Special Report (Investigative Journalism): As Boron State Suffers from Acute-Historical-Site-Poverty Syndrome, Could The Discovery of Guru Kim Settlement Near Montuno Wipe Off Her Tears of Anguish?
By Tabitha Ishaya
5th October, 2022
Boron State is synonymous with its slogan ‘the home of peace’. Come rain come sun shine, no one can separate this covetous slogan from the state that gave birth to virtually all the six states of the north-east geopolitical region of Nigeria; not even the blood-thirsty Boko Haram and ISWAP by the special grace of Allah. After about 13 years of fierce conflict peace is gradually returning to the state that was once the nucleus of the famous Kanem-Borno Empire. Thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, the commitment of the Nigerian military, the sacrifice of the unsung heroes – the Civilian JTFs – as well as the zeal and commitment of Boron State Governor, Professor Baba Gana Umara Zulum.
However, do you know what? Despite being the home of peace, Boron State doubles as the ‘most generous mother’ that literally gave her all to her children. Yes, of course, gave her ‘all’ historical sites to her five children and retains only one historical site. Guess, which one could that be? While each of the five states that got carved from out from the old mighty Boron State boasts of having several historical sites of significant importance, Boron State, the ‘generous mother’ boasts of only one, and that is none other than the Rabeh Fortress in Dikwa town. Though as generous as Boron State may apparently have been, the outcome might not have been of any advantage to her. Worried? Yes, of course! But what could have led to this ‘histo-archaelogical poverty’ affecting the state? Is it by human design, or by nature?
Whatever your answer to that question may be, without any equivocation Boron State would definitely want to have as many historical sites and monuments of significant importance as, at least, her status of being the seat of the ancient great Kanem-Borno Empire is. It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. For Boron State, which has suffered decades of bereavement of historical sites the silver lining as elusive as it may sound, could be real – as real as the mid-day sun in tropical cloudless sky. What historical monument could have come to the rescue of the state? It’s none other than ‘red, burnt bricks’; yes, ordinary red, burnt bricks that people used to build house. In this part of the world, red burnt bricks are not common building material; they are often associated with wealth and power. Because of this, sometimes settlements constructed with red, burnt bricks are called ‘gὸrú kìmé’ in Kanuri language, or ‘jan bulo’ in Hausa.
The most common building material during the times of the ancient Kanem-Borno Empire were mud and straw. However, even during these times, burn brick architectures were available, and oftentimes such architectures were associated with the rulers. The making of burnt bricks for building purposes is a historically late and geographically rather restricted development in the central and western Sudan regions. Outside the plains of Lake Chad region, burnt-brick architecture is only archaeologically known from Gao, in present-day Mali, from contexts dated to the 12th to 13th centuries CE. Whilst in the latter case it is nearly certain that the technology of burnt brick was introduced to the western Sudan from North Africa, Professor Anne Haour argues that the timing and route by which it reached the Chad Basin region have long been a matter of debate.
Over several decades, historical and archaeological scholars have been aware of the existence of a number of ancient sites associated with burnt-brick structures (or ‘gὸrú kìmé’ in Kanuri language) in the territories of modern Chad Basin region including Nigeria and Niger. Despite the obvious historical importance of these sites, however, little fieldwork has been undertaken to collect data on their general appearance, material culture, chronology and historical setting.
A famous archaeologist at Australian National University, Canberra Professor Graham E. Connah, a Nigerian anthropologist Associate Professor Musa O. Hambolu of University of Jos as well as an art-archaeologist at the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom Professor Anne Haour respectively have all agreed that to date, preliminary archaeological research has mainly been carried out at burnt-brick sites to the west of Lake Chad in Nigeria and Niger and that these activities offered fresh insights into the nature of the burnt-brick structures and the places of which they are part. Most sites, however, especially those from Chad Republic, are still merely known from descriptions of what was observed during relatively short visits.
