Sonni Ali

Another possible reason for the abandonment of the site is warfare, and the long occupation of the city by the Songhay conqueror Sonni Ali, and the rise of Islam. Indeed, Susan and Roderick McxIntosh , professors of anthropology at Rice University, speculate that the site may have been abandoned because it was associate with ancient “ pagan” religious practices, and that the increasing Muslim population wished to move to a new site more suitable for the construction of Muslim holy places.