with an opening for the doorway. Th e next layer would then
be spread on top of the fi rst.
In northwestern, sub-Saharan Africa, the walls curved
inward, layer by layer, giving the fi nished structure a dome-
shaped roof. Elsewhere in Africa the houses were topped by
thatch. Th ese thatched roofs were usually conical, with the
thatch hanging over the top edge of the clay wall. In some
areas the roof might be made of wood, but again forming
a cone.
Sometimes walls had frameworks of wattle, or poles in-
tertwined with branches. Th e wattle would be covered inside
and out with clay. In areas where clay was hard to fi nd, walls
were made of tree bark or woven rushes. Such walls seem to
have been most oft en constructed in grassy areas that were
drier than Africa’s rain forests. Th e herdsman culture of the
Sahara grasslands of 5095–2780 b.c.e. built huts of wicker
with grass roofs.
Many materials used in ancient African building were
not durable. Buildings disappeared quickly if they were not
maintained. For instance, wood decayed rapidly in the moist
regions of Africa, and in the drier regions voracious termites
ate it away. Even clay bricks eroded from wind and rain. Such
erosion left many ancient buildings little more than melted
heaps. One building material that does manage to endure
is stone, although even it is subject to erosion. Cultures that
used stone are likely to have had some building remains sur-
vive. Most use of stone in southern and western Africa dates
from the Middle Ages and later, but in northeast Africa at
least two cultures from the ancient era built in stone. One was
the kingdom of Kush, and the other was Axum.
Kush was a Nubian kingdom, to the south of ancient
Egypt. Its principal building materials were reeds, wood, clay,
and stone. Most Kushites lived in houses made of reeds, prob-
ably laid over a wooden framework. Th eir homes tended to
look like rounded cones, with the reeds of the walls gathered
together at the top. Even now, ceramic fi nials are popular in
Africa, and these reed houses seem to have had ceramic fi ni-
als shaped like pots on their peaks. (A fi nial is a decorative
object placed on the peak or corner of a roof.)
In Kushite cities and towns, houses were made of durable
sun-dried brick or fi red brick that was less durable and would
erode quickly in rain. Th e houses consisted of complexes of
huts that served as rooms. Th ere would be an outer wall with
only one door in it, and along the inside wall were about fi veWattle framework being fi lled with red mud, a construction technique used in ancient times, from Zambia (© Board of Regents of the University of
Wisconsin System)
building techniques and materials: Africa 151