The North-South relationship..Mahgreb and Sudan.

[jari]

When it comes to the Western Sudan and Mahgreb Relationship, Western Sudan was never a Docile player. As a matter of fact most of the time she was a dominant player leading the role in Trade relations and establishing some of the most detailed Trade routes in history.

Old Ghana/Walatta

Let me start with Tilchtt because its foundation goes back to the B.C era.

major trade route connected Ouadane with Oualata (Arabic: ولاته) (sometimes "Walata"), a ksar in the southeast part of the country. Oualata is believed to have been first settled by an agro-pastoral people akin to the Mandé Soninke who lived along the rocky promontories of the Tichitt-Oualata and Tagant cliffs of Mauritania. There, they built what are among the oldest stone settlements on the African continent.

The modern city was founded in the eleventh century, when it was part of the Ghana Empire. It was destroyed in 1076 but re-founded in 1224, and again became a major trading post for trans-Saharan trade and an important center of Islamic scholarship.

Oualata was a prosperous settlement, especially between the 14th and 18th centuries, such that it appeared on European maps. Trade was not its sole source of wealth; it had become a renowned intellectual center that attracted foreign students.

More about Oulata here

www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=003635


Next Old Ghana



Old Ghana was very vital and probably the first entity to have considerable control on the Sahran Trade that was vital to both the Mahgreb and Sudan in terms of prosperity and power. This Empire's power was noted even by Andaluci and other non African Geographers and Merchants

Al, Bakri, Al-Masudi and Ibn Hakwal to name a few,

Moving on lets examine how the Megreb and Sudan relationship was during Old Ghana's time..





books.google.com/books?id=iFn5bnx2OBcC&pg=PA314&dq=recovering+history+reconstructing+race&hl=


Not Only was Ghana Sophisticated, Powerful, and advance but the Empire was dominant in terms of the Mahgreb/Sudan and the Saharah. The Megrebi Berbers set up shop in Awdaghust and intermarried with Sonnike and other Sudani women they also assited the Ghana in their Wars etc.

So the relationship between Ghana and the Mahgreb was Mutual and both depended on each other.

The fact that despite the role of Islam and the fact that the king converted to Islam during the latter days of Ghana's history, her people and obviously Nobility resisted converting to Islam en masse. This speaks volumes to the Role Ghana played. You would be hard pressed to find any other Pagan Empire praised so highly by Muslims writers during this time.

[jari]

This idea plays into the myth that the North or Africa was connected to Eurasia or Arabia etc. was superior and the South was docile and primitive and eventually was invaded and subjugated by the North.

However this is simply not true as You and Al-takruir have proved that is the Almoravid invasion of Ghana is false and mythical...

www.jstor.org/pss/3171941

We do however know that the Almoravids originated around Senegal, and they incorporated Sudanis into their Armies. They also conquered Al-Andalucia as well as the Mahgreb..





So one can easily see the Almoravid conquest as a Sudani/Saharah/Berber unification and Invasion of Andalucia not Sudan.

For my evidence I provide..

1) The Almoravids wrote in the Mahgrebi Script on their Architecture rather than Andaluci. We know the Almoravids were familiar with andaluci script because the Almoravid Manuscripts found in Mauritania have some written in Andaluci.

2) The Almoravid Architecture to most Muslim Historians and Architects was "Plain" with little Decoration. This was not the case with Al Andalucia and her Architects but WAS the Case in the Mahgreb and Sudan(Ghana) where the Outer Facade are almost bare in decoration but the interior is heavily decorated.

This is seen in the Architecture of the Sonnike Builders at Oulata..

Oulata

Exterior



willdoherty.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/DSCN1135.JPG

willdoherty.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/DSCN1165.JPG


Interior



www.parallelozero.com/upload/reportage/rep.cod.218/0174_BZ_022.JPG

www.parallelozero.com/upload/reportage/rep.cod.218/0174_BZ_021.JPG

Now alot of the Almoravid architectue was destroyed by the Almohads but we can compare to Almoravid Architecture to Berber and Sudani Style with The Almoravid Koubba in Merrakesh..



Now notice the Exterior is plain..however the interior is where the decoration is..

