BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of African Art -- Exhibit: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa

DC -- Natl Museum of African Art -- Exhibit: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa:

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Description of Pictures: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa
July 16, 2021 – February 27, 2022
Gold from West Africa was the engine that drove the movement of things, people, and ideas across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East in an interconnected medieval world. As the incredible works in this exhibition show, it is not possible to understand the emergence of the early modern world without this West African story.
Caravans of Gold calls on what archaeologists have termed “the archaeological imagination”—the act of recapturing the past through surviving traces—to present a critical rethinking of the medieval period. Here, rare and precious archaeological fragments are seen side by side, bringing new understanding to complete works of art from the medieval period.
Medieval Africa begins with the spread of Islam in the 8th century C.E. and recedes with the arrival of Europeans along the continent’s Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15th century. During this era, the Sahara Desert was the center of a global network of exchange. As networks spread, so too did cultural practices, fostering the broad circulation of distinctive Saharan aesthetic and intellectual traditions connected to Islam. The reach of trans-Saharan exchange is revealed in the fragments excavated from archaeological sites, now uninhabited, that were once vibrant communities.
#CaravansNMAfA #CaravansofGold

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CARAVA_210730_005.JPG: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time
2. CARAVA_210730_021.JPG: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time Africa's history truly is a world history. Gold from West Africa was the engine that drove the movement of things, people, and ideas across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East in an interconnected medieval world. As the incredible works in this exhibition show, it is not possible to understand the emergence of the early modern world without this West African story. Caravans of Gold calls on what archaeologists have termed "the archaeological imagination" -- the act of recapturing the past through surviving traces -- to present a critical rethinking of the medieval period. Here, rare and precious archaeological fragments are seen side by side, bringing new understanding to complete works of art from the medieval period. The exhibition responds to pressing questions of our time: How can an art museum represent a past that is notable for its absences? How can museums make sense of a material legacy that exists only in fragments? What role does imagination play in resurrecting the past? Medieval Africa begins with the spread of Islam in the 8th century C.E. and recedes with the arrival of Europeans along the continent's Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15th century. During this era, the Sahara Desert was the center of a global network of exchange. As networks spread, so too did cultural practices, fostering the broad circulation of distinctive Saharan aesthetic and intellectual traditions connected to Islam. The reach of trans-Saharan exchange is revealed in the fragments excavated from archaeological sites, now uninhabited, that were once vibrant communities. In this exhibition, these "fragments in time" are placed alongside works of art and other materials that allow us to imagine them as they once were. They are the starting point for reimagining the medieval past -- and for seeing the present in a new light.
3. CARAVA_210730_029.JPG: Credits Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time is organized by the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, and is curated by Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Block Museum, with input from an interdisciplinary, international team of advisors. The presentation at the National Museum of African Art has been overseen by Kevin D. Dumouchelle. Caravans of Gold has been made possible in part by two major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. The exhibition is also generously supported in part by Northwestern University's Buffett Institute for Global Studies. The exhibition's travel to the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, is made possible by the major support of five anonymous donors and generous contributions by Sonny and Michelle Kalsi, Sukey and Michael Novogratz, Susie Hahn and Jon Roy, Mustafa A. Jama, Marti Meyerson and Jamie Hooper, Cory and Diane Pulfrey, Owen and Jennifer Thomas, Stephen Trevor and Stephanie Hunt, and Zoe Cruz. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Myers Foundations, and the Sandra L. Riggs Publications Fund at the Block Museum of Art.
4. CARAVA_210730_032.JPG: Global Medieval Currency
5. CARAVA_210730_056.JPG: The Long Reach of the Sahara The Niger River descends from . . . Timbuktu then to Ife. Ife is one of the largest countries of the Sudan, and their sultan is one of the greatest sultans. -- Ibn Battuta, 1355 C.E. "Red Gold" and Global Networks in Africa's Forests Even kingdoms at the farthest reaches of the Niger River were connected to a global medieval economy. The glorious masterworks of renowned West African forest civilizations, like those at Igbo Ukwu and Ife, demonstrate connections between forest, river, desert, and beyond. Ibn Battuta, the intrepid 14th-century C.E. Moroccan diplomat, traveler, and writer observed the importance of the Niger River. It led to distant lands of wealth and influence, including the famed kingdom of Ife, in West Africa's dense rainforest. Like the trading cities and empires of Africa's Western Sudan, the medieval empires of the forest were deeply entwined in a global economy. Archaeological excavations at West African sites associated with the Ife kingdom, as well as with the earlier polity of Igbo Ukwu to its southeast, and Durbi Takusheyi to its northeast, reveal the prominence of "red gold," or copper, as well as glass beads and ivory, among the materials that circulated through the Sahara Desert in multiple directions. Tracing their movement provides a fascinating image of the wide scope of medieval trade.
6. CARAVA_210730_058.JPG: Ife artist Found at Jebba Island, Kwara State, Nigeria Bowman 14th to 15th century C.E. Copper alloy National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, 79.R.19 Standing at the Crossroads | This figure of a man wearing woven or quilted armor and carrying a quiver on his back was found on Jebba Island in the Niger River. This is a critical juncture for north–south and east–west trade routes. The figure also wears a large medallion, necklaces, armlets, and anklets strung with cowrie shells. Cowries from the Indian Ocean were used as currency in parts of medieval West Africa. They might have been transported overland to Central Nigeria along east–west routes or across the Sahara and down the Niger River.
7. CARAVA_210730_078.JPG: Driving Desires: Gold and Salt The [inhabitants of the Western Sudan] use salt for currency as gold and silver are used. They cut it into pieces and use it for their transactions. -- Ibn Battuta, 1355 C.E. Mediterranean and Sahara -- Seas of Gold Salt and gold were at the heart of a global medieval economy that bound Africa with the Mediterranean world. Artists from Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Italy -- to peripheries as exotic and far-flung as England -- shared in a visual culture of gold. For merchants traveling southward across the Sahara, the main attraction was West African gold, which was widely admired for its purity. In addition to its associations with material wealth, gold held powerful symbolic value. The special qualities of gold -- its rarity, its sparkle and reflectiveness, its malleability, and its resistance to tarnish, as well as the difficulty of extracting it from the earth -- all contributed to its value. Empires across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe minted gold into coins and used it to make and to embellish luxury objects. West African gold provided rulers and merchants in Saharan centers with the means to acquire goods from afar. Rock salt, mined in the heart of the Sahara, was among the most important of these. Salt, which is scarce in West Africa, is essential to human life.
8. CARAVA_210730_090.JPG: Igbo Ukwu artist Igbo Ukwu, Anambra State, Nigeria Excavated from Igbo Isaiah (shrine storehouse) Pendant of a bird and two eggs 8th to early 11th century C.E. Leaded bronze, copper wire, glass National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, IS.367 Glass in Flight | Many objects found at Igbo Ukwu were decorated with glass beads; this pendant of a bird and two eggs was found alongside yellow beads and copper wires that attached through loops cast along the object's side. The intricate forms of cast copper alloy objects excavated at Igbo Ukwu attest to the artistry and technological skill of the city's metal-casting workshops. Surfaces are thickly patterned with raised ropes and dots, evoking strings of glass beads, which were in wide circulation across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
9. CARAVA_210730_098.JPG: Igbo Ukwu artist Igbo Ukwu, Anambra State, Nigeria Excavated from Igbo Isaiah (shrine storehouse) The Roped Pot 8th to early 11th century C.E. Leaded bronze National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, 79.R.4 Twisted Talent | Excavated from a storeroom for ritual objects at Igbo Ukwu, this vessel, known as the Roped Pot, is a masterpiece of lost-wax casting. It was made using a rare technique, called "burning in," in which separately cast parts are fused together in subsequent firings to achieve a complex form. This unique casting process was certainly developed independently at the site. The copper and silver that make up the bronze alloy came from sources within the region. It is possible that copper was imported to Igbo Ukwu along Saharan trade routes, but only as a supplement to an industry that was sustained locally.
