People and Palaeoclimates at the Diallowali Site Complex: Changing patterns along the Middle Senegal Valley throughout the 1st millennium BC

Summary

The first millennium BC was a time of considerable social, technological, and environmental change for the peoples of West Africa. Despite the growing number and distribution of archaeological projects throughout the region, very little is known about this critical period. Likewise, many of the climate models currently in use lack the sufficient temporal or spatial resolution needed to provide context for the variety of changes occurring at a localized level. Recent research at the Diallowali Site Complex along the Middle Senegal River Valley has provided a unique opportunity to investigate how first millennium BC social and environmental changes are linked. Combining stratigraphic excavations and large-scale, systematic survey, the Diallowali Archaeological Research Expedition (DARE) has compiled a detailed record of human habitation and climate change along the western margin of the Middle Senegal Valley. A multi-proxy approach to palaeoclimate modeling, and a detailed record of changing subsistence strategies and settlement patterns has provided a robust and localized data set spanning the late second and first millenniums BC. This paper will utilize this new body of research to explore the dynamic relationship between the changing environment and the human communities that called it home.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17289