The interior is richly decorated with floral patterns (pine cones, palms and acanthus leaves) and calligraphy. The epigraphic decoration, which covers the frames and borders, is noteworthy for the fact that the foundation inscription is the oldest inscription in cursive Maghrebi script in North Africa. Materials used are marble and cedar wood. At the entrance and at the top of the prayer room is the inscription:

I was created for science and prayer, by the prince of the believers, descendant of the prophet, Abdallah, most glorious of all Caliphs. Pray for him when you enter the door, so that you may fulfill your highest hopes.

[jari]

Cont.

The Almoravid Koubba is also influenced by Andalucian Architecture styles, yet it is not as elaborate. The Almoravid approach In my opinion shows a fusion of Mahgrebi and Sudani ideas fused with Andalucian styles and ideas.

To get a better understanding Ill present the kasbah and Ksour, or fortefied towns of Morocco and Mali etc.

The kasbah and Ksar are Adobe style architecture of the Berbers or Morocco. This Style is one of the best examples of Berber Architecture style..

Some Examples..









Another Berber architecture style the Tighremt

High Atlas region Morocco



Draa Valley







Notice the Plain exterior and compare it to the Almoravid Koubba, also notice the subtle influence of Sonnoki and other Sudani style of Oulata etc.

More about these beautiful Amazigh styles here..

www.motortravel.com/atlas-kasbah-morocco.php

Good Website..

www.assarag.net/assarag_swhighatlas.html#portfolio/Morocco-High-Atlas-Timkatti-Berber-village-c-Bart-Deseyn.jpg

[jari]

Now that I introduced the Amazigh style of the Tighremt and Ksar of the Amazigh or Morocco let me show you how Sudani Architects were inspired by this African Berber style...

From Jenne..











As you can see both the Sudani and Magreb influenced each other. This style of architecture is unique to the Western region of Africa and was reflected in Almoravid architecture.

[jari]

Originally posted by alTakruri:
[QB]

Originally posted by dana marniche:


Sanhaja general Abu Bakr of the Almoravids

Thanks for the zoomed and lighter background crop
from Mecia de Viladestes, in 1413, on his portolan
(likely an update to Abraham Cresques' 1375 one)
identifying Rex Bubeder i.e., Abu Bakr famed amir
of the 11th c. Sanhadja confederacy in the Sahara.



[/QB]

[jari]

[Originally posted by Doug M:]
[QB] on the subject of the North South relationship another example of that relationship in terms of trade and culture is the ivory trade.

It is the hardest of all organic materials, and yet, with relative ease, ivory can be sawn, drilled, filed, scraped, buffed to a high polish and even inlaid with glass, stone or gems. Its great density invites carving and engraving of the most meticulous order, and the results are luminous, even at times translucent. Adding to its allure, ivory can feel warm to the touch.

For these reasons, ivory has been prized since the earliest times and in many lands. Objects of ivory filled the ancient treasuries of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Assyrian annals list ivory beds, couches, chairs and tables among the booty brought back from Nimrud. Egyptians worked ivory into jewelry and game pieces, and the treasure found in Tutankhamun's tomb included a carved ivory headrest unique in Egyptian art—as well as a wooden chest whose ivory panels display almost every carving technique known today. And adding to its value, there was always only one source for the precious material: elephants, whose homes in Africa and India lay weeks' or months' difficult distance from royal workshops.

The Arab conquest of North Africa in the late seventh century apparently disrupted an otherwise fairly steady ivory trade in that region, but in the ninth century the Aghlabid rulers of Tunisia reopened the trans-Saharan trade routes. Rulers of Byzantium and southern Europe began to commission splendid ivory book covers, portable ivory altars and icons. Their Muslim contemporaries in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) produced work of no less splendor: From them have come to us a group of some 30 boxes, all made within the 100 years between 950 and 1050; they are some of the finest of all the ivories of the Middle Ages.

www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200105/the.ivories.of.al-andalus.htm

African ivory was in strong demand during the early Islamic era in Africa. But part of the problem with the history of this period is the fact that it is distorted by faulty scholarship and historical bias. For example, it is often overemphasized how much flowed from Islamic invaders into Africa, when in fact it was the Muslims who received a significant amount of influence from local African traditions in as much as they brought themselves. And it must also be remembered that many great fortunes were amassed by the Africans due to this trade across the Sahara in many different precious goods. Ivory is but one, but salt, leather, steel, gold and all sorts of other commodities were traded, including camels. Indigo products were also in wide demand, especially by the Nomadic tribes of the desert.

