Old Woven Straw Leather Carpet – Tuareg – Niger

Approx. 100,5 × 35,0 cm (circa 39,57″ × 13,78″).

Carpet woven from exceptionally sturdy herb stems, interlaced with leather strips forming traditional tuareg geometric patterns.

The Tuareg people inhabit a vast region encompassing much of the central and western Sahara and the north-central Sahel. They are widely believed to descend from the ancient Libyan people of the Garamantes kingdom, described by Herodotus. Predominantly nomadic, the Tuareg have for over two millennia operated the trans-Saharan caravan trade, linking the great cities on the southern edge of the Sahara to the Mediterranean coast via five major desert routes.

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