ABSTRACT
The archaeology of the indigenous west African town is a sparsely populated field of enquiry, especially compared with the vast numbers of researchers involved in early urban phenomena elsewhere in the world. Part of the reason for this probably lies in the unimposing visual aspect of many early west African towns. They offer nothing approaching the impressive plazas and temples of Mesoamerica, the pyramids of Egypt or the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, all of which have proved irresistible to laymen and professionals alike for over a century. The perception that monumental public architecture is an essential defining characteristic of a city runs deep in Western culture. The use of architectural symbols to express, among other things, civic pride and identity can be traced in the Western tradition back beyond classical Greece and Rome to the city-states of Sumer. The title of this chapter is intended as a device to focus on the fundamental point that the way in which we define cities and the circumstances in which we are willing to recognize their presence are frequently controlled by various cultural and intellectual biases.