10. CARAVA_210730_137.JPG: French artist France Virgin and Child c. 1275–1300 C.E. Ivory, paint, gold The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.190.295. Only African Ivory Sufficed | Large-scale Virgin and Child statuettes represent the apex of ivory carving in the Gothic period in France -- and this sculpture is among the largest of its kind. Measuring 6.5 inches in diameter at its widest point, the solid statuette could only have been made from the tusk of an African savanna elephant. The artist has maximized the size of the figures of the Virgin and Child obtained from the large tusk and has added separate ivory pieces for the throne. This statuette was finished with fine details in paint and gold -- another valuable commodity obtained from across the Sahara.
11. CARAVA_210730_158.JPG: Unidentified artist Sicily, Italy Casket 12th century C.E. Ivory, brass, tempera, gold leaf The Art Institute of Chicago, IL, Samuel P. Avery Endowment, 1926.389. Enduring Glory | This ivory box, or casket, was made in Sicily -- long home to a community of Arabic-speaking Muslim peoples. It is economically fashioned from thinly cut pieces of elephant ivory held together with ivory pegs. The presence of a lock and lock plate made of gilded brass, a copper alloy, indicates that the casket's contents were precious. The delicate ornamental motifs, rendered in tempera and applied gold leaf, are complemented by an inscription in Arabic: "May glory endure."
12. CARAVA_210730_172.JPG: Probably Ife artist Ife, Osun State, Nigeria Found at Tada, Kwara State, Nigeria Seated figure Late 13th to 14th century C.E. Copper with traces of arsenic, lead, and tin National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, 79.R18. Masterpiece | The style and the extraordinarily thin casting of this naturalistic figure point to its likely creation at Ife, the royal capital of a powerful kingdom. In the early 20th century C.E. the figure was part of the ritual life of Tada, a small village on the banks of the Niger River 120 miles north of Ife, where it was regularly bathed by local caretakers in the river. During the medieval period, Tada's location would have been of strategic importance to Ife, connecting it with long-distance trade. Analysis of the raw copper from which the statue is made suggests that the source metal might have originated in France, traveling along these very trade routes to Ife, where it was cast.
13. CARAVA_210730_183.JPG: Unidentified artists Probably made in the Western Sudan Excavated at Durbi Takusheyi, Katsina State, Nigeria, Tumulus 7 Earrings, pendant, and ring 13th to 15th century C.E. Gold National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, KT2014.1.69a,b, KT2014.1.70, KT2014.1.71 From Opposite Coasts | These four pieces of solid gold jewelry were found among the valuable grave goods of a high-status individual buried at Durbi Takusheyi in north-central Nigeria. They were deposited along with strung cowrie shells in the large Mamluk brass bowl. These extremely rare treasures were acquired through trade in multiple directions. The gold jewelry was likely made in Senegal or southern Mauretania, while the cowrie shells originated in the Indian Ocean and would have traveled along the same routes as the brass bowl.
14. CARAVA_210730_186.JPG: Hausa artist Durbi Takusheyi, Katsina State, Nigeria Leglets Late 14th to15th century C.E. Copper alloy National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, KTM2014.13, KTM2014.1.4 Just for Show | This pair of leglets was cast locally using imported copper. Their size and showy form were a fitting statement of wealth for the individuals with whom they were buried. While these leglets were likely made only to be buried, the vertical slits are functional; they allowed the narrow openings to be expanded so that the anklets could be worn.
