The abandoned town of Handoga in southern Djibouti covers an area of about 600 m north-to-south and 300 m east-to-west, and is located about 13 km from the border with Ethiopia. Archaeological investigations have suggested that the site was initially used in the twelfth century as an occasional campsite by nomadic herders passing through the region, becoming a permanent settlement in the thirteenth century, from when it evolved into a town, with buildings with stone-built lower portions and wattle-and-daub upper portions coming to replace earlier temporary structures. The town was abruptly abandoned in the sixteenth century, with no sign of any violent upheaval preceding this event. As well as dwellings, the town had a range of open spaces which may have been squares, junctions of streets, or other public spaces, as well as two mosques, both at the northern end of the settlement, and a cemetery, at its southern end.
In a paper published in the journal World Archaeology on 30 September 2024, Jorge de Torres Rodríguez of the Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio in Santiago de Compostela, Spain;, and Valeria Franco Salvi of the Instituto de Humanidades at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina present the results of an analysis of grinding stones recovered from C-6000, the first structure at the northern end of Handoga to be the subject of archaeological investigations.
Location of Handoga in the Horn of Africa. De Torres Rodríguez & Salvi (2024).
The C-6000 site comprises two circular stone structures, linked by a series of walls enclosing a central open area, interpreted as having been used for food preparation and other domestic activities. The remains unearthed within this area resemble those found within courtyards excavated towards the southern end of the settlement, with two notable exceptions. Firstly, the site has yielded a quantity of well-preserved charred fruits, seeds, and wood fragments, which are currently under study, and which it is hoped will yield radiocarbon dates which will enable a chronology of the site to be built up. Secondly, excavations at the site have produced 88 fragments of grinding stone stones of different types, the largest collection of such stones not just from Handoga, but from any medieval Islamic site excavated to date, providing a rare opportunity to analyse how these objects were made and used, and any changes in their use over time.
Compound C-600 with main rooms and areas. De Torres Rodríguez & Salvi (2024).
Grinding stones were found across the site, with roughly two thirds coming from collapse layers, while about one third were found on original occupation layers. Grinding stones were found in all areas, with 47% coming from Room A, identified as the principal occupation site, 11% from Room B, identified as a storage area, and 34% from the central area. The stones can be split into two types, passive grinding stones, upon which grains would have been ground, and handstones, which would have been used to grind grains upon the grinding stones. Of the two, passive grinding stones are more common (55, compared to 33 handstones).
Handstones (upper rows) and one of the passive grinding stones (bottom) found at C-6000. De Torres Rodríguez & Salvi (2024).
Many of the passive grinding stones were highly fragmented, with 17 deemed intact enough for study. All were made from a vesicular-textured basalt, which probably came from an outcrop about 500 m from the settlement. Such a rock would have been ideal for grinding dehydrated or floury products, as it would be relatively easy to clean, and would have maintained a rough surface through use. These grinding stones appear to have been made from nodules or similar, with most made from approximately spherical or approximately cylindrical pieces of rock, with minimal shaping to achieve the desired shape. Despite the fragmentary nature of the grinding stones. about 60% still weighed between 2 kg and 5 kg, with the remaining 40% weighing under 2 kg. Twelve of the grinding stones are thought to have been portable, while the remaining five would have been large objects, presumably immobile during their working lives. The average grinding surface of these stones is 373 cm², with the largest having a surface area of 495 cm².
(1) Outcrop where the material for grinding stones was likely collected. (2) Compound C-6000. De Torres Rodríguez & Salvi (2024).
A much lower number of handstones (32) were recovered, these being largely fragmented, and scattered about with no sign of having been stored. They were apparently left where they lay between uses, and then abandoned once they became to worn for use. Few showed any signs of maintenance during use, and none of any attempts to prolong their lives. Many of the handstones had been worn-down to the point of uselessness. The often had two wear-facets, showing their users had attempted to gain the maximum utility from them. All the handstones weighed less than 1 kg, with about 40% weighing less than 500 g. The handstones were made from rock which could be collected from within less than a kilometre, with the majority being made from basalt, although granite examples were also present, and one was made from quartzite.
While there appears to have been some variation in the way in which grinding stones were made and used at Handoga, the defining feature that appears to link all of them is an apparent lack of care. Only a minimal amount of work appears to have been put into modifying stones from their natural state to make them into tools, and little investment in their upkeep has been made during their lifetimes. There was no apparent standardized way to make these tools, which suggests that they were not manufactured by specialist craftspeople.
One consistent pattern which can be seen throughout the sample is the division into handstones and passive grinding stones, with grinding stones being larger and made from a single material, vesicular basalt, while handstones are smaller and made from denser and smoother material, with more variation in the selection of that material. A similar pattern has been seen at sites in Cameroon and Mali. There was also a difference in the distribution of these two elements, although the significance of this is unclear.
Large passive grinding stone found during a survey in Handoga. De Torres Rodríguez & Salvi (2024).
De Torres Rodríguez and Salvi suggest that this apparent lack of importance placed upon the manufacture and conservation of grinding stones suggests that these objects were not particularly valued by the people of Handoga. They further suggest that this lack of importance has implications for how we understand the settlement itself. Handoga was initially interpreted as an agricultural settlement, likely deriving water from the nearby Wadi Chekheiti, and trading Sorghum and Millet with the surrounding nomadic groups. However, no archaeobotanical studies have been carried out at Handoga, so there has been no evidence to date to either support or counter this hypothesis.
In agricultural societies, grinding stones are typically high value items, of considerable economic significance, whereas at Handoga they appear to have been poorly valued, and used within domestic settings. This leads de Torres Rodríguez and Salvi to conclude that while agriculture was probably caried out at Handoga, it was likely a low-status activity, not having the same prestige as traditional nomadic activities such as herding and trade.
This in turn has implications for the history of Handoga. The settlement appears to have been initially used on a temporary camp by nomads in the twelfth century, gradually becoming more permanent, and transitioning to a town with stone buildings sometime in the fourteenth century. De Torres Rodríguez and Salvi reason that the low importance given to the processing of agricultural products suggests that despite becoming a permanent settlement, Handoga never really lost it's nomadic emphasis, something which is also reflected in the design of its buildings.
This in turn helps to explain why Handoga was abandoned so easily in the mid-sixteenth century. During the sixteenth century the Sultanate of Barr Saʿd al-Dīn, which ruled over much of the Red Sea coast of the Horn of Africa, collapsed following a series of disastrous wars with Abyssinia, severely disrupting trade routes, and causing many settlements to be abandoned. For peoples who had become truly sedentary in nature, this would have been a difficult process, either abandoning practices such as agriculture and having to relearn nomadic ways or relocate to other settlements, possibly some distance away. However, if the inhabitants of Handoga had retained an essentially nomadic nature with their main income deriving from pastoralism, the abandonment of the town may have been a less painful process than for more settled communities.
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