Investigations Into a Mid 20th Century Senegalese Pirogue and the Development of the Senegambian Boat Building Tradition

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Maritime Archaeology in West Africa", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the late 1960s, a British “adventurer” purchased a small fishing boat from Senegal, used it to build a catamaran, and then sailed across the Atlantic to the US. This presentation studies the original construction of the dugout canoe, known colloquially in Senegal as a pirogue. This term, broadly applied to numerous local, vernacular watercraft, has been used since the Portuguese encountered the West African shoreline in the 15th century. Pirogues, already critical components of local subsistence and commerce, soon became an integral part of the negotiations between Europeans and Africans. These boats continue to be omnipresent in Senegambian coastal life. By taking a close look at this watercraft, now at the Field Museum, we seek to give an overview of the historical changes to the construction and operation of Senegalese watercraft between the 15th and 20th century, comparing the physical object with the documentary record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Maritime Archaeology in West Africa

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow