Afrique Archéologie Arts (Sep 2010)
Ounjougou (Pays dogon, Mali) : une séquence à haute résolution pour le Paléolithique moyen d’Afrique sahélienne
Abstract
West Africa is currently entirely absent from discussions on the Middle Stone Age. While sites from this period have been known in this region for a long time, their stratigraphic context is often unclear or nonexistent. As in Southern Africa and Western Europe, progress in our knowledge of Middle Stone Age will depend mainly on the construction of a broad chronological framework, preferably correlated with worldwide climatic changes and supported by absolute dates. This is the reason why the study of a complex of open air sites at Ounjougou (Mali) has opened up a new perspective on the MSA in West Africa. Almost 30 archaeological levels belonging to that period have been identified within thick Pleistocene deposits, mostly of aeolian origin. Systematic recovery of OSL dates helped in establishing a chronology for the whole sequence of deposits, which allowed for the indirect dating of many palaeolithic occupations. Oldest MSA occupations are dated from the end of the Middle Pleistocene, about 150 kyrs ago. They are more numerous between 80 and 25 kyrs ago, with a particular concentration in isotopic stage 3. As usual in open-air sites, the density of material within archaeological levels is highly variable, and only lithic industries have been preserved. Apart from the frequency of occupation, the originality of this archaeological sequence lies in the diversity of the industries, which succeed each other without apparent logic. Manufacturing techniques (such as Levallois, discoid, blade, unipolar, or bipolar on anvil) alternate throughout the sequence, and industries characterized by bifacial foliate artefacts occur more than once. If most of these industries fit easily within the West African MSA as a whole, the diversity of technical traditions and their rapid shift bring several questions. Are there regional equivalents for such a rate of change ? Does it have any significance as regards the peopling of West Africa at this time ? And what could have led to such rapid changes ?
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