Section: Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Variable: communal building (All coded records)
This code distinguishes between settlements that consist of only private households (code 'absent') and settlements where there are communal buildings which could be used for a variety of uses (code 'present').  
communal building
#  Polity  Coded Value Tags Year(s) Edit Desc
1 La Mula-Sarigua absent Inferred -
-
2 Monagrillo absent Inferred -
-
3 Middle and Late Nok absent Inferred -

4 Middle and Late Nok absent Inferred -
NO_DESCRIPTION
5 West Burkina Faso Yellow I absent Confident -
From the Seshat Codebook: "This code distinguishes between settlements that consist of only private households (code ’absent’) and settlements where there are communal buildings which could be used for a variety of uses (code ’present’)." Based on this, this variable should be coded "absent", because people in the region at this time lived in independent homesteads. ”The community [of Kirikongo] was founded by a single house (Mound 4) c. ad 100 (Yellow I), as part of a regional expansion of farming peoples in small homesteads in western Burkina Faso. A true village emerged with the establishment of a second house (Mound 1) c. ad 450, and by the end of the first millennium ad the community had expanded to six houses. At first, these were economically generalized houses (potting, iron metallurgy, farming and herding) settled distantly apart with direct access to farming land that appear to have exercised some autonomy." [1]

[1]: (Dueppen 2015: 21-22)


6 West Burkina Faso Red I absent Inferred -
"The first nondomestic structures identified at Kirikongo are found from Red II and Red III on the peak of Mound 4. This multistory complex has formal similarities to a Bwa ancestor house, which today when associated with the founding house is a sacrificial shrine to the village ancestors, the meeting place for the village council, and maintained by the village headman. Given the presence of these ritual structures, cross-cutting communal activities, and a communally focused built environment, it is possible that an institution similar to the village Do was in existence." [1]

[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 31)


7 Macedonian Empire present Confident -
-
8 Grand Principality of Moscow, Rurikid Dynasty present Confident -
-
9 Kievan Rus present Confident -
-
10 Almoravids present Confident -
-
11 Avar Khaganate present Confident -
-
12 Axum II present Confident -
-
13 Axum III present Confident -
-
14 Bagan present Confident -
-
15 Banu Ghaniya present Confident -
-
16 Bulgaria - Early present Confident -
-
17 Bulgaria - Middle present Confident -
-
18 Chu Kingdom - Spring and Autumn Period present Inferred -
-
19 Chu Kingdom - Warring States Period present Inferred -
-
20 Crimean Khanate present Confident -
-
21 Ghaznavid Empire present Confident -
-
22 Idrisids present Confident -
-
23 Jayarid Khanate present Inferred -
-
24 Kangju present Confident -
-
25 Kazan Khanate present Confident -
-
26 Kingdom of Congo present Confident -
-
27 Kingdom of Georgia II present Confident -
-
28 Lakhmid Kigdom present Confident -
-
29 Later Qin Kingdom present Confident -
-
30 Later Yan Kingdom present Confident -
-
31 Makuria Kingdom I present Confident -
-
32 Makuria Kingdom II present Confident -
-
33 Makuria Kingdom III present Confident -
-
34 Malacca Sultanate present Confident -
-
35 Malacca Sultanate present Confident -
-
36 Mauretania present Confident -
-
37 Median Persian Empire present Confident -
-
38 Monte Alban V Early Postclassic present Confident -
-
39 Monte Alban V Late Postclassic present Confident -
-
40 Novgorod Land present Confident -
-
41 Numidia present Confident -
-
42 Ottoman Empire Late Period present Confident -
-
43 Songhai Empire present Confident -
-
44 Southern Qi State present Confident -
-
45 Sukhotai present Confident -
-
46 Tahert present Confident -
-
47 Third Scythian Kingdom present Confident -
-
48 Tlemcen present Confident -
-
49 Tuyuhun present Confident -
-
50 Viet Baiyu Kingdom present Confident -
-
51 Wattasid present Confident -
-
52 Xixia present Confident -
-
53 Zagwe present Confident -
-
54 Zirids present Confident -
-
55 * Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom present Confident -
- E.g. temples attached to royal funerary complexes. [Malek_Shaw 2000, pp. 90-97] EDIT
56 Plantagenet England present Confident -
Religious sites, palaces and castles, taverns and inns, universities, colleges and schools etc etc.
57 Lombard Kingdom present Confident -
Churches, chapels, cathedrals. [1]

[1]: Christie 1998: 96. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF


58 Kingdom of Sine present Confident -
Mosques. “In their heyday as royal capitals Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol) these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.” [1]

[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection


59 Austria - Habsburg Dynasty I present Confident -
Churches, taverns.
60 Golden Horde present Confident -
Mosques. Caravanserai (inns for travellers) [1]

[1]: Halperin 1987: 26. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM.


61 West Burkina Faso Red II and III present Confident -
"Specialized iron production shifted from the inhabitants of Mound 4 to those at Mound 11, and iron smelting remained set at a distance from the settlement, but now 250 m to the west of Mound 11. Red II also marks the starting point of specialized potting by the inhabitants of Mound 11, where both pottery decoration tools and kilns were excavated. [...] A significant change in spatial organization involved the merging of formerly discrete mounds into elongated pairs of contiguous mounds. By at the latest Red III (and likely Red II), structures atop mounds were organized as composite buildings, combining circular and rectangular cells to form room blocks topped with paved terraced roofs. Activities, including food preparation such as grinding, shifted to exterior unpaved surfaces. This transformation indicates the appearance of a built environment focused more on extra-household interactions, as opposed to the discrete but enclosed setting of earlier periods." [1]

[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30)


62 Kingdom of Jimma present Confident -
Mosques. Under the short reign of Abbu Bok’a construction of mosques increased. “He built many mosques, and ordered that mosques be built in each of the sixty provinces.” [1]

[1]: (Lewis 2001, 43) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection


63 Tunni Sultanate present Confident -
Regarding the Tunni Sultanate coastal town of Barawa, “The town was divided into major quarters, each with a main masjid (mosque).” [1]

[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 51) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/J8WZB6VI/collection


64 Ajuran Sultanate present Confident -
Mosques and religious structures were particularly plentiful in Marka, “Marka was the home of a number of revered Shiekhs, including the Afarta Aw Usman (‘the four famous Sheikhs named Osman’): Aw Usman Markayale, who is not only venerated in Marka but also has a mosque named after him with a small underground chamber that, according to popular belief, formed part of a corridor that led directly to the Ka’ba in the holy city of Makkah.” [1]

[1]: (Mukhtar 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Ajuran Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5U3NQRMR/library


65 Pandya Dynasty present Confident -
Temple. “Known locally as Vettuvankoli, this temple was excavated from live rock probably during the reign of Varugana I, one of the great kings of the Pandya dynasty, who ruled from 765 until 815.” [1]

[1]: (Pal 1988, 259) Pal, Pratapadiya. 1988. Indian Sculpture: 700-1800 Vol. 2. Berkeley: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/GI668E2K/collection


66 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II present Confident Expert -
The traditional Russian "banya" or bathhouse. These communal bathhouses played a significant role in Russian society, especially in rural areas, and date back to well before 1776.

The key aspects of a traditional Russian banya are:

Social Gathering Space: Banyas were not just places for washing; they were significant social centers where people of all classes mingled. It was common for villagers to gather in the banya to relax, discuss community matters, and engage in social activities.

Health and Hygiene: Banyas were critical for the hygiene and health of the population, particularly in times when private bathing facilities were rare.

Cultural Importance: The banya has deep cultural roots in Russian tradition, often associated with various rituals and customs. [1]

[1]: “История Сандунов,” accessed December 13, 2023, https://msk.sanduny.ru/ru/about/history. Zotero link: PPUFD8ZV


67 Habr Yunis present Confident -
Mosques. The population numbers are an approximation and do not represent a definitive number. “The dimensions of Zeila Burton compares to Suez, sufficient to hold a few thousand inhabitants, and provided with six mosques, a dozen large white-washed stone houses, and two hundred or more thatched mud – and-wattle huts. The ancient wall of coral rubble and mud defending the town was no longer fortified with guns, and in many places had become dilapidated. Drinking water had to be fetched from wells four miles from the town. Yet trade was thriving: to the north caravans plied the Danakil country, while to the west the lands of the ‘Ise and Gadabursi clans were traversed as far as Harar, and beyond Harar to the Gurage country in Abyssinia. The main exports were slaves, ivory hides, horns, ghee, and guns. On the coast itself Arab divers were active collecting sponge cones and provisions were cheap.” [1]

[1]: (Lewis 2002, 34) Lewis, Ioan M. 2002. A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa. Athens: Ohio University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KHB7VSJK/collection


68 Sultanate of Geledi present Confident -
Mosques. “There are a large number of mosques in Afgoi, and at least one in all but the tiniest villages.” [1]

[1]: (Luling 1971, 162) Luling, Virginia. 1971. The Social Structure of Southern Somali Tribes. (Thesis). University of London (University College London). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/5BTAQ3DM/collection


69 Harla Kingdom present Confident -
“The presence of Muslims at Harlaa is attested by a mosque, which was partially excavated. The stone built structure measured 970 cm length by 700 cm width and was radio carbon dated to Cal AD 1155-122.” [1]

[1]: (Insoll 2017, 209) Insoll, Timothy. 2017. ‘First Footsteps in Archaeology of Harar, Ethiopia’. Journal of Islamic Archaeology. Vol 4:2. Pp 189-215. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VQ38B374/collection


70 Hadiya Sultanate present Confident -
Churches. “In the 1520s, Emperor Lebna Dengel led an expedition to Hadeya and ordered the construction of many churches and monasteries.” [1]

[1]: (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 200) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/29MS79PA/collection


