Durbi Takusheyi

Durbi Takusheyi (or Durbi-ta-kusheyi, meaning "tombs of the chief priest")[1][2] is a burial site and major archaeological landmark situated about 32 km east[3][4] of Katsina in northern Nigeria.

The grave goods comprise a local, indigenous component besides foreign elements which attest to networks that reached far into the Islamic Near East.

[5] Katsina represented a focal point for trans-Saharan trade during the late middle ages,[3][6] a crucial phase in local history during which the Hausa city-states emerged.

[2] Usman states that the essentially agrarian, proto-urban villages of the region were presided over by a town head (or mai gari), who was the supposed representative of a senior lineage.

The authority of the town heads in the Katsina area was based on their control of, and identification with, the ancestor cults centered on the Durbi tombs.

[14] Excavated objects include pottery, grinding stones, iron spearheads, faunal remains, brass bars, bowls, cornelian beads, and golden earrings.

[13] A bowl of Near Eastern origin in tumulus 7, dated to the late 15th to early 16th century, attests to increased international and Islamic influence at this time.

They range from bracelets and/or anklets of various forms and manufacturing techniques and leg guards to bowls, buckets, ingots, and finery such as beads, pins, and forks.

In 2007, the scholars are said to have exported "tons of materials" excavated from Durbi Takusheyi for restoration and conservation at the Romano-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz.

[4] The gist of the legends holds that a Hausa man, Kumayo (or Kumayun), to whom one of the baobab shrines was later dedicated, founded the Katsina kingdom in the 13th century.