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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Iron Age Occupation in the Méma Region, Mali
Author:Togola, TérébaISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:African Archaeological Review
Volume:13
Issue:2
Pages:91-110
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:archaeology
Stone Age
Iron Age
prehistory
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Anthropology and Archaeology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01956303
Abstract:The recent archaeological campaign of 1989-1990 (regional site survey and excavations at the mound complex of Akumbu) has demonstrated that the Méma, a dry Sahelian region with a scattered population, located north and west of the inland Niger Delta and south of the Lakes region in Mali, was intensively occupied during the Iron Age. This intense occupation, certainly associated with better environmental conditions, extends back to the Late Stone Age. During the regional survey more than 100 Iron Age sites and nearly 30 Late Stone Age sites were identified. Their size, surface material and features, and location on geomorphological zones were recorded. A series of radiocarbon dates spanning the fourth to fourteenth centuries AD obtained from the excavations at the Iron Age mound complex of Akumbu and a preliminary analysis of the pottery from both the excavations and the survey permitted the determination of a broad chronology of occupation. Numerous slag heaps (associated with smelting furnace remains) found during the survey and imported goods uncovered during the excavations at Akumbu indicate that both iron production and long-distance trade played an important role in the Méma economy. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French.
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