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  • 6 - The Early History of Weaving in West Africa

  • from Part II - Technological Mobility and Transfers
  • Edited by C. N. Duckworth, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, A. Cuénod, University of Leicester, D. J. Mattingly, University of Leicester
  • Book:
    Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
    Published online:
    18 September 2020
    Print publication:
    03 September 2020, pp 183-208

  • Summary

    In this chapter the early history of weaving in West Africa is discussed in the light of archaeological evidence. The oldest preserved textiles in West Africa were discovered at Kissi in Burkina Faso and dated to the early first millennium AD. They add to the small corpus of first millennium AD textile finds and push back in time the evidence for the demand and use of cloth in sub-Saharan Africa. However, it is unclear whether these earliest textile finds mark the beginning of a weaving tradition south of the Sahara. Rather, archaeological and historical evidence seem to indicate that local woven textile production began relatively late in West Africa, towards the end of the first millennium AD, possibly accelerated by long-distance connections with the north or north-east and the spread of Islam.