Tegdaoust (Aoudaghost)
Aoudaghost · Awdaghust · Tagdawest · Ghaydam Body?
Medieval Ghana Empire (Wagadu) / Almoravid (7th–17th c; peak 10th–13th c)·Soninke (Wagadu) / Sanhaja Berber·🇲🇷 Hodh Ech Chargui, Mauritania
About
About Tegdaoust (Aoudaghost)
GHANA EMPIRE (Wagadu) southern entrepôt identified controversially as Arab geographers' 'Awdaghust', controlled gold from Bambuk-Bure reaching Sijilmasa. 12 ha stone-walled town in Tagant foothills with 5,000 population peak, artisan quarters: copper crucibles, gold weighing, glass beads, cowries, painted pottery. Excavated by Jean Devisse: four-phase stone architecture with central mosque, large cisterns, and southern quarter tin-bronze. Oral Soninke tradition identifies it as Wagadu capital moved after Koumbi Saleh. Seasonal wadi occupation. Rock art in nearby hills. Population aggregated 11th–13th c then abandoned 17th c.
Why it mattersDemonstrates Wagadu urban complexity beyond Koumbi Saleh; material links Ghana–Maghreb trade system.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Identification as Awdaghust – competing sites in Mali
- 02Why stone construction in savanna not banco
Theories
- 01McIntosh Ghana Empire decentralized urban model (1998)
- 02Copper from Akjoujt via Tegdaoust confirms intra-regional metals trade
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Neolithic traces; stone town 7th–9th c foundation; Ghana Empire phase 10th–13th c; abandonment 17th c
- Period
- Medieval Ghana Empire (Wagadu) / Almoravid (7th–17th c; peak 10th–13th c)
- Culture
- Soninke (Wagadu) / Sanhaja Berber
- Builders
- Soninke Wagadu elite / Sanhaja merchants
- Purpose
- Gold–copper trans-Saharan trade control and caravan provisioning
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
Neolithic traces; stone town 7th–9th c foundation; Ghana Empire phase 10th–13th c; abandonment 17th c
Initial construction
c. 1692 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
17.4228° N · 10.4128° W · 185 m · 3 mapped features
Central Mosque
mosqueStone mosque with mihrab indicating early Islamization 11th c
17.4230° N · 10.4130° WArtisan Quarter (Copper & Beads)
workshopCluster of crucibles, bead moulds and weighing areas
17.4225° N · 10.4135° WTown Enclosure Walls
fortificationDry stone wall 2 m high ringing southern quarter
17.4228° N · 10.4128° W