Tondidarou

Tondidarou is a small town and megalithic archaeological site in Niafunké Cercle, Timbuktu Region, Mali, northwest of Niafunké, about 150 kilometres south-west of Timbuktu.[1] The site, located on the eastern bank of Lac Tagadji, was discovered by Jules Brévié in 1904 and is said to be "defined by three groups of stone megaliths", monoliths which are a "remarkable collection of phalliform stone monuments."[2][3] Ancient Egypt in Africa refers to the site as "Diop's 'Egypt-influenced' phalliform stone circle of Tondidarou".[4] Eugene Maes was the first to seriously document the stones at Tondidarou in 1924.[5] It was extensively excavated in around 1980.[6] The site is dated to 670 - 790 AD.

Tondidarou
Town
Tondidarou Location in Mali
Coordinates: 16°0′43″N 4°06′52″W
Country	Mali
Region	Tombouctou Region
Cercle	Niafunké
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)

References

1. Mokhtar, G. (1981). General History of Africa: Ancient civilizations of Africa. UNESCO. p. 523. ISBN 978-92-3-101708-7. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
2. Sottas, Beat (1997). Forum suisse des africanistes. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 69. ISBN 978-3-8258-3506-4. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
3. Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1981). General History of Africa: Methodology and African prehistory. UNESCO. p. 630. ISBN 978-92-3-101707-0. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
4. O'Connor, David; Reid, Andrew (August 2003). Ancient Egypt in Africa. Cavendish Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-84314-758-9. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
5. Smithsonian Institution. Libraries. National Museum of African Art Branch (1989). The arts of Africa: an annotated bibliography. African Studies Association. p. 128. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
6. Fage, J. D. (1 February 1979). The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050. Cambridge University Press. p. 341. ISBN 978-0-521-21592-3. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

Further reading

• Saliege, JF, Person, A., Barry, I. and Fontes, P. (1980) 'Premieres datations de tumulus pre- islamiques au Mali: site mcgalithiquc de Tondidarou', Comptes rendus de /' Academic des Sciences, 291 (D), 12, pp. 981–4.