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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Ounjougou, Mali: New Data on Bifacial Point Production in the Southern Sahara during the Middle Holocene
Authors:Kouti, SouadISNI
Huysecom, EricISNI
Year:2007
Periodical:Journal of African Archaeology
Volume:5
Issue:1
Pages:3-15
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:archaeological artefacts
tools
archaeology
Stone Age
Anthropology and Archaeology
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/43135418
Abstract:To date, archaeological sites dated between the 7th and 4th millennia cal BC are rare in West Africa. The Neolithic workshop which has been found at the 'Promontoire néolithique' at Ounjougou, Mali, had specialized in the bifacial shaping of armatures on sandstone, a local raw material. Test pits were dug between 2002 and 2004. The industry was discovered in the upper section of a sequence of mixed fine red loess, dated near the site within an interval between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC, while the geomorphological analysis of the zone and the insertion of the site into neighbouring sequences by radiocarbon dating yield a terminus ante quem of 3500 cal BC, confirming the attribution of the sequence to the Middle Holocene. While typological similarities exist between this bifacial industry and those of the Tilemsi Valley, the Windé Koroji, in southwest Nigeria and the Kintampo culture in Ghana, there remains a significant chronological discrepancy. Moreover, the archaeological material from West African sites contemporaneous with 'Promontoire Néolithique' is most often characterized by a microlithic industry. In the present state of knowledge, the industry of 'Promontoire Néolithique', chronologically isolated, falls within a dynamic of population movement or influences preceding the current aridity, perhaps associated with climatic changes that took place during the Middle Holocene between the 6th and 3rd millennia cal BC. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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