Ancient Middle Niger: Urbanism and the Self-Organizing LandscapeThe cities of West Africa's Middle Niger, only recently brought to the world's attention, make us rethink the 'whys' and the 'wheres' of ancient urbanism. They present the archaeologist with a novelty; a non nucleated, clustered city plan with no centralized, state focused power. This book explores the emergence of these cities in the first millennium B. C. and the evolution of their hinterlands from the perspective of the self organized landscape.