Heis (town)

Heis (Somali: Xiis) is a historic coastal town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland.[1].[2] The settlement is inhabited by the Habr Je'lo sub-clan of the Isaaq.[3]

Heis

Xiis
Town
Heis
Location in Somaliland.
Coordinates: 10°53′47″N 46°55′16″E
Country Somaliland
RegionSanaag
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)

History

The site said to be identical with the ancient trading post of Mundus (Μούνδος in Ancient Greek) that is described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, an anonymous account by a Greek Alexandrian salesman from the 1st century CE.[4]

"Two days' sail, or three, beyond Malao is the market-town of Mundus, where the ships lie at anchor more safely behind a projecting island close to the shore. There are imported into this place the things previously set forth, and from it likewise are exported the merchandise already stated, and the incense called mocrotu. And the traders living here are more quarrelsome."

— Chap.9.[5]

A large collection of cairns of various types lie near the city.[6] Excavations here have yielded pottery and sherds of Roman glassware from a time between the 1st and 5th centuries.[7][4] Among these artefacts is high-quality millefiori glass.[6] Dated to 0-40 CE, it features red flower disks superimposed on a green background.[8] Additionally, an ancient fragment of a footed bowl was discovered in the surrounding area. The sherd is believed to have been made in Aswan (300-500 CE) or Lower Nubia (500-600 CE), suggesting early trading ties with kingdoms in the Nile Valley.[9]

Notes
  1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-015-9184-9
  2. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/nortafristud.18.1-2.0271?seq=1
  3. The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Volume 19, p. 63, 1848
  4. "Mundu" (in German). University of Bern. Archived from the original on 2007-08-15.
  5. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Schoff's 1912 translation
  6. Newsletter of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in America, Issues 8-13. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. 1976. p. 5. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  7. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
  8. Meyer, Carol (1992). Glass from Quseir Al-Qadim and the Indian Ocean Trade, Issue 53. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. p. 37. ISBN 0918986877. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  9. Hatke, George (2013). Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa. NYU Press. p. 152. ISBN 0814762832. Retrieved 16 September 2014.

References
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