Unfortunately the extent and history of textile production in West Africa is one dominated by limited archaeological finds that don't go back much past 1100 AD (tellem textiles), but of course we know textiles in west Africa are much older than that.

Another example of the extent and age of trade between northern and southern regions is seen below:

Ancient copper jewellery and ingots in sub-Saharan Africa have been found to bear the unique signature of copper ore from Morocco. This strongly suggests that trans-Saharan trade began hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

Caravans of thousands of camels laden with packages once crossed the desert, bringing gold north and taking goods, including copper, south.

Most historians say these trade caravans began around the eighth century. But work by Thomas Fenn now points to an earlier date.

Fenn, a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, examined old copper items from cities south of the Sahara. They included chain mail, earrings, and ingots that were traditionally strapped to the ankle for transport, in much the same way that some people stash money in their socks.

www.nature.com/news/2006/060327/full/news060327-3.html


I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I did find some old stuff from ES on this similar topic.

Here is one:
www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=004643;p=1

But looking through that thread most of the links are dead but here are some new ones focusing on culture:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7NHjPKPors&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_h1LRjsBTs&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMX-EJQ0zPQ&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7NHjPKPors&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gaDO3a2Apw&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVbF8jRGLGE&feature=related

[jari]

Doug M: The primary factor determining the flow of populations in and around Northern Africa has always been the ebb and flow of the Sahara desert.

This is True, we need to understand that the Saharah Desert which was not always dry was the incubator of many cultures in Africa. For example the Nile Valley, Nabta Playa etc. What some people don't understand is that the people from the Saharah who created Egypt, Also moved west and created places like Dar Tilctt, Oulata etc.

Dar Tilctt represents the oldest settlement in West Africa..

With its hundreds of settlements, the Tichitt Tradition is the earliest known urban-based core zone in the Western Sudan world-system. In the words of one archaeologist, its abandoned sites represent “a great wealth of rather spectacular prehistoric ruins” and “perhaps the most remarkable group of Neolithic settlements in the world”

The Settlement of Oulata dates to 4000yBP. Notice that this is the same time that folks from Nabta Playa were settling in the Nile Valley..


Some New Pics of Walata

Notice the Similarities between these and those found in the Nile Vally like Nubian and Egyptian Houses...







Some of the Designs..(Notice the Similarities between these and Designs from the Nile Valley like Egypt and Nubia..)

[jari]

Another city founded by the Trans-Sahran trade is the city of Timmimoun in Algeria. You can see clear that it has Sudani influence in its Character and Architecture..













Again this is not Mauritania or West Sudan this is in Algeria.

[jari]

More..

Older Section and Ruins in Timimoun..



img851.imageshack.us/img851/1255/1214329.jpg

img534.imageshack.us/img534/8741/494561944908eb7c80deb.jpg

National/Public Buildings...looks like they came directly from Oulata..



img833.imageshack.us/img833/8977/gourarapouillon.jpg

img35.imageshack.us/img35/2325/45685076331bc202f8feo.jpg


People of Timimoun..







farm4.staticflickr.com/3521/3952889580_e114e9b0ab_z.jpg

farm4.staticflickr.com/3462/3952114647_cc2d4e1184_z.jpg

farm4.staticflickr.com/3478/3952888956_67e944e386_b.jpg

[jari]

More, some of the people and Architecture of Niger..

A design from Niger..(Seem Familiar)










People of Niger..

[jari]

[Originally Posted by Doug M]
Very good points Jari.

In fact this influence even extends to European gothic architecture and can readily be seen in many Churches in the U.S.:

Church in Philadelphia

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChapelLTSP.JPG

Chinguetti Old Town:

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinguetti_old_town.jpg

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinguetti_Mosque

The reason for this being that many mosques and fortresses built by the muslims in Spain incorporated a style of stone, packed earth and cement architecture called Tapial. And some of these styles were also influenced by the ancient traditions of the Sahel such as Oualata and Tichitt, which use stacked stone. It is from this style that some elements of Western Gothic architecture originate.

