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Kola nut (Cola cf. nitida) and Safou fruit (Dacryodes edulis) remains have been discovered in eleventh- to fourteenth-century archaeological contexts at Togu Missiri near Ségou in Mali. These remains are evidence of early trade in perishable foodstuffs from the West African forest zone into the Middle Niger region. On the basis of these finds, this paper argues that long-distance trade links were well established by the end of the first millennium AD. It thereby supports the hypothesis that dates the inception of trade between the West African forest zone and the savanna regions to the first millennium AD. The circumstances of the find are discussed, as are the implications for our understanding of the wider exchange network based on the Niger River system in the late first and early second millennium CE.

Archaeological research undertaken between 2004 and 2008 at Kokolo in the Bandiagara region of Mali has revealed traces of drystone paved-structures and an important quantity of archaeological remains dating to the Pre-Dogon period. Examination of these finds facilitated their individual identification, though without providing indications of the function of the paved structures themselves. However, thanks to a multidisciplinary approach, uniting ethnoarchaeological and archaeological data, it has been possible to determine the function of this complex, which served as a pottery workshop.Keywords: technique de façonnage; trace de montage; tradition céramique; matériel de broyage; Pays dogon; ethnoarchéologie; archéologie; atelier de production céramique Les recherches archéologiques effectuées entre 2004 et 2008 ont révélé la présence à Kokolo (Bandiagara, Mali) des restes de structures à dalles en pierres sèches et d'une importante quantité de vestiges archéologiques datant de période pré-dogon. L'examen de ces trouvailles a permis d'identifier individuellement les éléments sans toutefois donner d'indications précises sur la fonction des structures à dalles et des vestiges associés. C'est grâce à une approche pluridisciplinaire associant à la fois les données ethnoarchéologiques et archéologiques que on a pu déterminer la fonction de ce dispositif, qui servait comme un atelier de production céramique.

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