15. CARAVA_210730_214.JPG: North African or Spanish artist North Africa or Spain Folio from a Qur'an (Sura 38: 75-83) 15th to 16th century C.E. Black ink, gold, red, blue, yellow, and green paint on parchment Freer | Sackler, Smithsonian Institution, The Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, S1997.105 Connected by Golden Words | This page from a North African Qur'an are written in black ink with gold leaf and red details. During the medieval period, a shared manuscript culture among Muslims, Christians, and Jews extended across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Characteristics included elegant calligraphy; painted embellishments, whether figurative illustrations or geometric patterns; gold accents; and decorative leather bindings. The gold and leather used in books were imported from West Africa, and book culture likewise spread to West Africa as Islam spread across the Sahara Desert.
16. CARAVA_210730_245.JPG: Interactive Map Station
17. CARAVA_210730_260.JPG: Archaeological Imagination Station Giving Context to Fragments
18. CARAVA_210730_292.JPG: Case Study: Some of Africa's Oldest Textiles In the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists excavated more than 500 fragments of woven cotton and wool textiles from caves in Mali's Bandiagara Escarpment, a massive group of cliffs east of the Inland Niger Delta. The caves were used as burial sites during the medieval period, and the textiles were among grave goods that also included ceramic vessels, tools, weapons, and ritual objects. Known as the Tellem Textiles, named for the peoples who lived in the region at that time, they are among the oldest surviving textiles from West Africa. The earliest of these precious fragments date to the 11th century C.E. They display a variety of weaving and dyeing techniques that point to a deeply rooted regional weaving tradition. The structures and patterns of the fragments resemble textiles woven by the Fulani and Mande weavers in more recent eras, suggesting connections with populations who lived closer to the centers of trans-Saharan trade. The textiles are composed of narrow strips sewn together edge to edge to make a larger cloth. Cotton was widely cultivated in the Western Sudan, but indigo dye was imported from north of the Sahara, while sheep's wool came from the region of Mauretania to the northwest.
19. CARAVA_210730_294.JPG: Tellem artist Cave Y, Bandiagara escarpment, Mopti Region, Mali Blanket fragment 11th to 13th century C.E. Indigo-dyed cotton Mus�e national du Mali, Bamako, Mali, 92.05.173
20. CARAVA_210730_316.JPG: Unidentified artist Excavated at the site of Gao Ancien, Gao Region, Mali Openwork disk 10th to 14th century C.E. Copper alloy Direction nationale du patrimoine culturel, Bamako, Mali
21. CARAVA_210730_337.JPG: Inland Niger Delta artist Djenn�, Mopti Region, Mali Equestrian figure 13th to 15th century C.E. Ceramic National Museum of African Art, museum purchase, 86-12-2 Riding into History | The elaborate dress of this figure suggests ceremonial military attire; it may represent a warrior who was once at the command of Sundjata Keita (c. 1210–55 C.E.), founder of the Māli Empire, and one of Mansa Musa's predecessors. Since the 1940s, low-fired ceramic figures and fragments such as this have been unearthed at various sites throughout the Inland Niger Delta region, an area that developed urban centers as early as the fourth century C.E. Research, including local oral traditions, indicates that all ethnic groups in the Delta region used these figures. The earliest known written reference to them occurs in a letter of 1447 C.E. In it, a visiting Italian merchant remarked that the figures were kept in sanctuaries and venerated as representing the deified ancestors of famous founding rulers of the region.
22. CARAVA_210730_377.JPG: Timurid or Safavid Dynasty artist Iran Signet ring 15th to 16th century C.E. Silver Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky, M.73.5.336 Tools to Rule | A sword and jewelry were also among the diplomatic gifts received by Mansa Musa during his pilgrimage. The historian and geographer Abu 'Ubayd al-Bakri (died 1094) provided information about the Saharan caravan trade to a readership hungry to learn about faraway trading partners. In his Book of Routes and Realms, published in 1063, al-Bakri describes royal succession in Kawkaw (present-day Gao): "When a king ascends the throne, he is handed a signet ring, a sword, and a copy of the Qur'an."