71 Ifat Sultanate present Confident -
Mosques would have been communal buildings in the Ifat Sultanate. French archaeologists discovered mosques that date back to the Ifat period at the site of Nora in Ethiopia. “The excavation confirmed the urban character of the Nora site and made it possible to document on an archaeological plan, structures with a religious function (two mosques partially excavated, including the Friday mosques, among the mosques found) housing sectors, several outdoor spaces, as well as a funeral area.” [1]

[1]: (Fauvelle et al. 2017, 239-295) Fauvelle, François-Xavier et al. 2007. “The Sultanate of Awfāt, its Capital and the Necropolis of the Walasma”, Annales Islamologiques. Vol. 51. Pp 239-295. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HJCMAMX7/library


72 Majeerteen Sultanate present Confident -
Mosques. “The Majerteen Sultan professed Sunni Islam and adherence to the Shafi’i branch of Sunni Islamic law. They sponsored madrasas, built mosques, encouraged prayer and pilgrimage, and undertook many of the other obligations of Muslim rulers.” [1]

[1]: (Smith 2021, 43) Smith, Nicholas W.S. 2021. Colonial Chaos in the Southern Red Sea: A History of Violence from 1830 to the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/K6HVJ7X4/collection


73 Funj Sultanate present Confident -
Mosques. “The Funj capital was at Sennar, perhaps from the time of Rubat, who reigned from 1616-17 to 1644-5 and founded the mosque there.” [1]

[1]: (Holt 2008, 42) Holt, P.M. 2008. ‘Egypt, the Funj and Darfur’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c.1790. Edited by Richard Grey. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/WC9FQBRM/collection


74 Emirate of Harar present Confident -
Mosques. “Harar is Ethiopia’s eleventh largest city and Islam’s fourth holiest town after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem and, during the 17th and 18th centuries was an important center of Islamic scholarship and at one point had 99 mosques.” [1]

[1]: (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 207) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/29MS79PA/collection


75 Early Sultanate of Aussa present Confident -
Mosques. “Five hundred years later, when visited by Richard Burton, Zeila was much smaller, containing only a dozen stone houses and approximately 200 thatched ones, alongside six mosques and a saint’s tomb, the whole surrounded by a coral and rubble wall with five gates. It was still a centre of caravan trade to the interior as well as functioning as the port for the sultanate of Aussa, Harar and the whole of southern Ethiopia.” [1]

[1]: (Insoll 2003, 59-61) Insoll, Timothy. 2003. The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/KXWC265V/collection


76 Kingdom of Saloum present Confident -
Mosques. “In their heyday as royal capitals [Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol)] these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.” [1]

[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection


77 Kingdom of Baol present Confident -
Mosques. “In their heyday as royal capitals [Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol)] these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.” [1]

[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection


78 Early Cholas present Confident -
Temples. “Senganan [Kochchenganan], the Chola king famed in legends for his devotion to Siva figures as the victor in battle of Por against the Chera Kanaikkal Irumporai. The Chera king was imprisoned and later released. Senganan Chola is said to have built 70 fine temples of Shiva.” [1]

[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 350) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection


79 Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom present Confident -
Temples. “Five temples attached to the Devasthanam in Thanjavur palace are dedicated to Krsna. They are (1) Navanita Krsna (2) Bhuloga Krsna (3)Mannarswami (4) Madanagopalaswami (5)Venugopalaswami. All of them seem to have come up during the rule of the Nayaks of Thanjavur and the Mahrattas from the 16th century onwards.” [1]

[1]: (Padmaja 2002, 96) Padmaja, T. 2002. Temples of Krsna in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnadu. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5MFKBQ9E/collection


80 Early Pandyas present Confident -
Temples. “Tirucendur, south of the Tambraparani delta, has a well known temple of Murukan, said in myths to protect the Pandyas from incursions from the sea.” [1]

[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 359) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection


81 Carnatic Sultanate present Confident -
Mosques and temples. “The Navaiyat dynasty came to power when Saadutullah Khan was appointed subadhar, or chief of military and revenue officer of the newly established Mughal subah of Arcot in 1710. The Navaiyats, wanting to take advantage of the relative weakness of the links to the Mughal centre, and wanting to carve out an independent dynastic rule for themselves, quickly fell into the traditional pattern of empire-building. They extended existing citadels like Vellore and Gingee by ‘importing’ North Indian traders, artisans and soldiers; they established a number of new market centres; they founded and endowed mosques; and they invited poets, artists and scholars and Sufi holy men to the new capital of Arcot.” [1]

[1]: (Bugge, 2020) Bugge, Henriette. 2020. Mission and Tamil Society: Social and Religious Change in South India (1840-1900). London: Routledge Curzon. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/9SKWNUF4/collection


82 Late Pallava Empire present Confident -
Temples. The following quote is referring to Hindu temples in the port city of Mamallapuram. “The city is known for several structural temples, rock cut caves and monolithic shrines and huge panels and bas reliefs that are considered to be the greatest examples of Pallava art. This tradition of stone carving is still alive among artists scattered in the area […] This temple was built by Mamalla for the worship of Vishnu. His successor Narasimhavarman II added two shrines dedicated to Shiva.” [1]

