Heis (town)

Heis
Town
Heis

Location in Somalia.

Coordinates: 10°53′47″N 46°55′16″E / 10.89639°N 46.92111°E
Country  Somalia
Region Sanaag
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)

Heis (Somali: Xiis) is a coastal town in the northern Sanaag province of Somalia.

History

Heis is located to the west of Salweyn and Macajilayn.[1]

The site said to be identical with the ancient trading post of Mundus (Μούνδος in Ancient Greek) that is described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, an anonymous account by an Alexandrian salesman from the 1st century CE.[2][3]

A large collection of cairns of various types lie near the city.[4] Excavations here have yielded pottery and sherds of Roman glassware from a time between the 1st and 5th centuries.[2][3] Among these artefacts is high-quality millefiori glass.[4] Dated to 0-40 CE, it features red flower disks superimposed on a green background.[5] Additionally, an ancient fragment of a footed bowl was discovered in the surrounding area. The sherd is believed to have been made in Aswan (300-500 CE) or Lower Nubia (500-600 CE), suggesting early trading ties with kingdoms in the Nile Valley.[6]

Heis is situated in the Sanaag region, where local control is disputed between the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Somali Studies International Association, Hussein Mohamed Adam, Charles Lee Geshekter (ed.) (1992). The Proceedings of the First International Congress of Somali Studies. Scholars Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0891306587. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Mundu" (in German). University of Bern.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Newsletter of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in America, Issues 8-13. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. 1976. p. 5. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Meyer, Carol (1992). Glass from Quseir Al-Qadim and the Indian Ocean Trade, Issue 53. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. p. 37. ISBN 0918986877. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Hatke, George (2013). Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa. NYU Press. p. 152. ISBN 0814762832. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Somaliland’s Quest for International Recognition and the HBM-SSC Factor

References