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Ounjougou (Mali): A history of holocene settlement at the southern edge of the Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

E. Huysecom ,
S. Ozainne ,
F. Raeli ,
A. Ballouche ,
M. Rasse  and
S. Stokes
E. Huysecom
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Ecology, University of Geneva, Switzerland (Email: eric.huysecom@anthro.unige.ch)
S. Ozainne
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Ecology, University of Geneva, Switzerland (Email: eric.huysecom@anthro.unige.ch)
F. Raeli
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Ecology, University of Geneva, Switzerland (Email: eric.huysecom@anthro.unige.ch)
A. Ballouche
Affiliation:
Géophen UMR-CNRS 6554, UFR Geography, University of Caen, France
M. Rasse
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Rouen, France
S. Stokes
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Oxford, UK
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Abstract

The area of Ounjougou consists of a series of gullies cut through Upper Pleistocene and Holocene formations on the Dogon Plateau in the Sahel at the south edge of the Sahara Desert. Here the authors have chronicled a stratified sequence of human occupation from the tenth to the second millennium BC, recording natural and anthropogenic strata containing artefacts and micro- and macro- palaeoecological remains, mostly in an excellent state of preservation. They present a first synthesis of the archaeological and environmental sequence for the Holocene period, define five main occupation phases for Ounjougou, and attempt to place them within the context of West African prehistory.

Keywords

NeolithicHoloceneWest AfricaMaliDogon Plateausettlement historypalaeoenvironmentlithic industryceramicsgrinding implements
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 78 , Issue 301 , September 2004 , pp. 579 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

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