Agricultural diversification in West Africa

An archaeobotanical study of the site of Sadia (Dogon Country, Mali)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5362509
AutoresL Champion (0000-0003-0136-9136, University of Geneva), D Q Fuller (0000-0002-4859-080X, University College London), Sylvain Ozainne (0000-0001-5720-5187, University of Geneva), Éric Huysecom (0000-0003-4205-0914, University of Geneva), Anne Mayor (0000-0002-3665-1804, University of Geneva)
Año2021
Volumen13
Número4
Páginas60-60
Fecha de publicación2021-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12520-021-01293-5
PMID33758626
OpenAlexW3134989519
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas71

While narratives of the spread of agriculture are central to interpretation of African history, hard evidence of past crops and cultivation practices are still few. This research aims at filling this gap and better understanding the evolution of agriculture and foodways in West Africa. It reports evidence from systematic flotation samples taken at the settlement mounds of Sadia (Mali), dating from 4 phases (phase 0=before first-third century AD; phase 1=mid eighth-tenth c. AD; phase 2=tenth-eleventh c. AD; phase 3=twelfth-late thirteenth c. AD). Flotation of 2200 l of soil provided plant macro-remains from 146 archaeological samples. As on most West African sites, the most dominant plant is pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum). But from the tenth century AD, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and African rice (Oryza glaberrima) appear in small quantities, and fonio (Digitaria exilis) and barnyard millet/hungry rice (Echinochloa sp.), sometimes considered weeds rather than staple crops, are found in large quantities. Some samples also show remains of tree fruits from savannah parklands, such as baobab (Adansonia digitata), marula (Sclerocarya birrea), jujube (Ziziphus sp.), shea butter (Vittelaria paradoxa) and African grapes (Lannea microcarpa). Fonio and Echinochloa sp. cultivation appears here to be a later addition that helped to diversify agriculture and buffer against failures that might affect the monoculture of pearl millet. This diversification at the end of the 1st millennium AD matches with other evidence found in West Africa

Agriculture · Ancient history · Archaeology · Diversification (marketing strategy · Economics · Geography · Socioeconomics · African Botany and Ecology Studies · African Studies and Ethnography · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · History