarikh AI-Sudan and the name of individuals commemorated upon the inscribed ste1es in the Gao Saney cemetery 29 3.1.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Et Khartoum (Soudan), Étude Comparée
    Fabriquer des villes capitales entre monde arabe et Afrique noire : Nouakchott (Mauritanie) et Khartoum (Soudan), étude comparée. Armelle Choplin To cite this version: Armelle Choplin. Fabriquer des villes capitales entre monde arabe et Afrique noire : Nouakchott (Mauritanie) et Khartoum (Soudan), étude comparée.. Géographie. Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, 2006. Français. tel-00419957 HAL Id: tel-00419957 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00419957 Submitted on 25 Sep 2009 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITE PARIS 1 PANTHEON-SORBONNE U.F.R DE GEOGRAPHIE Ecole doctorale de géographie de Paris : Espaces, sociétés, aménagement UMR 8586 PRODIG 2006 FABRIQUER DES VILLES-CAPITALES ENTRE MONDE ARABE ET AFRIQUE NOIRE : NOUAKCHOTT (MAURITANIE) ET KHARTOUM (SOUDAN), ETUDE COMPAREE Thèse pour l’obtention du doctorat en géographie Présentée et soutenue publiquement le 17 novembre 2006 Armelle CHOPLIN Sous la direction de Marie-Françoise COUREL Membres du jury : Marie-Françoise COUREL, Directrice d’Etudes à l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Anne-Marie FREROT, Professeur à l’Université de Tours Marc LAVERGNE, Directeur de Recherche, CNRS Emile LE BRIS, Directeur de Recherche, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) Abdel Wedoud OULD CHEIKH, Professeur à l’Université de Metz Denis RETAILLE, Professeur à l’Université de Rouen 1 2 Sommaire SOMMAIRE ................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Question of 'Race' in the Pre-Colonial Southern Sahara
    The Question of ‘Race’ in the Pre-colonial Southern Sahara BRUCE S. HALL One of the principle issues that divide people in the southern margins of the Sahara Desert is the issue of ‘race.’ Each of the countries that share this region, from Mauritania to Sudan, has experienced civil violence with racial overtones since achieving independence from colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s. Today’s crisis in Western Sudan is only the latest example. However, very little academic attention has been paid to the issue of ‘race’ in the region, in large part because southern Saharan racial discourses do not correspond directly to the idea of ‘race’ in the West. For the outsider, local racial distinctions are often difficult to discern because somatic difference is not the only, and certainly not the most important, basis for racial identities. In this article, I focus on the development of pre-colonial ideas about ‘race’ in the Hodh, Azawad, and Niger Bend, which today are in Northern Mali and Western Mauritania. The article examines the evolving relationship between North and West Africans along this Sahelian borderland using the writings of Arab travellers, local chroniclers, as well as several specific documents that address the issue of the legitimacy of enslavement of different West African groups. Using primarily the Arabic writings of the Kunta, a politically ascendant Arab group in the area, the paper explores the extent to which discourses of ‘race’ served growing nomadic power. My argument is that during the nineteenth century, honorable lineages and genealogies came to play an increasingly important role as ideological buttresses to struggles for power amongst nomadic groups and in legitimising domination over sedentary communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Replacive Grammatical Tone in the Dogon Languages
    University of California Los Angeles Replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics by Laura Elizabeth McPherson 2014 c Copyright by Laura Elizabeth McPherson 2014 Abstract of the Dissertation Replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages by Laura Elizabeth McPherson Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Russell Schuh, Co-chair Professor Bruce Hayes, Co-chair This dissertation focuses on replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages of Mali, where a word’s lexical tone is replaced with a tonal overlay in specific morphosyntactic contexts. Unlike more typologically common systems of replacive tone, where overlays are triggered by morphemes or morphological features and are confined to a single word, Dogon overlays in the DP may span multiple words and are triggered by other words in the phrase. DP elements are divided into two categories: controllers (those elements that trigger tonal overlays) and non-controllers (those elements that impose no tonal demands on surrounding words). I show that controller status and the phonological content of the associated tonal overlay is dependent on syntactic category. Further, I show that a controller can only impose its overlay on words that it c-commands, or itself. I argue that the sensitivity to specific details of syntactic category and structure indicate that Dogon replacive tone is not synchronically a phonological system, though its origins almost certainly lie in regular phrasal phonology. Drawing on inspiration from Construction Morphology, I develop a morphological framework in which morphology is defined as the id- iosyncratic mapping of phonological, syntactic, and semantic information, explicitly learned by speakers in the form of a construction.
