Ancient Middle Niger: Urbanism and the Self-Organizing Landscape

The cities of West Africa's Middle Niger, only recently brought to the world's attention, make us rethink the 'whys' and the 'wheres' of ancient urbanism. They present the archaeologist with a novelty; a non-nucleated, clustered city-plan with no centralized, state-focused power. This book explores the emergence of these cities in the first millennium B.C. and the evolution of their hinterlands from the perspective of the self-organized landscape. Cities appeared in a series of profound transforms to the human-land relations and this book illustrates how each transform marked a leap in complexity.

Author: Roderick J. McIntosh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/07/2005
Pages: 278
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.59lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.32w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9780521813006

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2006 pg. 337

About the Author
McIntosh, Roderick J.: - Roderick J. McIntosh is Professor of Anthropology at Rice University and visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His recent publications include The Peoples of Middle Niger: Island of Gold (1998), The Way the Wind Blows: Climate, History, and Human Action (2000) and Geomorphology and Human Palaeoecology of the Méma, Mali (2005).