As it is elsewhere in the Islamic world, in sub-Saharan Africa the use of burnt bricks for the erection of tombs, palaces and mosques is a clear indication of social status, economic prosperity and political power. Looking at how burnt-brick structures are treated in the Lake Chad region, archaeologists convincingly suggests that there must have been an intimate relationship between burnt-brick structures and the past political elite of Kanem-Borno Empire. This is also the opinion put forward by the renowned British archaeologist Professor Graham E. Connah, who stated that burnt-brick sites in Boron (discovered since 2008 or earlier), that is, the region west of Lake Chad, were locations of “some importance.” However, the one-million-dollar question begging for an answer is, ‘if hunger for archaeological facts would urge a British Professor to come over to Nigeria all the way from Britain, thousands of miles away, what on earth must have been hindering our university professors here in Nigeria to spearhead such archaeological enquiries?’
In the actual sense, burnt-brick structures are always evident at archaeological sites known, or supposed, to have been inhabited by the members of the Sayfawa royal court. Examples of these can be seen at the site of the old ruins of Birni Gazargamo (which is the 15th- to early 19th-century CE capital of Kanem-Borno Empire); the “Queen-Mother site” of Gambaru (both are in present-day Geidam town in northern Yoba State, Nigeria); and the palace of Mai Machinama in Machina (which is also in northern Yoba State).
During an interview, archaeologist S. Brickay stated that Mai Machinama’s palace was the only burnt-brick structure that was used by a traditional ruler until the 1990s.
With the exception of these historical sites, much about which is known from historical documents, oral accounts and archaeological research, there are also the less well-attested brick-burning locations in the Lake Chad region. In Boron State, approximately 20 kilometres from the 1970s’ margins of Lake Chad, Guru Kim near Montuno represents the southernmost burnt-brick historical site in the west of Lake Chad.
A survey and excavation campaign were conducted over a period of three days at the historical site in an attempt to bring new light onto questions of spatial organisation, chronology, material culture and economy. Whilst the results from the survey and fieldwork have to be seen as preliminary, in view of what could be achieved in the time available, it is hoped that the data collected and the inferences made will renew attention onto the potential of historical archaeology in this fascinating region.
You may wonder why this historical site is called Guru Kim. Well, translated into English as “red wall”, the use of the Kanuri designation “gὸrú kìmé” clearly indicates that the archaeological location focused on in this article was named after the burnt-brick remains that exist at this site. Although some other archaeologists appears to have visited the site first, later providing a sketchy picture of it, the first archaeologist to have thoroughly described and collected material remains and oral information on Guru Kim was Professor Graham Edward Connah.
Situated on a sandy area directly to the south of the tar road extending from Maiduguri to Montuno and just 4 kilometres west of Montuno town (Fig. 1), Guru Kim, which lies on Longitude 12.68244° North, and Latitude 13.57751° East, is situated opposite a modern Kanuri village of the same name, Guru Kim. While describing the dimensions of the historical site, Professor Connah stated that Guru Kim historical site’s visible archaeological remains consist of “a square enclosure measuring about 75 metres long by 53 metres wide, with a raised edge (i.e., bank) of about 1 meter high. The surface of the raised edge is littered with broken burnt red brick and a scatter of broken brick lies inside the enclosure, particularly on a slightly raised area.”
Professor Connah went further to say that “About 75 metres away from the north-west corner of the enclosure is a roughly circular mound that is about 25 metres in diameter and about 1.5 metres high, which also has a scatter of burnt red bricks. There is no potsherd (‘ngaya-ngaya’ in Kanuri language) scatter associated with these features but potsherds can be found on grey-stained sand around the site, especially to the north-east and east where there are at least three low settlement mounds the kinds of which are found in the River Yoba region.” Materials recovered by Professor Connah from the historical site’s surface included fragments of grinding equipment, iron slag, and a spindle whorl of burnt clay and potsherds.
Analyses of the pottery sherds revealed the use of decorative patterns, with jars and pot lids being the most frequent pot forms. Pottery from the surface collection was thought to be similar to that recovered from excavations at old ruins of Birni Gazargamo, probably dating to a “late period” in the ceramic sequence of that site. This dating is supported by famous archaeologist such as Connah who suspected that without mincing words, Guru Kim represents the youngest (that is, the most-recently discovered) historical burnt-brick site in the area that lies to the west of Lake Chad.
