View source for Tin Hinan

{{Short description|4th-century Tuareg queen}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name               = Tin Hinan
| title              = Tamenokalt
| image= Hocine Ziani - La reine Tin Hinan.jpg
| caption            = An oil painting entitled, ''The Queen Tin Hinan'', by [[Hocine Ziani]].
| reign              = 4th-century
| coronation         = 
| full name          = 
| birth_date         = 
| birth_place        = 
| death_date         =
| death_place        = 
| burial_date        = 
| burial_place       = [[Tin Hinan tomb]]
| predecessor        = 
| successor          = 
| spouse             = 
| issue              = 
| royal house        = 
| dynasty            = 
| father             = 
| mother             = 
| religion           = 
}}
'''Tin Hinan''' was a 4th-century [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] queen. What may be [[Tin Hinan Tomb|her monumental tomb]] is located in the [[Sahara]], at [[Abalessa]] in the [[Hoggar]] region of [[Algeria]].

==Queen of the Hoggar==

===Legends===

Tin Hinan is sometimes referred to as "Queen of the Hoggar",<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Nagel Publishers| isbn = 978-2-8263-0604-7| last = Huguenin-Gonon| first = N.| title = Algeria| date = 1973|page=137}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Hutchinson & Company| last = Wellard| first = James| title = The Great Sahara| location = London| date = 1965|page=47}}</ref> and by the Tuareg as ''Tamenokalt''<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Tarik Editions| isbn = 978-9954-419-82-3| last = Glacier| first = Osire| title = Femmes politiques au Maroc d'hier à aujourd'hui: La résistance et le pouvoir au féminin| date = 2016|language=French|chapter=Tin Hinana}}</ref> which also means "queen".<ref name=world&i>{{Cite news| publisher = Washington Times Corporation| title = The World & I| date = 1987|volume=2|issue=4|page=490}}</ref> The name literally means "woman of the tents",<ref name=world&i/> but may be metaphorically translated as "mother of us all".<ref>{{Cite journal| issue = 100| last1 = Frawsen| first1 = Ulbani Ait| last2 = Ukerdis| first2 = L'Hocine| title = The Origins of Amazigh Women's Power in North Africa: An Historical Overview| journal = Al-Raida| date = 2003|page=19}}</ref>

According to the stories told in the region, Tin Hinan was a "fugitive princess" who lived some time in the fourth century AD. Driven from the northern parts of the Sahara, she and her caravan of followers, so the stories go, nearly perished in the wilderness until they stumbled upon grain in desert anthills.<ref name=edinburgh/> In other legends less corroborated, Tin Hinan has been referred to as a Muslim.{{#tag:ref|Given the date of her tomb, this is anachronistic.|group="nb"}} In this legend, Tin Hinan had a daughter (or granddaughter), whose name is Kella, while Takamat had two daughters. These children are said to be the ancestors of the Tuareg of the [[Ahaggar]]. Another version is that Tin Hinan had three daughters (who had totemic names referring to desert animals) who were the tribal ancestors.

===Tomb of Tin Hinan===

By the early twentieth century, the story of Tin Hinan had long been told, and many believed that it was simply a legend or a myth. However, in 1925, explorers discovered her tomb, proving that she was a historical figure.<ref name=edinburgh>{{Cite book| publisher = Edinburgh University Press| isbn = 978-0-7486-4175-8| last = Bogue| first = Ronald| title = Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History| url = https://archive.org/details/deleuzianfabulat00bogu| url-access = limited| date = 2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/deleuzianfabulat00bogu/page/n160 154]}}</ref> Located not far from the oasis of Abalessa, Algeria, about 1,000 miles (1550 kilometers) south of Algiers, on a rounded hill rising about 125 ft (38 meters) above the junction of two [[wadis]], the [[Tin Hinan Tomb|tomb]] is pear-shaped in plan with a major axis of about 88 ft (27 meters).  It contains 11 rooms or courts.

The [[Tin Hinan tomb|tomb of Tin Hinan]] was opened by [[Byron Khun de Prorok]] with support from the French army in 1925, and archaeologists made a more thorough investigation in 1933. It was found to contain the skeleton of a woman (probably buried in the fourth century AD) on a wooden [[litter (vehicle)|litter]], lying on her back with her head facing east. She was accompanied by heavy gold and silver jewellery, some of it adorned with pearls. On her right forearm she wore 7 silver bracelets, and on her left, 7 gold bracelets. Another silver bracelet and a gold ring were placed with the body. Remains of a complex piecework necklace of gold and pearls (real and artificial) were also present.

A number of [[Grave goods|funerary objects]] were also found. These included a [[Venus figurines|"Venus" statue]], a glass goblet (lost during World War II), barbed arrowheads of iron, an iron knife, and a gold foil which bore the imprint of a Roman coin of [[Constantine I]] issued between 308 and 324 CE. A 4th to 5th century date is consistent with carbon dating of the wooden bed and also with the style of pottery, a pottery lamp of third-century Roman type, and other tomb furniture.<ref name="Gatto">{{cite book |first1=David J. |last1=Mattingly |first2=Maria Carmela |last2=Gatto |first3=Martin |last3=Sterry |first4=Nick |last4=Ray |authorlink1=David Mattingly (archaeologist) |editor1-last=Gatto |editor1-first=M.C. |editor2-last=Mattingly |editor2-first=D.J. |editor3-last=Ray |editor3-first=N. |editor4-last=Sterry |editor4-first=M. |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108474085 |page=17-18 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOeADwAAQBAJ&q=Tin+Hinan&pg=PA17 |accessdate=13 October 2019 |language=en |chapter=Burials, Migration and Identity: The view from the Sahara}}</ref> [[Tifinagh]] inscriptions are inscribed on the wall stones. The tomb itself is constructed in a style that is widespread in the Sahara.

An anthropological study of the remains concluded the skeleton was that of a tall middle-aged Berber woman.<ref name="Gatto"/> The body is now in the [[Bardo National Museum (Algiers)|Bardo National Museum]] in [[Algiers]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ilahiane |first=Hsain |title=Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4422-8182-0 |edition=2nd |series=Historical dictionaries of peoples and cultures |location=Lanham}}</ref>

==Notes==

{{reflist | group="nb"|30em}}

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography ==

* {{cite book|author1=Brett, Michael|author2=Elizabeth Fentress|title=The Berbers|publisher=WileyBlackwell|date=1997|isbn=978-0-631-20767-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdrAfKmUrLcC&q=%22tin+hinan%22&pg=PA207|accessdate=July 17, 2018}}
* {{cite journal|author=Camps, Gabriel|title=L'âge du tombeau de Tin Hinan, ancêtre des Touareg du Hoggar|journal=Zephyrus|volume=25|date=1974|pages=497–516}}

[[Category:Berber monarchs]]
[[Category:Queens regnant in Africa]]
[[Category:Ancient Algeria]]
[[Category:4th-century queens regnant]]
[[Category:5th-century women monarchs]]
[[Category:History of the Sahara]]
[[Category:Tuareg people]]
[[Category:4th-century Berber people]]