Ma'adin Ijafen is an archaeological site in an area of

dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

in the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

in eastern

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. It was first discovered in the early 1960s by the French explorer

Théodore Monod Théodore André Monod (9 April 1902 – 22 November 2000) was a French naturalist, humanist, scholar and explorer. Exploration Monod was educated at École alsacienne and obtained a doctorate in science from Sorbonne University in 1922.

. Monod followed up on information provided by local hunters, searching for evidence to confirm the magnitude of the historical trans-Saharan

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

trade. into the desert, he located bundles of

cowrie shells Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used wo ...

and

ingots An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sh ...

of brass wrapped in ropes and matting and hidden in the sand. The site was originally thought to be the site of a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

wreck, but Monod believed that the valuables had been hidden intentionally, either by the travelers seeking to prevent a bandit attack or by bandits hoping to retrieve the items later. It is unclear where the caravan originated from, or what prevented the treasure from being retrieved.

Analysis

All told, Monod recovered 2,085 brass ingots of approximately in length, weighing up to each. They were tied up in bundles of 100 ingots each. He believed that each camel in a caravan could carry four bundles, or all together. The entire hoard weighed approximately two tons. Analysis of the ingots indicates that they are a brass alloy of approximately 80% copper with 20% zinc. They have been dated to approximately the 11th–12th centuries CE. Analysis of the lead isotopes in two of the ingots found that the metal in the ingots was consistent with ore from

northwest Europe Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern Europe, Northern and Western Europe. The term is used in geographic, history, and military contexts. Geographic definitions Geography, Geo ...

, indicating that the metal had possibly come to Africa from Europe. The cowrie shells have been subject to much less inspection than the ingots, but are presumed to have originated in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

References

{{coord missing, Mauritania Archaeological sites in Mauritania Archaeological sites of Western Africa

Analysis

Further reading

References