    [Show full text]
  • Africans: the HISTORY of a CONTINENT, Second Edition
    P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 This page intentionally left blank ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 africans, second edition Inavast and all-embracing study of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the AIDS epidemic, John Iliffe refocuses its history on the peopling of an environmentally hostilecontinent.Africanshavebeenpioneersstrugglingagainstdiseaseandnature, and their social, economic, and political institutions have been designed to ensure their survival. In the context of medical progress and other twentieth-century innovations, however, the same institutions have bred the most rapid population growth the world has ever seen. The history of the continent is thus a single story binding living Africans to their earliest human ancestors. John Iliffe was Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of St. John’s College. He is the author of several books on Africa, including Amodern history of Tanganyika and The African poor: A history,which was awarded the Herskovits Prize of the African Studies Association of the United States. Both books were published by Cambridge University Press. i P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 african studies The African Studies Series,founded in 1968 in collaboration with the African Studies Centre of the University of Cambridge, is a prestigious series of monographs and general studies on Africa covering history, anthropology, economics, sociology, and political science.
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin De Surveillance Multisectorielle Sur La Region De Gao, Mali
    OCTOBRE – NOVEMBRE 2020 N°17 BULLETIN DE SURVEILLANCE MULTISECTORIELLE SUR LA REGION DE GAO, MALI POINTS SAILLANTS • Contexte sécuritaire très instable dans la région avec des multiples attaques et assassinats ciblés • Feux de brousse de grande à très grande taille signalé dans les communes de Tinhamma, Ansongo, Talataye, Ouattagouna, Bamba, Taboye et Bourem • État d’embonpoint des grands ruminants passable sur la majorité des sites sentinelles • Insuffisance de pâturage observée dans toutes les communes de Ouattagouna, Tinhamma et à Bamba (Tabahokamate) • Très forte Concentration des animaux dans les communes de N’tillit, Tessit, Bourem, Gabero et Tinhamma • Termes d’échange défavorables aux éleveurs de manière générale • Au moins 76 932 PDIs dans la région de Gao BULLETIN DE SURVEILLANCE MULTISECTORIELLE SUR LA REGION DE GAO MALI – N°17 / OCTOBRE-NOVEMBRE 2020 SITUATION PASTORALE PÂTURAGES Fin Novembre, les conditions de pâturage (disponibilité et accessibilité) sont moyennes dans l’ensemble (figure 1). Par ailleurs on observe une disponibilité insuffisante a très insuffisante des pâturages sur 9 neuf sites : Haoussa Foulane, Zinda dans la commune de Gabero; Karou, Labbbezanga, Ouattagouna dans la commune de Ouattagouna ; Tahagla, Tin-hamma dans la commune de Tin-hamma, N’tahaka dans la commune de N’tillit et Tabahokamate dans la commune de Bamba. Ce déficit de pâturage est dans l’ensemble habituel mais très précoce par rapport à l’année derrière a la même période. Ce déficit pourrait être expliqué par la mauvaise répartition des pluies dans le temps et dans l’espace, il est très accentué par les feux de brousse qui ont touché la plupart des zones pastorales.
