are so numerous... Honey ... is abundant, brought from the land of the Sudan. The people of Awdaghust enjoy extensive benefits and huge wealth. The market there is at all times full of people... Their transactions are in gold, and they have no silver. Most of the inhabitants ... are natives of Ifriqiya [Tunisia] ... but there are also a few people from other countries ... [They own] slaves so numerous that one person from among them might possess a thousand servants or more. Al-Bakri also describes the capture of the town by the Almoravids which had occurred just a few years before he wrote his account: In the year 1054-5 'Abd Allah b. Yasin invaded the town of Awdaghust, a flourishing locality, and a large town containing markets, numerous palms and henna trees. ... This town used to be the residence of the King of the Sudan who was called Ghana before the Arabs entered (the city of) Ghana... This (former) city was inhabited by Zenata together with Arabs who were always at loggerheads with each other. ... The Almoravids violated its women and declared everything that they took there to be booty of the community. ... The Almoravids persecuted the people of Awdaghust only because they recognized the authority of the ruler of Ghana. It is unclear from this text how long prior to the arrival of the Almoravids the town had been part of the Ghana Empire. Al-Idrisi writing in Sicily in 1154 suggests that by the middle of the 12th century the town of Aoudaghost was in decline: "This is a small town in the desert, with little water. ... Its population is not numerous and there is no large trade. The inhabitants own camels from which they derive their livelihoods." By the beginning of the 13th century the oasis town of Oualata situated to the east had replaced Aoudaghost as the southern terminus of the major trans-Saharan caravan route. Archaeology The archaeological site of Tegdaoust forms an artificial mound or tell extending for 12 hectares. It lies south of the Hodh depression and northeast of the small town of Tamchakett. Excavations were carried out between 1960 and 1976 by a team of French archaeologists. The earliest layers date from the 7-9th centuries with the first mud-brick structures in the late 9th to early 10th centuries. Some stone buildings were constructed in the 11th century. The