About 4000 BCE the Sahara began to dry out and as a result there was a migration of populations south. By the third millennium BCE, there were pastoral cultures focusing on raising cattle stretching across the Sahel (the area just south of the Sahara). By 2000 BCE, these pastoralists were building substantial masonry structures at sites such as Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Oualata, both in modern-day Mauritania. By 1500 BCE, the Africans had domesticated millet and an indigenous Africa Rice. The combination of domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, goats) and the domesticated crops set the stage for the development of towns and urbanization.
About 250 BCE, the site of Jenné-Jeno (ancient Jenné in the Songhay language) in present-day Mali was settled. The site is located on a floodplain of the inland Niger Delta, three kilometers south of the modern city of Jenné. An inland delta, a fairly rare geological feature, is where the river silts up its own bed and floodplain and creates marshes, lakes, and little raised areas. This was the perfect place for early agriculture.
Between 450 CE and 1100 CE, Jenné-Jeno expanded into an urban trading and craft production center. With regard to craft production, Jenné-Jeno is notable for its ironworking. Trade with adjoining regions included copper, iron, and sandstone.
Ironworking appears to have been present at Jenné-Jeno since the beginning of permanent settlement. Archaeologists have found iron and slag present in the earliest levels of the site, an indication that the first settlers knew how to manufacture iron. The ironworking technology at Jenné-Jeno appears to be indigenous rather than a technology borrowed from other areas.
With regard to ironworking, there is no apparent source of iron ore in the Niger delta area, so the ore must have been imported. The first step in ironworking is to smelt the ore. Workshops on the periphery of the Jenné-Jeno settlement were used for smelting. It may have been that the smelting process was either too secret or perhaps considered too dangerous to be done in the city itself. After smelting, the iron was brought into the city to be forged into tools, ornaments, and weapons.
In one of the blacksmith shops excavated by archaeologists there was an interesting platform about four feet high and six feet across. The platform was made from loosely laid pieces of sandstone. In the cracks and crevices of this platform, the archaeologists found what appear to have been offerings: terra cotta statuettes of human and animal forms which had been deliberately shattered and their fragments placed within the crevices. It appears to have been a sacred and/or ceremonial area within the workshop.
Shown above are examples of the terracotta figurines found at Jenné-Jeno.
Ethnographic parallels from Africa suggest that the blacksmiths at Jenné-Jenno may have also functioned in ceremonial roles as diviners and healers. It was perhaps the blacksmiths who performed the ceremonial circumcisions. They may also have been called upon to conduct ceremonies to bring the rains.
There is also evidence that the people living at Jenné-Jeno also imported copper, salt, beads, and stone grinders. Since the Niger floodplain was well-suited for farming, this meant that the people had a surplus of rice and millet which they could export. In addition they exported smoked meats, fish, and fish oils. Archaeologists consider Jenné-Jeno to have been one of the largest trading hubs in ancient West Africa. As a commercial trading center, the city was linked by the navigable Niger River to Timbuktu.
By 800 CE, Jenné-Jeno exhibited a great deal of local craft specialization and archaeologists generally consider the site to be urban at this time. At this time, the walled community covered 82 acres and had a population of 27,000.
Archaeologists often associate urbanism with social stratification and centralized authority. Jenné-Jeno, however, does not exhibit any evidence of a social hierarchy—there is no material evidence that some people had greater wealth or power than other people—nor is there any evidence of a centralized political authority.
Between 750 and 1000 CE, there are some changes in the architecture of Jenné-Jeno. Previously houses had been built using puddled mud. They were now replaced by a new, innovative cylindrical-brick architecture. The changes appear to be an indigenous innovation rather than one which diffused in from other regions. During this time there is a continuity in the pottery and in the general structural layout of the houses, so it does not appear that the architectural change was brought about by an immigrant group or groups.
By 1468, Jenné-Jeno was abandoned. The abandonment was not sudden, but seems to be the end result of a gradual population shift which may have been caused by the drying of the region and/or the intrusion of Islam. The gradual abandonment of the site began about 1200.