[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 569) Kamelsh, Kapur. 2010. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In History of Ancient India: Portraits of a Nation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UETBPIDE/collection


83 Kalabhra Dynasty present Confident -
Temple. “The Muttaraiyar and the Kalabhras are equated each other by T.A. Gopinath Rao. The Vaikunt Perumal Temple inscription at Kanci speaks of a Muttaraiyar coming to receive Nandivarman Pallavarnalla II at the latter’s coronation. A mutilated inscription found in the Vaikuta Temple at Kaci styles Suvaran Maran as Kalavara-Kalavan. The word Kalavan (Tamil) perhaps became Kalabhra in Sanskrit.” [1]

[1]: (Gupta 1989, 24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection


84 Nayaks of Thanjavur present Confident -
Temples. “Five temples attached to the Devasthanam in Thanjavur palace are dedicated to Krsna. They are (1) Navanita Krsna (2) Bhuloga Krsna (3)Mannarswami (4) Madanagopalaswami (5)Venugopalaswami. All of them seem to have come up during the rule of the Nayaks of Thanjavur and the Mahrattas from the 16th century onwards.” [1]

[1]: (Padmaja 2002, 96) Padmaja, T. 2002. Temples of Krsna in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnadu. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5MFKBQ9E/collection


85 Nayaks of Madurai present Confident -
Temples. “That the Madurai Nayak, chose the seated or standing Bull as their crest is proved by the flag staffs found in Madurai Minakshi temple and Subramanya temple at Thirupurankunram.” [1]

[1]: (Nagaswamy 1981, 169) Nagaswamy, Ramachandran. 1981. Tamil Coins: A Study. Chennai: Institute of Epigraphy Tamilnadu State Department of Archaeology. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/M4E8JD39/collection


86 West Burkina Faso Red IV present Inferred -
Inferred from the following, which pertains to the immediately preceding period. "Specialized iron production shifted from the inhabitants of Mound 4 to those at Mound 11, and iron smelting remained set at a distance from the settlement, but now 250 m to the west of Mound 11. Red II also marks the starting point of specialized potting by the inhabitants of Mound 11, where both pottery decoration tools and kilns were excavated. [...] A significant change in spatial organization involved the merging of formerly discrete mounds into elongated pairs of contiguous mounds. By at the latest Red III (and likely Red II), structures atop mounds were organized as composite buildings, combining circular and rectangular cells to form room blocks topped with paved terraced roofs. Activities, including food preparation such as grinding, shifted to exterior unpaved surfaces. This transformation indicates the appearance of a built environment focused more on extra-household interactions, as opposed to the discrete but enclosed setting of earlier periods." [1]

[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30)


87 Adal Sultanate present Inferred -
Mosques would have been common communal buildings in the Adal Sultanate. “Some of the Arabic inscriptions on tombstones collected between the modern towns of Harar and Dire Dawa bear thirteenth-century dates, and show the existence of fairly well-developed Muslim communities in the region of Harar, which probably was an important centre of dispersal for many of the founders of other Muslim settlements further inland.” [1]

[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 140) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list


88 Kingdom of Gumma present Inferred -
Mosques. The following quote suggests that mosques were likely present. “Fourth, the Muslim resistance in Wallo seems also to have led to the growth of a Jihadic movement in the Gibe region. The Muslim clerics who made Islam the religion of the masses and nurtured Islamic culture in Wallo, brought the spirit of resistance with them to the Gibe region. This spirit of resistance grew into a Jihadic movement mainly in the kingdom of Gumma, which remained a hotbed of rebellion and Muslim resistance from 1887 to 1902.” [1]

[1]: (Hassen 1992, 96) Hassen, Mohammed. ‘Islam as a Resistance Ideology Among the Oromo of Ethiopia.’ In In The Shadow of Conquest: Islam in Colonial Northeast Africa. Trenton, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/search/Hassen/titleCreatorYear/items/PJ3UMMX5/item-list


89 Isaaq Sultanate present Inferred -
The following quote suggests that mosques were likely present. “With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date and remain staunch Muslims (Sunnis, of the Sha afi School of Law).” [1]

[1]: (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York, Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Understanding%20Somalia/titleCreatorYear/items/7J425GTZ/item-list


90 Imamate of Futa Toro present Inferred -
The following quotes suggest that communal buildings such as mosques were likely present within the Imamate of Futa Toro. “In Mauritania and Senegambia, there was a network of rural schools, at which the Koran and certain important works of technology and law were studied. The more learned marabouts studied at different schools. Some of these schools seem to have played an important revolutionary role. Thus, according to Futa Toro traditions, all the major leaders of the 1776 torodbe revolt studied at Pir Saniokhor in Cayor.” [1] “The tokolor revolution resulted in the replacement of one elite by another, and in the creation of a society within which the Sharia, the Muslim law, was enforced.” [2]