    [Show full text]
  • DIRECTION NATIONALE DE L'hydraulique Région De
    MINISTÈRE DE L’ÉNERGIE ET DE L’EAU DIRECTION NATIONALE DE L’HYDRAULIQUE SITUATION DES POINTS D’EAU MODERNES AU MALI à partir de l'inventaire national réalisé en décembre 2018 Région de GAO Ministère de l’Énergie et de l'Eau Direction Nationale de l'Hydraulique Région de GAO 4 Cercles 23 Communes 696 Villages Situation des points d'eau modernes 2580 Points d'eau 41% Taux d'équipement 28% Taux d'accès Taux d'accès dans la région de GAO Cercle Population EPEM Total EPEM fonctionnel Taux d'eq́ uipement Taux d'acces̀ ANSONGO 230 246 300 175 37 % 26 % BOUREM 180 480 161 68 27 % 12 % GAO 363 073 976 614 50 % 38 % MENAKA 114 421 167 76 40 % 21 % Région de GAO Taux d'accès dans le cercle de ANSONGO Légende Réseau hydrographique Routes nationales Taux de desserte 0% - 20% 20% - 40% 40% - 60% 60% - 80% 80% - 100% Situation Region de GAO Cercle de ANSONGO Population 230246 Nombre de communes 7 Points d'eau 504 Taux d'équipement 37% Taux d'accès 26% Données collectées : Décembre 2018 Région de GAO Taux d'accès dans le cercle de ANSONGO Commune Population EPEM Total EPEM fonctionnel Taux d'eq́ uipement Taux d'acces̀ ANSONGO 40133 68 41 60 % 41 % BARA 20577 87 38 85 % 60 % BOURRA 24150 34 24 53 % 39 % OUATTAGOUNA 43297 37 28 34 % 26 % TALATAYE 44843 7 5 4 % 3 % TESSIT 29716 46 26 27 % 16 % TIN HAMA 27530 21 13 21 % 16 % Cercle de ANSONGO Types de points d'eau dans la commune de ANSONGO Légende Village Réseau hydrographique Route nationale Type de point d'eau SAEP PMH Forage non équipé Puits citerne Puits moderne Situation Cercle de ANSONGO Commune de
    [Show full text]
  • ISCACH (Beirut 2015) International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
    ISCACH (Beirut 2015) International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS 3‐6 DECEMBER 2015 GEFINOR ROTANA HOTEL BEIRUT, LEBANON ISCACH (Beirut 2015) International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS 3‐6 DECEMBER 2015 GEFINOR ROTANA HOTEL BEIRUT, LEBANON © The ISCACH 2015 Organizing Committee, Beirut Lebanon All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission. Title: ISCASH (International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage) 2015 Beirut: Program and Abstracts Published by the ISCACH 2015 Organizing Committee and the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Published Year: December 2015 Printed in Japan This publication was printed by the generous support of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan ISCACH (Beirut 2015) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……….……………………………………………………….....................................3 List of Organizing Committee ............................................................................4 Program Summary .............................................................................................5 Program .............................................................................................................7 List of Posters ................................................................................................. 14 Poster Abstracts.............................................................................................. 17 Presentation Abstracts Day 1: 3rd December ............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • MALI - Cercle De Gao: Carte De Référence (Octobre 2013)
    MALI - Cercle de Gao: Carte de référence (Octobre 2013) KIDAL (KIDAL) Frontière internationale ALGERIE Limite de région Limite de cercle MAURITANIE Dabacar Chef-lieu de région Chef-lieu de cercle Kel amassine Kel takaraghate kalawate Icharamatane Chef-lieu de commune SENEGAL Kel taborack Village NIGER Kel sidalamine foulane Ilokane BURKINA FASO samit Cercle (autre région) Ifoghas GUINEE Kel bandaf 2 Cercle Gao Ibokalitane inouly Imrad divers MENAKA Forgeron Kel tafoulante Kel bandaf 1 Imilicha Ikefoutane COMMUNE Kel Imagrane talmen Inarwarene aboubakrine Ichadenharene Ikarbaganene Igawelene ANCHAWADI Kel Ighanagassane 1 tondibi GABERO Imagrane tikli Cheriffen haoussa BOUREM GAO Kel tanderbatene GOUNZOUREYE Ibohanane N'TILIT Kel ahad Imididaghane 2 SONI ALI BER Igorarene Ighanagassane 2 Imididaghane 1 TIILEMSI Kel Ikadeyane tadjalatt Cheriffen Fleuve Kel gourma TIILEMSI amdiliss Route principale Akodaka adinebangou Kareibandia Koygourou Badji Route tertiaire M'balde haoussa Kareibandia-ile Delega Goura Adineme Barissadji Meataha Aéroport international Kounsoum Barissadji Ile-goudelbaria Silwali Piste d'atterrissage Doumbaria SONI ALI BER Bagnadji Bossobon Gabame Lamboubero Hoyangaraba Djeboubero Kochakarei Kabanna DEMOGRAPHIE (2013) Baringouna AlizegameTondiagame Katia koima Seina ANCHAWADI Seyname Kel Total tanoukassane Taraykongo Berrahile Bella Ikalawatene cherifen kel doro GAO Ikayawane Chateau Kel razzaf Korogoussou Kosseye 8 472 157 8 472 157 16 806 999 Sidibe Mali Peulguelgobe Boulgoundie Bagoundie 2 Wabaria Norbene GOUNZOUREYE
