Azelik Takedda Copper Smelting Field (Takedda Azelik)
Azelik · Takedda · Takedda Azelik · Azelik wan Birni
Medieval Trans-Saharan (10th–15th c. CE)·Tuareg / Songhai / Sanhaja·🇳🇪 Agadez Region, Tchirozérine Department, Azelik (Takedda), air mountains southern gate, Niger
About
About Azelik Takedda Copper Smelting Field (Takedda Azelik)
World's southern Saharan copper capital and Tuareg–Songhai caravanserai (copper from proto-copper pits), Takedda/Azelik shows 10 ha walled town (stone enceinte 4 m), 200 shaft pits (malachite, 8 m deep with timber shoring), 500 slag heaps (copper-slag 200 tonnes), mosque of Takedda (stone mihrab, Ibn Battuta visit 1353), and Tifinagh rock panels. Ibn Battuta / Polo mention. Copper to Kano and Bornu. Collapse after 1400 drought.
Why it mattersSaharan copper industrial landscape and Ibn Battuta eyewitness calibration for trans-Saharan metallurgy.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Shaft vs slag chronology
- 02Drought abandon timing
Theories
- 01Keenan Azelik model
- 02Holl Takedda copper
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Takedda town c.1000 CE; copper industry 1200–1400 CE; Ibn Battuta 1353
- Period
- Medieval Trans-Saharan (10th–15th c. CE)
- Culture
- Tuareg / Songhai / Sanhaja
- Builders
- Sanhaja / Tuareg miners (Tadmekka network)
- Purpose
- Copper-industry city and Saharan entrepôt on Tuwat–Bornu route
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1000 CE
Sanhaja Takedda founded
1200–1400 CE
Copper shaft mining peak 200 pits
1353 CE
Ibn Battuta visits sees copper workings
c.1450 CE
Abandoned after drought
On the ground
Structures & features
17.5183° N · 6.7831° E · 450 m · 2 mapped features
Mine Shaft Field
mine200 malachite shafts 8 m deep with acacia timber shoring collars
17.5190° N · 6.7840° ESlag Heaps and Mosque
slag500 slag heaps 200 tonnes and stone mihrab mosque Ibn Battuta prayer
17.5175° N · 6.7820° E