[1]: (Klein 1972, 428) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection

[2]: (Klein 1972, 429) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection


91 Kingdom of Jolof present Inferred -
Mosques. The following quote suggests that Mosques were likely present.“By and large, Islam gained slowly moving towards the forest regions and reaching the Atlantic. Along the Senegal River valley, Islam’s ever presence was visible in many aspects of life. Here, Muslim holy men (marabouts) already occupied spiritual spaces with large followings in the Kingdom of Jolof though it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the whole region accepted Islam.” [1]

[1]: (Saho 2020, 151) Saho, Bala. 2020 ‘Islam in West Africa: Diffusion and Growth’ In The Palgrave Handbook of Islam in Africa. Edited by Fallou Ngom et. al. Cham, Switerzland: Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9QVB5IC2/collection


92 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty I present Confident Expert -
The traditional Russian "banya" or bathhouse. These communal bathhouses played a significant role in Russian society.

The key aspects of a traditional Russian banya are:

Social Gathering Space: Banyas were not just places for washing; they were significant social centers where people of all classes mingled. It was common for villagers to gather in the banya to relax, discuss community matters, and engage in social activities.

Health and Hygiene: Banyas were critical for the hygiene and health of the population, particularly in times when private bathing facilities were rare.

Cultural Importance: The banya has deep cultural roots in Russian tradition, often associated with various rituals and customs. [1]

[1]: “История Сандунов,” accessed December 13, 2023, https://msk.sanduny.ru/ru/about/history. Zotero link: PPUFD8ZV


93 British East India Company present Confident -
-
94 Nawabs of Bengal present Confident -
-
95 Qin Empire present Confident -
-
96 Southern Song present Confident -
-
97 Eastern Zhou present Inferred -
-
98 British Empire IIIIIIIIII present Confident -
-
99 Austro-Hungarian Monarchy present Confident -
Places of worship; libraries; museums; theatres; cafes; clubs; schools; universities. “The abbey of Melk, some 80 kilometers west of Vienna, was the high point of church construction. Boasting a dazzlingly gilded church, it is an overpowering assertion of Austrian Baroque Catholicism. Karl himself added to Vienna’s palace complex, including the building of the Spanish Riding School, and the Hofburg’s impressive library. But closer to his heart was his project to turn the abbey of Klosterneuburg into his own version of El Escorial, a new monastery-palace for the dynasty to replace the one lost in Castile.” [1] “Other organizations brought new local and regional newspapers into being, newspapers that for the first time reported local events along with international or court news. And more often than not, the middle classes were reading and discussing the contents of those newspapers not simply in their own Biedermeier parlors or drawing rooms, but also in a growing numbers of public sites (clubs, cafés, and restaurants) where social and civic life increasingly took place. Each of these diverse institutions— the museum, the library, the newspaper, the club, the café— had its roots in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, but only in the first half of the nineteenth century did their numbers proliferate significantly, and not simply in the few large cities of the empire like Vienna, Prague, or Milan. As smaller towns grew in size, the character of public life there gradually changed as well. In the late eighteenth century the Austrian Freemason Johann Pezzl had already observed that cafés not only were associated with urban life, but ‘as everyone knows, are considered nowadays to be one of the indispensable requirements of every large town.’ “ [2] “By 1910 there were 22,386 primary schools in the Austrian half of the dual monarchy and 16,455 in Hungary. Increasing numbers of people— especially rural youth— actively sought and gained a degree of social mobility through the pursuit of education beyond primary school. This did not necessarily mean education in high schools or technical colleges or universities; instead, they often enrolled in short preparatory courses that offered training in basic secretarial skills, such as typing, filing, and stenography, which enabled candidates to access a range of new low-level white- collar jobs.” [3] “In the first half of the eighteenth century a theater devoted mainly to the performance of Italian operas and another one for German plays were established under the sponsorship of Count Franz A. Sporck. In 1783 the German National Theater was opened under the sponsorship of Count Francis Nostitz. Here in 1787 Don Giovanni was performed for the first time with Mozart himself conducting. A few years later this theater was dubbed the Theater of the Bohemian Estates or the Estates National Theater. As in Vienna, Punch and Judy shows were performed until the 1770’s. An official, though still only interim Czech National Theater, was opened in 1862.” [4]

[1]: (Curtis 2013: 213) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92

[2]: (Judson 2016: 141) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[3]: (Judson 2016: 335) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[4]: (Kann 1974: 386) Kann, Robert A. 1974. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918. Los Angeles: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RP3JD4UV


100 Soviet Union present Confident Expert 1923 CE 1991 CE
The Soviet Houses of Culture were popular institutions in the Soviet Union, created as public spaces to engage workers in various life-building programs. Their genealogy can be traced back to nineteenth-century Italy, when similar spaces formed out of workers’ desire for literacy. [1]


The Zuev Workers’ Club in Moscow, designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov and completed in 1929. The Zuev Workers’ Club was a significant cultural and community center, featuring a theater, library, lecture halls, and various clubs and workshops for workers. [2]