23. CARAVA_210730_393.JPG: Natamatao culture artist Natamatao, Mopti Region, Mali Kneeling figure 12th to 14th century C.E. Terracotta Mus�e national du Mali, Bamako, Mali, 90-25-10 Taking It with Them | The medieval site of Natamatao, in the Inland Niger Delta, includes the remains of a town and a nearby burial ground where terracotta figures were interred alongside the skeletons of horses and humans. The Niger River's fertile delta supported thriving cities in the medieval era, nurturing more than 60 interdependent communities. At Natamatao, excavations unearthed materials associated with trans-Saharan trade, notably a bundle of imported copper ingots. Bracelets and pendants, like those depicted on the kneeling figure, might have been made of brass, a copper alloy. The depiction of horses likewise points to commerce, as they were traded across the Sahara
24. CARAVA_210730_397.JPG: Shifting Away from the Sahara To the Coast Once Europeans devised naval technologies for bypassing their former Saharan business partners, power began to shift southward. The establishment of trading posts with Europeans along Africa's Atlantic Coast in the late 15th century C.E. effectively cut out the series of intermediaries that were essential to Saharan trade. Ships made possible the transport of increased numbers of goods. Gold, ivory, and other Saharan trade staples remained important commodities, especially in the early days of coastal trade. However, a new industry -- the organized enslavement and commercial export of West Africans forced into labor -- would eventually come to distort the region further, and to reshape the Atlantic world. The creation of new trading centers along the West African coast slowed but did not wholly end trans-Saharan trade. New intermediaries, like the Asante Empire (in central Ghana) benefitted from their role as connectors between the Sahara and the Atlantic. In Asante, the legacy of the Saharan gold trade continued -- particularly in the systems of measure based on the mithqal (4.5 grams) that were used to weigh gold -- the lifeblood of the empire.
25. CARAVA_210730_433.JPG: Bankoni culture artists Bankoni, Bamako Region, Mali Horse and rider and four figures 14th to 15th century C.E. Terracotta Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment, 1987.314.1–5 To Arms | A knife blade was excavated at the medieval trading center of Tadmekka, Mali. Sheathed knives are also depicted worn strapped to the upper left arms of medieval terracotta figures. The figures are portrayed wearing bangles, hair ornaments, and pendants that reﬂect the wealth of the region, which was heavily involved in trans-Saharan exchange. Horsemen -- a common theme -- point to the importance of cavalry for territorial expansion and security. A breed of small horses was indigenous to the region, and larger Arabian horses were also imported across the Sahara. This group of figures relates stylistically to others that were excavated from mounds near Bamako, Mali's capital, where they had been intentionally buried
26. CARAVA_210730_447.JPG: English artist Manufactured in England Found at Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana The Asante Jug (Richard II Ewer) 1390–99 C.E. Copper alloy The British Museum, London, England, 1896,0727.1 Cosmopolitan Asante | The asantehene (king) maintained a museum in his palace in Kumasi in which he could display these sorts of exotic curiosities. This ewer might have traveled across Saharan trade routes soon after it was made, or it might have been imported to Asante at a later time through trade along the Atlantic coast. Made in England in the 14th century C.E., it is embellished with heraldic motifs and Lombardic inscriptions. The royal arms of England on the front of the jug reference the reigns of both Edward III and Richard II, but the badges on the lid depicting a stag indicate that it was produced during Richard's reign, specifically between 1390 and 1400 C.E. It was taken by the British from Kumasi, in 1896 C.E. -- the last in that century's multiple British raids on their Asante rivals.
27. CARAVA_210730_452.JPG: Asante artist Ashanti Region, Ghana Adinkra (wrapper) owned by Asantehene Prempeh I Before 1896 C.E. Imported cotton cloth, black pigment National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, museum purchase, 83-3-8 Dressing to Resist | Historically Asante royalty wore adinkra, large wrappers with stamped patterns, only during periods of mourning. The cloths are hand-stamped with a range of visual patterns, each representing a proverb or characteristic. Some adinkra sign systems may have their origins in the use of Islamic script and talismans by specialists at the king's court. The term adinkra means "to employ or make use of" or "a message." It also connotes separation or leave taking. This cloth was worn by Asantehene (king) Prempeh I on the day the British deposed him in January 1896. Prempeh had successfully resisted British demands to relinquish Asante sovereignty for several years, but British demands for control of the region prompted them to sack and invade the capital, Kumasi. Prempeh and his followers were arrested and exiled. By wearing this cloth in his last appearance before his people for 28 years, Prempeh left the Asante people with two key visual messages -- decrying the unlawful British invasion, while retaining his rights and status as king
28. CARAVA_210730_470.JPG: English artist Struck at London Gold The American Numismatic Society, New York, NY, 1957.172.19. and 0000.999.596 5 Guinea Coin of James II 1685 C.E. 1 Guinea Coin of James II 1688 C.E. King in his (Elephant-and-) Castle | The Dutch and English vied for lucrative trade along Africa's West Coast in the mid-17th century C.E. In this period the English produced guinea coins marked with an elephant-and-castle motif below a bust of the English king, James II. The motif was stamped only onto coins made from West African gold acquired by the newly established Royal Africa Company, which was granted monopoly on this trade by the British crown in 1672. It illustrates the lasting importance of gold and ivory as commodities, even as trade shifted away from the Saharan routes.
29. CARAVA_210730_511.JPG: Fulbe artist Mali Arkilla kerka (tent panel) Mid-20th century C.E. Cotton and wool The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, gift of Gil and Roda Graham, 2002.535 Weaving a Saharan Style | Fulbe weavers belong to a specialized class of male artists who weave narrow strips of cloth on vertical looms. The weaver sews individually woven strips together to create the illusion of repeating horizontal bands. The overall visual effect of the resulting panel resembles textiles woven by Amazigh women on vertical looms. Within this overarching structure, Amazigh women and Fulbe men weave similar repeating zigzag, triangle, diamond, and Xshaped patterns. This shared visual vocabulary reveals the centuries of contact in and around the desert that resulted in the development of a distinctive cultural and artistic style recognizable as "Saharan."
30. CARAVA_210730_525.JPG: Tuareg artist Algeria Tarik or tamzak (camel saddle) Early 20th century C.E. Leather, rawhide, wood, parchment or vellum, wool, silk, tin-plated metal, brass-plated metal, iron, copper alloy Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, gift of the Estate of Lloyd Cabot Briggs, 1975, 975-32-50/11926 Plodding Across Seas of Change | Camels changed Saharan history. Trans-Saharan commerce during antiquity was irregular -- until the widespread adoption of the camel in the early centuries of the Common Era, which facilitated trade across and within the Sahara. Tuareg artists continue to make camel saddles by covering the wood core with red- and green-dyed leather and decorating the pommel and other parts of the saddle with metal embellishments filled with geometric patterns similar to those found in Tuareg jewelry.
31. CARAVA_210730_571.JPG: Saharan Frontiers Sahara at Center The medieval Sahara was at the center of an interconnected and far-reaching trade network that extended in multiple directions. It was a hub of exchange -- in goods, people, and ideas -- that was at the heart of medieval global history. Intermediaries were essential to trade across the Sahara. Diverse peoples, each with their own language, perspective, system of supply and demand, resources, and expertise, contributed to maintaining the connections that supported far-reaching networks of exchange. These included North African Muslims who spoke Arabic and followed Islamic laws governing trade. Amazigh (Berber) nomads, likewise competent in Arabic, were essential for their knowledge of the routes across the desert and for their expertise in managing the long camel caravans that were the most efficient way to traverse this challenging environment. South of the desert, they interacted with Wangara merchants who traveled among the diverse peoples of Africa's Western Sudan region, spoke their languages, and navigated long-standing trade routes along the Niger River and its tributaries.
32. CARAVA_210730_574.JPG: Unidentified artist Spain or North Africa Astrolabe 1236–37 C.E. Brass Courtesy of Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL, A-71 Guided by the Stars | Mansa Musa would have encountered, and possibly employed, this type of object on his pilgrimage to Mecca across the Islamic lands. Astrolabes served many functions in the Islamic world. These highly sophisticated instruments were used to wayfind, tell time, survey land, and verify the direction of Mecca, which Muslims face when praying. The astrolabe was also used to calculate the relative position of stars and planets.
33. CARAVA_210730_588.JPG: Unidentified artist Probably Senegal Talismanic textile Late 19th or early 20th century C.E. Four panels joined: cotton, plain weave; painted; amulets of animal hide and felt attached by knotted strips of leather The Art Institute of Chicago, IL, African and Amerindian Purchase Fund, 2000.326 Healing Words | The Qur'anic passages written across this textile and contained in the amulets attached to it have therapeutic intent. Leather-encased amulets are also worn on the body in the form of necklaces and other items of adornment. The activation of the words of the Qur'an for protection and healing is a widespread Islamic practice.
34. CARAVA_210730_610.JPG: Arabic Accounts of West Africa In addition to its role as a conduit for goods and people, the Sahara was also connected by ideas. Scholars on both sides of the desert built a common intellectual tradition linked by a shared faith -- Islam. Diplomats, geographers, historians, and travelers of the era wrote medieval Arabic accounts of the Bilad al-Sudan, the "land of the Blacks." This literature is challenging to interpret, as its authors frequently drew from second- or third-hand reports. Nonetheless, when viewed in conjunction with the material record, these accounts can provide valuable information. For instance, in composing his Book of Routes and Realms, the 11th-century C.E. Andalusian scholar al-Bakri combed through existing literature, which he enriched with information he garnered from travelers. The book, which has been copied many times throughout the centuries since its first appearance, describes trade across the Sahara Desert and includes early mentions of towns including Sijilmasa, Gao, and Tadmekka.
35. CARAVA_210730_613.JPG: Slavery in the Medieval Western Sudan Both Christian and Muslim teachings in the medieval period were used to justify the enslavement of "non-believers." In justifying the Crusades and state-building across the linked "seas of gold" of the Mediterranean and the Sahara, these cynical statements by popes and scholars alike had the net effect of slowly dehumanizing peoples connected by centuries of exchange, yet divided by faiths. Medieval Arabic accounts reveal facets of Saharan exchange that are not apparent in the archaeological record. This is particularly true of slavery, which is made visible almost uniquely in these written accounts. In the medieval period, enslaved West Africans, predominantly women and children, were first taken to Morocco and then eastward to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and beyond. Captured individuals were forced to make the harrowing trek on foot across the Sahara, and many died during the journey. Some scholars have argued that high-profile events, like Mansa Musa's celebrated pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 C.E., may have inadvertently contributed to growing European perceptions of West Africa as a source of unimaginable wealth of all kinds. Gold and material resources were certainly in evidence but -- accompanied as Musa was by thousands of enslaved peoples -- so too emerged the suggestion of West Africa as a source of forced labor.
36. CARAVA_210730_639.JPG: Amazigh (Kabyle subgroup) artist Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia, Bouira, or Boumerdes Province, Algeria Earrings 19th century C.E. Silver Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, gift of E. E. Ayer, 1911, 209909.1–2 Timeless Style | The form of these earrings is reminiscent of the small gold earrings, likely of Western Sudanic origin, that were unearthed in a 14th-century C.E. burial at Durbi Takusheyi in the Central Sudan. They are a reminder of the circulation of forms and techniques in the medieval period, and of their continuing legacy into the present day.
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