Abstract

The Crossroads of Empires archaeological project has run over five years and aimed to improve our knowledge of the archaeology, history and crafts of one part of the Niger Valley of West Africa. One central question has been to map the extent and boundaries of the large empires which are mentioned for this region in the medieval period. Our work allowed the identification of over 800 previously unknown sites, including several large settlement mounds – revealing a hitherto unsuspected archaeological landscape. By focusing excavation on one large site called Birnin Lafiya, and carrying out small-scale test pits at dozens of sites within the area, we have sought to understand the way in which the landscape was organised, and how urbanism might be defined in this part of the world. This paper will present the role that this region played, as reconstructed through oral tradition, artefacts, and practices; what were the possible connections, but also what our results contribute to a better understanding of the sub-regional archaeology. Moreover, as the Crossroads of Empires project has been pluridisciplinary throughout, we will consider how the diversity of concepts and techniques which we have deployed have merged or complemented each other in understanding the past built landscape.