Caravans of gold, fragments in time : art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa / edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock.
Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, editor, curator, contributor.; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, organizer, host institution.; Aga Khan Museum (Toronto, Ont.), host institution.; National Museum of African Art (U.S.), host institution.
2019
NK700 .C36 2019 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection

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Details

Title
Caravans of gold, fragments in time : art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa / edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock.
ISBN
9780691182681 (hardcover)
069118268X (hardcover)
Published
[Evanston, Illinois] : Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University : in association with Princeton University Press, [2019]
Language
English
Description
311 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 29 cm
Call Number
NK700 .C36 2019
Dewey Decimal Classification
709.01074
Summary
"Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. Contributors from diverse disciplines present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time. Topics include descriptions of key medieval cities around the Sahara; networks of exchange that contributed to the circulation of gold, copper, and ivory and their associated art forms; and medieval glass bead production in West Africa's forest region. Featuring a wealth of color images, this fascinating book demonstrates how the rootedness of place, culture, and tradition is closely tied to the circulation of people, objects, and ideas. These "fragments in time" offer irrefutable evidence of the key role that Africa played in medieval history and promote a new understanding of the past and the present"-- Provided by publisher.
Note
Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, January 26, 2019-July 21, 2019; The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2019-February 23, 2020; and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, April 8-November 29, 2020.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 294-309).
Added Author
Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, editor, curator, contributor.
Added Corporate Author
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, organizer, host institution.
Aga Khan Museum (Toronto, Ont.), host institution.
National Museum of African Art (U.S.), host institution.
Record Appears in
On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
Section I: Groundwork. Caravans of gold, fragments in time : an introduction / Kathleen Bickford Berzock
Uncertain fragments : a divination / Chris Abani
Views from afar : reading medieval trans-Saharan trade through Arabic accounts / Robert Launay
The sources of gold : narratives, technology, and visual culture from the Mande and Akan worlds / Ralph A. Austen
Fragments at risk : the protection of cultural heritage in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria / Mamadi Dembélé, Ahmed Ettahrir, Youssef Khiara, and Yousuf Abdallah Usman.
Section II: Sites. The Sahara as a cultural zone / Cynthia Becker
Sijilmasa's role in the African gold trade / Ronald A. Messier and Abdallah Fili
Essouk-Tadmekka : a southern Saharan center of the early Islamic camel caravan trade / Sam Nixon
Gao, a middle Niger city in medieval trade / Mamadou Cissé
Urbanization and trade networks in the inland Niger Delta / Mamadi Dembélé
Politics and trade in medieval Northern Nigeria / Detlef Gronenborn.
Section III: Matter in motion. Gold, ivory, and copper, materials and arts of trans-Saharan trade / Sarah M. Guérin
Dinars as historical texts : documenting the African gold trade / Ron Messier
Gold processing at the early Islamic market town of Tadmekka, Mali : preliminary results from experimental replication / Gianluca Pastorelli, Marc Walton, and Sam Nixon
Medieval glass bead production and exchange / Adidemi Babatunde Babalola
The written word : Islamic literacy and Arabic manuscripts in West Africa / Mauro Nobili.
Section IV: Reverberations. Red gold : things made of copper, bronze, and brass / Raymond Silverman
Gnawa material culture : innovation across the Sahara / Cynthia Becker
Saharan crossing : the realities of migration today / Galya Ben-Arieh
Bibliography
Lenders to the exhibition
Contributors.

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