Book contents
- Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
- The Trans-saharan Archaeology Series
- Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Oasis Origins in the Sahara: A Region-by-Region Survey
- Part III Neighbours and Comparanda
- 9 Early States and Urban Forms in the Middle Nile
- 10 Mediterranean Urbanisation in North Africa
- 11 Numidian State Formation in the Tunisian High Tell
- 12 The Origins of Urbanisation and Structured Political Power in Morocco
- 13 Architecture and Settlement Growth on the Southern Edge of the Sahara
- 14 Long-Distance Exchange and Urban Trajectories in the First Millennium AD
- 15 First Millennia BC/AD Fortified Settlements at Lake Chad
- 16 At the Dawn of Sijilmasa
- 17 The Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Towns of West Africa
- 18 Urbanisation, Inequality and Political Authority in the Sahara
- Part IV Concluding Discussion
- Index
- References
9 - Early States and Urban Forms in the Middle Nile
from Part III - Neighbours and Comparanda
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2020
Book contents
- Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
- The Trans-saharan Archaeology Series
- Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Oasis Origins in the Sahara: A Region-by-Region Survey
- Part III Neighbours and Comparanda
- 9 Early States and Urban Forms in the Middle Nile
- 10 Mediterranean Urbanisation in North Africa
- 11 Numidian State Formation in the Tunisian High Tell
- 12 The Origins of Urbanisation and Structured Political Power in Morocco
- 13 Architecture and Settlement Growth on the Southern Edge of the Sahara
- 14 Long-Distance Exchange and Urban Trajectories in the First Millennium AD
- 15 First Millennia BC/AD Fortified Settlements at Lake Chad
- 16 At the Dawn of Sijilmasa
- 17 The Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Towns of West Africa
- 18 Urbanisation, Inequality and Political Authority in the Sahara
- Part IV Concluding Discussion
- Index
- References
Summary
Studies of the political organisation of the Meroitic state (c.350 BC–AD 300) have often underlined the importance of an explicit recognition of its Sudanic context, and place within longer-term traditions of Sudanic political developments. Its study may also benefit from a more explicit engagement with African political anthropology, along with a greater concern with political practices, as more recently envisaged by Smith. In turn, it may also be argued that many features of early Sudanic polities of the Middle Nile (for example, Kerma) differ in some fundamental ways from their northern neighbours of the Egyptian Lower Nile, or indeed the Mediterranean. Meroe shares a number of distinctive characteristics of more recent Sudanic kingdoms; some are emphasised in this chapter. A number of challenges to rulership are readily identifiable in the Sahelian-Sudanic landscapes of the Middle Nile, and many of these may be familiar to those working in other contexts across the continent.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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