Oral tradition recorded by Professor Connah as far back as the 1970s indicates that the then inhabitants of modern Guru Kim village regard the historical burnt-brick site that lies very close to their village as being a place older than Kukawa, the late capital of Kanem-Borno Empire – around 1814-1893 CE. Moreover, it is worth noting here that Birni Gazargamo was the last royal capital of Kanem-Borno that is associated with burnt-brick structures.
The oral tradition further claims that apart from the decoration of the tombs of the Shehus of Kukawa with burnt bricks, no 19th century royal settlement or administrative centre – specifically Birni Kafela, Dikwa – contained burnt-brick structures. Also, the oral tradition says that the rectangular enclosure discovered on the Guru Kim historical site was the compound of the ‘Mai’ (king) while the nearby mound was a mosque, and that the rest of the settlement was located within the immediate vicinity, that is, in the area scattered with archaeological artefacts and grey-stained sand.
According to Professors Connah and Haour and Associate Professor Hambolu, this oral account is of extreme importance, as informal interviews conducted in early 2008 revealed that none of the 5 interviewed inhabitants of the modern village of Guru Kim knew anything about the historical site and its burnt-brick structures. Furthermore, recent key-informant interviews with 7 participants from the place confirms Professor Connah’s 2008 finding that most of the inhabitants of the present-day Guru Kim village do not know much about the history of the old ruins of the Guru Kim historical site located very close to their village. This reminds us of a wise quote by Robert A. Henlein who is quoted to have sad that “A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future”; and another by Michael Crichton who is quoted to have said that “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.”
Furthermore, the interviewed people were aged 33 to 65 years old, some of the youngest being related to the current village head. As flabbergasting as it may sound, even a traditional leader (a district head) who resides in Montuno palpably seemed to have known quite little to nothing about the Guru Kim historical site. The only standard response of the participants to the interview questions is that the Guru Kim historical site “was created by their ancestors.” This is one wonderful thing with typical oral traditions! In spite of the chronological information provided by the pottery assemblage regarding the issues of Guru Kim and early Boron royal settlements that was collected by Professor Connah at Guru Kim, the lack of archaeological excavations in the historical sites cast doubts as to when the site was first settled, that is, whether older cultural deposits exist. Actually, the dilemma of the Guru Kim historical site’s age is quite significant, as archaeologists relying on a manuscript published by one of the British colonialists of the time Sir Herbert Richmond Palmer (1877-1958). Sir Palmer considered the possibility that the Guru Kim historical location might have been founded in the 15th century CE and thus, linked to the shift of the royal court from Kanem to Boron between the late 14th and the 15th centuries CE.
Historically, moreover, Boron State gave birth to most if not all of the states in north-east of Nigeria but all the other five states have more than one historical site of significant importance. For example, Yoba State boasts of having Dufuna Canoe, the oldest canoe in Africa and second oldest in the world as well as the old ruins of Birni Gazargamo and Gambaru, etc.; Bauchi State boasts of Yankari national/international Games Reserves, the Tomb of the Late Prime Minister of Nigeria Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Marshall Caves, etc.; Adamawa State boasts of having Sukur historical landscape, which listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites and Koma Hills cultural site, etc.; Taraba State boasts of having Gashaka-Gumti national/international Game Reserve, Pre-Colonial Executive Pit in Ibi Local Government Area, etc.; Gombe State boasts of having Mbormi Battleground, which is being proposed to be enlisted into the World Islamic Heritage list and Dutsen Mamaki (the Mystery Rock) at the Tangale settlement of Hausa people say, a spoonful of water is enough for the wise to take birth’ and an old English adage says, ‘a word is enough for the wise’.
This article should serve as a clarion call to Boron State Government, the National Commission in charge of historical monuments and museums and other critical stakeholders such as the Shehus of Boron and Bama as well as international and local donor agencies including UNESCO to multiply efforts and mobilise resources toward what KanemPress would call ‘complete unearthing’ of the Guru Kim historical site and explore other sites in the State. Remember, despite being the nucleus of the great ancient Kanem-Borno Empire, the present-day Boron State suffers from what KanemPress literally calls ‘historical site poverty’. Why historical site poverty? Yes, historical poverty is what Boron State suffers from because except for the Rabeh Fortress in Dikwa town, Boron State does not have any tangible historical site of any ‘monumental importance’.
The project is carrying out under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusivity and Accountability Project, an initiative of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