Some videos of Moroccans creating tapial constructions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-81_QDST8g&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kl6xIHFJoE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7Vnp3VLc8&feature=autoplay&list=UL4kl6xIHFJoE&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0FKTqdVNng&feature=related


And on a Sci Fi note, the red colors of the guards for the Emirs in West Africa is probably partly the basis for the costume of the guards of the Sith Lord in the Star Wars films. Star Wars is well known to have incorporated elements of cultures and history from all over the world. And much of the filming for the first movies was done in North Africa.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Royal_Guard

[jari]

^^^^
Nice Find Doug, Some people like to dismiss "Sudano-Sahelian" style Architecture off as simply "Mud" Architecture due to the fact that it a pure Black African style and is so different in presentation than many Stone Architecture. The fact is this style is the foundation of many architecture types in North and West Africa, including Berber and Sudani architects. It makes perfect sense that this style of Architecture would find its way to Al Andalus as the Berber Almoravid and Almohads controlled Andalus and North West Africa for hundreds of years.

Some Almohad architecture not always discussed...

The Walls of Merrakesh Tapial Style



Moroccan with next to the Traditional Frame used to make Rammed Earth..Possible a descendant of the Almoravid and Almohad builders..



More Ksur styles from Southern Morocco

Ouarzarzate

[jari]

[Originally posted by Doug M:]

What is Sudanic Africa? The 10th century geographer Ishaq ibn al-Husayn offers a suitable historical starting point. He describes it thus: "The land of the Sudan, an extensive country, stretching from the Western Sea [Atlantic Ocean] to the Red Sea [is] an enormous and important land" (Levtzion and Hopkins 2000: 38). Geographically, this vast territory comprises three major ecological zones "the Sahara, and, south of it, the semi-arid Sahil and the savanna, or grasslands" and a complex of microenvironments. Africanist scholars divide the Sahil and grasslands into three macroregions: the Western Sudan (historic cores: the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys and the Senegal Valley), the Central Sudan (historic core: the Lake Chad basin), and the Eastern Sudan (historic core: the Middle Nile Valley) (see Figure 1). Associated with each macroregion are identifiable world-system formations (Wilkinson 1993a; Wilkinson 1993b; Wilkinson 1994). Established scholarly practice does not accept the Sahara as a historical and social space, hence the salience of a reified and essentialist category like "sub-Saharan Africa" in academic and popular literature. In scholarly studies of world-systems or of the Afro-Eurasian oikumene, Sudanic Africa is seldom, if ever, mentioned. The presumption of this scholarship is that nothing of consequence happened within it and that whatever organized formations it had were completely selfcontained ("isolated") and unchanging ("stagnant") (e.g., Abu-Lughod 1989; Sanderson 1995; Hall 2000). The present study contravenes conventional wisdom by including the Sahara as a historical and structural component of the Western Sudan world-system and by identifying this world-system as a historically dynamic part of the oikumene. The different networks indicate different scales of socio-spatial organization and different but overlapping functions (Chase-Dunn and Hall 1992; Chase-Dunn and Hall 1995; Chase-Dunn and Hall 1997; Hall 1996). The organization of the Western Sudan world-system depended on these interacting networks-the allocation of resources and the distribution of goods and services.