[1]: (Soviet Houses of Culture) Zotero link: I9XGKHHB

[2]: (Дом культуры имени Зуева официальный сайт) Zotero link: JE5F5V6H


101 Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty present Confident -
Churches and other places of worship. [1] Schools and universities

[1]: Wilson 2016: 504. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA


102 Twelve Bhuyans present Confident -
-
103 Kingdom of Kaffa present Confident 1798 CE 1897 CE
“All these people own communal worshipping houses of the sort which G. Massaja, a Catholic priest, saw in 1859 while he was engaged in missionary activities in Kafa.” [1] We have chosen 1798 CE as a cutoff point because the period 1798 CE -1821 CE has been described as “the height of the Kafa empire”. [2]

[1]: (Orent 1970, 272) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection

[2]: (Orent 1970, 263) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection


104 Kingdom of Waalo present Confident 1682 CE 1855 CE
Mosques. The following quote was made by Le Maire in 1682 regarding the Waalo monarchy and Islam. “’The nobles are more attached to it because they are usually close to one of the Moorish marabouts and thus these scoundrels take full credit for their spirit. They make their Sala, the minor people do not do anything or do it only more of less in a mosque. The king and the nobles have them, they are covered with straw like the other houses.’” [1]

[1]: (Barry 2012, 39) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection


105 Kingdom of the Huns present Confident -
Bathhouses. “Finally they reached Attila’s base, which Priscus describes as a ’very large village’… The only stone building was a bath-house, constructed on the orders of one of Attila’s leading supporters, Onegesius. He had had the stone imported from the Roman province of Pannonia across the Danube. It was built by a Roman prisoner of war who had hoped to secure his release after the job was done. Unhappily for him, he had made himself indispensable and was kept on to manage the bath-house.” [1]

[1]: (Kennedy 2002: 44) Kennedy, Hugh. 2002. Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War. London: Cassell. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZN9N624X


106 Early United Mexican States present Confident -
e.g. stores; arcades; bazaars; restaurants; churches; schools; railway and tram stations. “The parián or arcaded market that housed leading mercantile establishments stood at the town center, and along the adjoining streets and districts stood the workshops of guild members lending their trade’s name to the street on which they were concentrated. Here and there stood pulperías, the indispensible institution that functioned as stores, pawnshops, restaurants, gathering places, and news exchanges, providing a one-stop financial and commercial center akin to a modern convenience store offering lottery tickets, money orders, a version of the modern ATM, and a community bulletin board.” [1] “The “modernity” of the capital, while exemplary in its scale and expense, paled with the cost of public works in the regions; railroads crisscrossed the country by the 1880s, electrical and telephone utilities by the 1890s, and vast bonds were issued to finance new state and municipal buildings, schools, and trams.” [2]

[1]: (Bunker and Macias-Gonzalez 2011: 58) Bunker, Steven B. and Macías-González, Víctor M. 2011. “Consumption and Material Culture from Pre-Contact through the Porfiriato,” in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture, ed. William H. Beezley. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. pp54–82. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SDIQ5VE7

[2]: (Bunker and Macias-Gonzalez 2011: 68) Bunker, Steven B. and Macías-González, Víctor M. 2011. “Consumption and Material Culture from Pre-Contact through the Porfiriato,” in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture, ed. William H. Beezley. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. pp54–82. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SDIQ5VE7


107 Kingdom of Bohemia - Luxembourgian and Jagiellonian Dynasty present Confident -
Places of worship; workplaces such as mills; schools; universities; libraries. “Houses around the Old Town Hall, the palace of the lords of Kunštát, parts of the university residences and a number of churches of the time provide indices of an extraordinary amount of construction activity, influenced by western architecture. Gothic cathedrals were built in a number of towns (Brno, Olomouc, Hradec Králové, Plzeň and elsewhere), as well as in the subject towns (foremost of which was Český Krumlov, which belonged to the Rožmberks)… In the villages, alongside the small numbers of rich farmers, owners of iron and saw mills, and above all of flour mills, there was the more numerous class of labourers of small to middling wealth, whose rents ensured the income of their authorities.” [1] “Before the Hussite Revolution, the university in Prague had a vibrant law faculty who studied across Europe and taught primarily canon law and sometimes Roman law, as well as a library of standard legal texts. In addition to the law faculty, the contents of two monasteries’ libraries demonstrate the more general availability of legal resources with the kingdom of Bohemia.” [2]

[1]: (Pánek and Oldřich 2009: 146) Pánek, Jaroslav and Oldřich, Tůma. 2009. A History of the Czech Lands. University of Chicago Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4NAX9KBJ

[2]: (Grant 2014: 38-39) Grant, Jeanne E. 2014. For the Common Good: The Bohemian Land Law and the Beginning of the Hussite Revolution, East Central and Eastern in the Middle Ages, 450–1450. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCJGUZZZ


108 Us Reconstruction-Progressive present Confident -
Churches, shops, public houses, town halls, factories, mills, railway and port stations, etc. [1]

[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: 13, 15, 20, 58. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.