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Algeria, the Sahara & the M'zab Valley 2022
    Roman Algeria, the Sahara & the M’Zab Valley 2022 13 MAR – 2 APR 2022 Code: 22203 Tour Leaders Tony O’Connor Physical Ratings Explore Ottoman kasbahs, Roman Constantine, Timgad & Djemila, mud-brick trading towns of the Sahara, Moorish Tlemcen, & the secret world of the Berber M'Zab valley. Overview Join archaeologist Tony O'Connor on this fascinating tour which explores Roman Algeria, the Sahara & the M'Zab Valley. Explore the twisting streets, stairs, and alleys of the Ottoman Kasbah of Algiers and enjoy magnificent views across the city from the French colonial Cathedral of Notre-Dame d'Afrique. Wander perfectly preserved streets at the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Roman Djémila and Timgad, empty of visitors and complete with stunning mosaics, full-size temples, triumphal arches, market places, and theatres. At Sétif gaze upon one of the most exquisite mosaics in all of the Roman world – The Triumph of Dionysus. Engage with Numidian Kings at the extraordinary tombs of Medracen and the 'Tomb of the Christian' along with the ambitions of Cleopatra and Mark Antony at their daughter’s former capital of Caesarea/Cherchell. Explore the Roman 'City of Bridges', Constantine, encircled by the dramatic gorge of Wadi Rummel. Wander the atmospheric ruins of the Roman towns of Tipaza and Tiddis: Tipaza overlooks the Mediteranean, while Tiddis perches on a hillside, overlooking the fertile lands of Constantine. Walk the Algerian 'Grand Canyon' at El Ghoufi: a centre of Aures Berber culture, Algerian resistance to French colonial rule, inscriptions left behind by the engineers of Emperor Hadrian himself, and photogenic mud-brick villages clustering along vertiginous rocky ledges.
    [Show full text]
  • Neural Machine Translation for Extremely Low-Resource African Languages: a Case Study on Bambara
    Neural Machine Translation for Extremely Low-Resource African Languages: A Case Study on Bambara Allahsera Auguste Tapo1;∗, Bakary Coulibaly2, Sébastien Diarra2, Christopher Homan1, Julia Kreutzer3, Sarah Luger4, Arthur Nagashima1, Marcos Zampieri1, Michael Leventhal2 1Rochester Institute of Technology 2Centre National Collaboratif de l’Education en Robotique et en Intelligence Artificielle (RobotsMali) 3Google Research, 4Orange Silicon Valley ∗[email protected] Abstract population have access to “encyclopedic knowl- edge” in their primary language, according to a Low-resource languages present unique chal- 2014 study by Facebook.2 MT technologies could lenges to (neural) machine translation. We dis- help bridge this gap, and there is enormous interest cuss the case of Bambara, a Mande language in such applications, ironically enough, from speak- for which training data is scarce and requires ers of the languages on which MT has thus far had significant amounts of pre-processing. More than the linguistic situation of Bambara itself, the least success. There is also great potential for the socio-cultural context within which Bam- humanitarian response applications (Öktem et al., bara speakers live poses challenges for auto- 2020). mated processing of this language. In this pa- Fueled by data, advances in hardware technol- per, we present the first parallel data set for ogy, and deep neural models, machine translation machine translation of Bambara into and from (NMT) has advanced rapidly over the last ten years. English and French and the first benchmark re- Researchers are beginning to investigate the ef- sults on machine translation to and from Bam- bara. We discuss challenges in working with fectiveness of (NMT) low-resource languages, as low-resource languages and propose strategies in recent WMT 2019 and WMT 2020 tasks (Bar- to cope with data scarcity in low-resource ma- rault et al., 2019), and in underresourced African chine translation (MT).
    [Show full text]
  • Second Quarterly Report for Usg Fy 2011
    Quarterly Report 1 July 2016 – 30 September 2016 IRTOUN “Rise Again” Funded by USAID / Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Picture – Photo mosaic in Ansongo Cercle, photos by Field Team, Mercy Corps Annual Report Irtoun – Rise Again October 2015 – September 2016 1. Executive Summary With the support of USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Mercy Corps’ Irtoun program offers a package of integrated activities designed to enhance food security and economic resilience of communities recovering from the effects of conflict in Ansongo Circle of Gao Region and in Timbuktu and Gourma Rharous Circles of Timbuktu Region in Northern Mali. The program, initially funded for a period of 2 years from 11 February 2014-10 February 2016, was extended through two no- cost extensions through 30 September 2016, and received a cost modification to extend the project until 30 June 2017. At the end of FY16, the program has achieved or exceeded all of its objectives under the original implementation plan, and is in the start-up phase of the additional activities under the cost modification. During the quarterly reporting period, the program achieved the following: “Irtoun 1” Monitored and supported 45 village committees responsible for animal feed management to open accounts with microfinance institutions Awareness-raising of the population on best practices for animal feed harvesting and storage Advisory support and monitoring of the 22 veterinary assistants Follow-up with 53 micro-entrepreneurs on the management of their small enterprises Monitoring of VSLAs and village agents in the 4 communes of Ansongo “Irtoun 2” Kick-off meeting held in September 2016 for Irtoun II to review intervention strategy, budget, targets, timeline, procurement plan and staffing plan; Support to the 51 market gardening groups who participated in Irtoun I to prepare for the October 2016 vegetable planting season.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossing Archaeology and Oral Tradition: Approaching Dendi History from Sites of Memory
    Chapter 2 Crossing Archaeology and Oral Tradition: Approaching Dendi History from Sites of Memory Olivier Gosselain and Lucie Smolderen En définissant une certaine autochtonie, un ordre concerns about land access and political legitimacy, and social et politique ne livre pas le résultat d’une inves- should thus be approached as such (see also Bako-Arifari tigation historique et ne rend pas compte d’un fait & Le Meur 2003; Izard 1985). indépendant des perspectives prises sur lui, il situe Keeping in mind that the focus of this book is the long- un référent symbolique nécessaire à la place qui lui term history of Béninois Dendi, but wanting to avoid the paraît la meilleure, du point de vue de sa vision du pitfalls of an approach that consists mainly in listing a monde. succession of population strata (besides the works cited Izard 1985: 27 above, see also Perron 1924; Séré de Rivières 1965; Walther 2006), it will look at Dendi “from the soil up”, by focusing on a group of sites which are of significance to historically- ∵ minded people in Dendi. These sites differ from those usually evoked in oral testimonies, inasmuch as they do not relate to a single village community,1 but to a network 1 Introduction of communities, in a radius of tens (or even hundreds) of kilometres. They may thus be considered as “regional The history of Dendi written through the prevailing ortho- sites of memory”. Four of them will be considered here: doxy might be quickly summarised: a faraway province of Katanga, Nooru Bangu (the cowrie pond), Turuwe (also Mali, the southern province of Songhai, and a place of re- spelled Torouwey) and Mulabon (See Figure 2.1).
    [Show full text]