A world-system can be defined as a formation organized around stratified, i.e., hierarchical, and non-hierarchical societal interaction networks, strata, consisting of core, semi-periphery, and periphery. Intermediate territories are identified in analytically different ways: hinterland, frontier, and margin. The complexities are evident when we look at centers and peripheries of innovation and recognize frontiers of economic specialization. In developing the idea of regional world-systems, Christopher Chase-Dunn and his colleagues have identified different kinds of societal or interacting networks to account for the allocation of resources and the distribution of goods and services. They include the following: (1) bulk-goods exchange networks (BGNs); (2) political-military interaction networks (PMNs); (3) prestige-goods networks PGNs); and (4) information-cultural networks (ICNs).
....
Between Lake Chad and the Atlantic Ocean, there are about 10,000 town walls, 25% or more of them on deserted sites. They represent the largest concentration of past urban civilization in black Africa; yet only a handful [have] been surveyed. There are also about 250,000 unsurveyed tumuli, several million uncharted iron-smelting sites, and an unknown number of ancient terracotta sites, most of which have been looted. Old aerial photographs and more modern remote-sensing methodologies offer an opportunity to record much of what will otherwise soon be lost altogether ("African Legacy" n.d.)
....
The flood plain of the Middle Niger of West Africa is lined with hundreds of ancient tells rivaling those of Asia both in area and in clues to the emergence of city life. The Middle Niger is dominated by numerous monumental tumuli (McIntosh 1991: 203).
...
It is no accident that the floodplain of the Middle Niger Valley (MNV) has a concentration of tumuli. Cutting across the semi-arid Sahil, the floodplain formed a vast interior region of swamps and lakes that was fed by the Niger and Bani rivers. Six months of each year an alluvial plain of over 50,000 km2 is covered by floodwaters. Producing two crops a year, the floodplain permitted the production of vast surpluses of staple crops. These were marketed in urban settlements, supplying Saharan copper and salt mining centers and oasis towns located 500 to 1500 kilometers away.³ Deployed along trade routes, Saharan oasis and mining communities, sustained by commerce alone, were entirely dependent on the agricultural production of the MNV and SV floodplains. The interaction networks included the transportation of bulk goods (food staples, craft goods, and salt) and prestige goods (gold, copper, and semi-precious stones). The sheer scale of the visible archaeology is a striking indication of the magnitude and density of exchange networks Bulk Good Networks and Prestige Goods Networks and the expanding capacity of the world-system’s regimes of accumulation over the longue durée (Connah 2001: 112, 142; cf. Hadj-Sadok 1968; Levtzion and Hopkins 2000, passim).
...
The historical importance of the Tichitt-Tagant complex and the Mema district derives from the development of the Ghana/Wagadu state organization in the area, probably between the 2nd century b.c. and the 2nd century a.d. Together with the Hodh and Awkar districts, they formed the kingdom’s heartland for more than a thousand years (see Figure 7) (cf. Robert-Chaleix 1989: 264). With a few exceptions, the first millennium a.d. was a time of fairly continuous and occasionally dramatic expansion-cultural, demographic, political, and economic-in the Ghana/Wagadu system. Expansion was tied to the military and political consolidation of the system in its struggles with the Kawkaw/Gao formation, on the one hand, and the Anbiya/Sanhaja formation in the WS, on the other.

According to the astronomer al-Fazari, a late 8th century source, the administration of Ghana/Wagadu was 2,000 kilometers long and 160 kilometers wide. It was a place of great riches. Al-Fazari calls it "the land of gold." The encyclopaedist and geographer al-Hamdani (d. 945) states that "the richest gold mine on earth is that of Ghana in the land of the Maghrib." The geographer and traveler ibn Hawqal (fl. 960s,80s) has the following observation. "Ghana is the wealthiest king on the face of the earth because of his treasures and stocks of gold extracted in olden times for his predecessors and himself" (Pingree 1970:117; Levtzion and Hopkins 2000: 29, 49; also Blanchard 2001). It is worth pointing out that from the 10th century al-Andalus had its wealth and presence as a terminus, or end point, of gold routes from the Western Sudan world-system. The cities of Andalusia were, in effect, something like (northern) port cities for the world-system’s PGNs (Glick 1979: 20, 49, 50, 70, 125, 129; Vallées du Niger 1993 passim; Spufford 1993: 164, 166-67). The gold came from Upper Niger and Upper Senegal Valley mining communities, which functioned as periphery formations within the world-system before the 13th century.

www.jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol10/number3/pdf/jwsr-v10n3-kea.pdf (PDF file)


Also, one other thing that happens a lot in African archaeology is Europeans stealing and selling artifacts for private collections or museums.

www.paleodirect.com/pgset2/cap098.htm


Some more cultural references (funny troubadors from Marrakesh):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVY2AcDxf6k&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FiZN_COuyM&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdOs5a6FQ-M&feature=related

[jari]

[originally posted by Doug M]Real-life "castles in the sand" made by an ancient culture have been revealed in the Sahara, archaeologists say.

New satellite photographs show more than a hundred fortress settlements from a "lost" civilization in southwestern Libya.

The communities, which date to between about A.D. 1 and 500, belonged to an advanced but mysterious people called the Garamantes, who ruled from roughly the second century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.

Researchers uncovered the Garamantes' walled towns, villages, and farms after poring over modern satellite images—including high-resolution pictures used by the oil industry—as well as aerial photos taken during the 1950s and 1960s. (See pictures of Libya's remote Sahara.)

Located about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tripoli, the fortresses were confirmed based on Garamantes pottery samples collected during an early-2011 expedition. That field trip was cut short by the civil war that would end the 42-year regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

"We were astonished to see the level of preservation" of the ancient mud-brick compounds, said project leader David Mattingly, of the U.K.'s University of Leicester.

"Although the walls of these sites have slumped a little bit, mainly due to wind erosion, they are still standing 3 to 4 meters [10 to 13 feet] high in places," he said.
[/QUOTE] news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111111-sahara-libya-lost-civilization-science-satellites/

Note these were found in South West Libya which again reinforces the relationship between the Sahel/Sahara and the Nile Valley and Sudan. This area was one of the primary corridors for movements back and forth between the Nile Valley and the Sahara over the span of many thousands of years partly driven by the expansion and contraction of the Sahara. And of course, in terms of military and cultural relationships, I would argue that the chariots of the Garamantes owe much to the ancient Egyptian and Sudanic empires which were contemporary.

[jari]

Nice post Doug on the Garamantes. Some photos from your link..





Notice the similarities between the Garamante Fortress and the Nile Valley buildings such as the Deffufa in Sudan and the Pyramids in Egypt.

Some more info on the Garamantes..

Garamante Pottery

As such, it is interesting to note that the incised open triangle pattern (IN1b) of the Classical Garamantian phase closely resembles a decoration applied to the shoulder of a jar from site BT5 in the Egyptian Western Desert, dated to the Islamic period53, also common in the Berber pottery tradition.

More

Interesting to note is the quite strong resemblance, in the use of decorative techniques and patterns, with pottery from the Inland Niger Delta sites of Jenne-Jeno, Hambarketolo and Kaniana, dated from 250 BC to 350 AD56, presenting a cord-stick roulette decoration on the body in combination with a painted cross- hatch pattern on the rim band. Although the shape is different, this kind of decoration is very similar to a Classical-Late Garamantian example found at Aghram Nadharif cemetery (fig. 3), and to a contemporary one found at Jarma G157. To note, the date of the exemplars from the two regions seems to coincide.
Late Neolithic, Iron Age and Me- dieval pottery from the south-western Niger58 have many affinities with our col- lection as well. The oldest, mainly sharing globular shapes and roulette decorations, sometimes combined with incisions, are noticed in the In Gall region. The youngest include globular jars with high neck and a roulette decoration confined on the shoulder and handled pots. The globular jar with roulette decoration, dated to 1560-1375 BP at site Tunté, is very similar to examples found at Agrham Nadharif and dated to the Classical and Late Garamantian phases. The date for the handled pots, of 565 BP at Tiguezefen59, seems to confirm a late and even post-Garamantian chronological association for our containers. Confirmation is coming also from Azelik-Takadda, a medieval town of the Songhai Empire in the In Gall - Tegidda-n-Tesemt region in Niger60 where incised handled pots have equal late dates.
However, at present the most closely related examples were found in Chad. Roulette impressed sherds, one clearly belonging to a globular necked jar, and others presenting incised lines in combination with the roulette, come from the Angamma escarpment in the Borkou region61. Also noteworthy is the presence in the same area of Iron Age painted pottery which presents cross-hatch motifs62, similar in some respects to the Garamantian ones. A Nubian connection was proposed for the pottery from Chad but it is hard to confirm at the current state of knowledge. The location of this Chadian evidence along the caravan road connecting central Sahara with Sudan (Meroe) reinforces the possibility that the local ceramic production was influenced from both sides.

and..

To conclude, the Garamantian ceramic tradition is in some way part of the West African tradition, which, during the Iron Age, spread eastwards to include regions as far away as Chad, and northwards to include the central Sahara65. The influences from the Roman world clearly do not touch the local pottery production.

Evidence pretty much confirms that the Berber Garamante Kingdom was a product of the Saharah and was part of a culture that included Jenne, Oulata and Nubia/Egypt and nothing to do with Classical European culture of the Mediteranian..