109 Chaco Canyon - Late Bonito phase present Confident -
Plazas; kivas; terraces. “The Chacoan people created an urban center of spectacular public architecture by employing formal design, astronomical alignments, geometry, unique masonry, landscaping, and engineering techniques that allowed multi-storied construction for the first time in the American Southwest. The people built monumental public and ceremonial buildings in the canyon. The buildings were massive, multi-storied masonry structures of rooms, kivas, terraces, and plazas.” [1]

[1]: (“Chaco Culture”) “Chaco Culture” NPS Museum Collections, accessed May 8, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/chcu/index1.html. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NMRVDA5I


110 Antebellum US present Confident -
Churches, shops, public houses, town halls, factories, mills, railway and port stations, etc. [1]

[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: 13, 15, 20, 58. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.


111 Tudor and Early Stuart England present Confident -
Churches, inns, pubs, shops, universities, colleges; government buildings etc. “London Bridge (see plate 11) had linked the north and south banks of the Thames since the twelfth century. In fact, London mostly developed on its northern bank; to the south was the suburb of Southwark. Here, on the fringe of the city’s jurisdiction, flourished theaters such as the Rose and the Globe, bear-gardens (for bear- and bull-baiting), brothels, and taverns. In short, if you wanted an exciting – or a dangerous – time in London, you headed across the bridge.” [1] “’The City’ is modern shorthand for the financial district which still sits within the square mile once bounded by the old Roman city walls. Here, ca. 1603, might be found the Guildhall, London’s city hall, where its lord mayor and 25 aldermen met to govern the metropolis; numerous smaller halls which housed the livery companies associated with each trade; Cheapside, a broad street lined with shops; and the Royal Exchange, built by Sir Thomas Gresham (ca. 1518–79) in 1566–7, where merchants met to strike deals.” [2]

[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 196) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U

[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 198) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U


112 Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II present Confident -
Places of worship; libraries; museums; theatres; cafes; clubs; schools; universities; . “The abbey of Melk, some 80 kilometers west of Vienna, was the high point of church construction. Boasting a dazzlingly gilded church, it is an overpowering assertion of Austrian Baroque Catholicism. Karl himself added to Vienna’s palace complex, including the building of the Spanish Riding School, and the Hofburg’s impressive library. But closer to his heart was his project to turn the abbey of Klosterneuburg into his own version of El Escorial, a new monastery-palace for the dynasty to replace the one lost in Castile.” [1] “Other organizations brought new local and regional newspapers into being, newspapers that for the first time reported local events along with international or court news. And more often than not, the middle classes were reading and discussing the contents of those newspapers not simply in their own Biedermeier parlors or drawing rooms, but also in a growing numbers of public sites (clubs, cafés, and restaurants) where social and civic life increasingly took place. Each of these diverse institutions— the museum, the library, the newspaper, the club, the café— had its roots in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, but only in the first half of the nineteenth century did their numbers proliferate significantly, and not simply in the few large cities of the empire like Vienna, Prague, or Milan. As smaller towns grew in size, the character of public life there gradually changed as well. In the late eighteenth century the Austrian Freemason Johann Pezzl had already observed that cafés not only were associated with urban life, but ‘as everyone knows, are considered nowadays to be one of the indispensable requirements of every large town.’ “ [2] “From the very beginning of his reign Joseph sought to expand his mother’s policies to promote popular education. There had never been anywhere near enough schools to realize Maria Theresa’s principle that primary schooling should be compulsory for all Austrian children, both boys and girls. Nor was there any effective way to compel families to send their children to schools. Funding for this ambitious goal was entirely inadequate. Joseph’s micromanaging bent made him eager to make specific budget cuts for existing institutions in order to balance the increased funding he proposed to give to primary schools. Joseph’s emphasis on increasing literacy among the lowest classes led him to shift funds away from secondary and higher institutions of learning. However, his own Education Commission fought Joseph’s repeated attempts to downgrade some of the universities and to rid them of subject areas he considered to be of little worth. Eventually Joseph concluded that no amount of cuts to university bud gets could possibly fund the compulsory elementary school system at an adequate level. Instead he enacted a law in 1785 that required a school to be established in every parish.” [3]

[1]: (Curtis 2013: 213) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92

[2]: (Judson 2016: 141) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[3]: (Judson 2016: 65) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW


113 Khwarezmid Empire present Confident -
Mosques. Stores and bazaars. There were pharmacies and apothecaries. [1]

[1]: Boyle 1968: 587. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CFW8EE6Q


114 Hohokam Culture present Confident -
present ♥ Kivas – a built space used for ceremonies, rites, political meetings, or spiritual gatherings – began to be present by the mid-1100s, when the connection to peoples in the area now known as Mexico weakened and they were trading and influenced more by their Pueblo neighbours. Ball courts were constructed which would have been used for games and ceremonies, and possibly public dance and performance spaces. [1]

[1]: Barnhart 2018: 140, 144. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VPVHH2HJ


115 Alaouite Dynasty I present Confident -
Workplaces; garrisons; forts; citadels; stables; palaces. “When he heard about all this unrest, Mawläy Ismail decided to deal first of all with his nephew. He marched against him and forced him to flee a second time, into the Sahara. Then he advanced on Fez and laid siege to it until it surrendered, but later decided to make Meknes his capital. On his return to that town he gave orders for the building of palaces, houses, walls, stables, warehouses and other large buildings. He had gardens and ponds laid out, to such good effect that this town came to rival Versailles (which King Louis XIV, abandoning Paris, had taken as his capital). At Meknes, the building work went on for several years.” [1] “Such is the history of the formation of the Bawäkhir militia - in concise form, admittedly, but based on unique and important documents. This militia initially helped a great deal to maintain peace and security in the unified country. Mawlây Ismail had established forts and citadels (kasabas) in all parts of Morocco, from the frontier with Algeria to the southernmost limits of the Sahara. These forts were garrisoned by soldiers who lived with their families and whose sons received special training, an account of which is called for here.” [2]

[1]: (Ogot 1992: 222) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP

[2]: (Ogot 1992: 229) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP


116 Armenian Kingdom present Confident -
Cities and towns at least had public buildings, shops, markets, workshops and public baths. [1] [2]

[1]: Hovannisian 2004: 49. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU

[2]: Payaslian 2007: 20-21. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H8NEU6KD


117 Saffarid Caliphate present Confident -
Mosques. [1]

[1]: Frye 2007: 128. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7XE9P8HB


118 British Empire I present Confident -
Places of worship, entertainment buildings, factories, warehouses, workplaces, knowledge buildings, shops, pubs and coffee-houses, government buildings etc.
119 Kingdom of Hawaii - Post-Kamehameha Period present Confident -
Churches; barracks; prisons; post office; customhouses; warehouses; schoolhouses; insane asylum; quarantine building. “By 1870, when the Hawaiian Evangelical Association observed with a great jubilee celebration the fiftieth anniversary of the coming of the first group of missionaries, there were fifty-eight churches in the association, with a membership of 14,850, approximately one-fourth of the whole population of the kingdom.” [1] “During the reigns of the last two Kamehamehas and Lunalilo, approximately a million dollars were spent by the government on public works. The Hawaiian Hotel and Aliiolani Hale accounted for about a quarter of that sum. One hundred and eighty thousand dollars went into the construction of buildings of lesser magnitude—lIolani Barracks, a new prison, Royal Mausoleum, post office, customhouses, warehouses, schoolhouses, insane asylum, quarantine building.” [2]

[1]: (Kuykendall 1938: 100) Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson. 1938. The Hawaiian Kingdom. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. http://archive.org/details/hawaiiankingdom0002kuyk. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QJ4Z7AAB

[2]: (Kuykendall 1938: 174) Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson. 1938. The Hawaiian Kingdom. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. http://archive.org/details/hawaiiankingdom0002kuyk. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QJ4Z7AAB


120 Napoleonic France present Confident -
Inns, taverns, boarding houses, shops, cafes etc. [1] [2]

[1]: Clapham 1955: 79, 119. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2QKQJQM3.

[2]: Crook 2002: 147. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29D9EQQE


121 Late Greater Coclé unknown Suspected -
-
122 Kanem unknown Suspected -
The near-absence of archaeologically identified settlements makes it particularly challenging to infer most building types. "While the historical sources provide a vague picture of the events of the first 500 years of the Kanem-Borno empire, archaeologically almost nothing is known. [...] Summing up, very little is known about the capitals or towns of the early Kanem- Borno empire. The locations of the earliest sites have been obscured under the southwardly protruding sands of the Sahara, and none of the later locations can be identified with certainty." [1]

[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 104-110)


123 Oyo unknown Suspected -
"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977)." [1] Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: "Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known." [2] Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable.

[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 151-152)

[2]: (Law 1977: 33)


124 Kingdom of Kaffa unknown Suspected Uncertain 1390 CE 1797 CE
“All these people own communal worshipping houses of the sort which G. Massaja, a Catholic priest, saw in 1859 while he was engaged in missionary activities in Kafa.” [1] We have chosen 1798 CE as a cutoff point because the period 1798 CE -1821 CE has been described as “the height of the Kafa empire”. [2]

[1]: (Orent 1970, 272) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection

[2]: (Orent 1970, 263) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection


125 Kingdom of Waalo unknown Suspected 1287 CE 1681 CE
Mosques. The following quote was made by Le Maire in 1682 regarding the Waalo monarchy and Islam. “’The nobles are more attached to it because they are usually close to one of the Moorish marabouts and thus these scoundrels take full credit for their spirit. They make their Sala, the minor people do not do anything or do it only more of less in a mosque. The king and the nobles have them, they are covered with straw like the other houses.’” [1]

[1]: (Barry 2012, 39) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection