West African Palaeolithic history: New archaeological and chronostratigraphic data from the Falémé valley, eastern Senegal

Chevrier, Benoît; Rassé, Michel; Lespez, Laurent; Tribolo, Chantal; Hajdas, Irka; Fígols, M. Guardiola; Lebrun, Brice; Leplongeon, Alice; Camara, Abdramane; Huysecom, Éric

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.060

Cited by 34 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This relative dating is in contradiction with the preliminary OSL dating results obtained at Fatandi, Toumboura or Missira, in Fal em e region region. The new chronometric dates strongly support a very recent MSA occurring between the final stage of Pleistocene and the Holocene Chevrier et al., this volume).…”

Section: Tiemassassupporting

confidence: 73%

The Middle Palaeolithic of West Africa: Lithic techno-typological analyses of the site of Tiemassas, Senegal

Niang

Ndiaye

2016

Quaternary International

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Section: Tiemassassupporting

confidence: 73%

The Middle Palaeolithic of West Africa: Lithic techno-typological analyses of the site of Tiemassas, Senegal

Niang

Ndiaye

2016

Quaternary International

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“…In all the excavated areas, lithics smaller than 2 cm long were collected per ¼ m 2 and stored pending future taphonomical and archaeological studies.…”

Section: Archeological Analytical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The surface material was collected in its entirety and stratified artefacts longer than 2 cm were recorded. In addition, the smaller lithic fragments (< 2 cm long) were collected per ¼ m 2 . The excavation of the North trench sections as well as 5 m 2 of the extension (Fig 4) confirmed the presence of artefacts in the archaeological level, well-contextualized within the stratigraphy.…”

Section: Research Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

New data on settlement and environment at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: Interdisciplinary investigation at Fatandi V, Eastern Senegal

et al. 2020

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The end of the Palaeolithic represents one of the least-known periods in the history of western Africa, both in terms of its chronology and the identification of cultural assemblages entities based on the typo-technical analyses of its industries. In this context, the site of Fatandi V offers new data to discuss the cultural pattern during the Late Stone Age in western Africa. Stratigraphic, taphonomical and sedimentological analyses show the succession of three sedimentary units. Several concentrations with rich lithic material were recognized. An in situ occupation, composed of bladelets, segments, and bladelet and flake cores, is confirmed while others concentrations of lithic materials have been more or less disturbed by erosion and pedogenic post-depositional processes. The sequence is well-dated from 12 convergent OSL dates. Thanks to the dating of the stratigraphic units and an OSL date from the layer (11,300–9,200 BCE [13.3–11.2 ka at 68%, 14.3–10.3 ka at 95%]), the artefacts are dated to the end of Pleistocene or Early Holocene. Palaeoenvironmental data suggest that the settlement took place within a mosaic environment and more precisely at the transition between the open landscape of savanna on the glacis and the plateau, and the increasingly densely-wooded alluvial corridor. These humid areas must have been particularly attractive during the dry season by virtue of their rich resources (raw materials, water, trees, and bushes). The Fatandi V site constitutes the first stratified site of the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Senegal with both precise geochronological and palaeoenvironmental data. It complements perfectly the data already obtained in Mali and in the rest of western Africa, and thus constitutes a reference point for this period. In any case, the assemblage of Fatandi V, with its bladelets and segments and in the absence of ceramics and grinding material, fits with a cultural group using exclusively geometric armatures which strongly differs from another group characterized by the production of bifacial armatures, accompanied in its initial phase by ceramics (or stoneware) and grinding material.

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“…These tools resemble other Late Pleistocene examples recorded in the Lower Falémé. Although these are some distance away from Saxomununya, they are assemblages described as 'MSA-like', also featuring side-scrapers 28 . Overall, the core, debitage and tool assemblage, characterised by the presence of Levallois and discoidal reduction schemes and the absence of bipolar or laminar reduction, can best be ascribed to the MSA (S2, Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene

Scerri

Niang

Candy

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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The African Middle Stone Age (MSA, typically considered to span ca. 300–30 thousand years ago [ka]), represents our species’ first and longest lasting cultural phase. Although the MSA to Later Stone Age (LSA) transition is known to have had a degree of spatial and temporal variability, recent studies have implied that in some regions, the MSA persisted well beyond 30 ka. Here we report two new sites in Senegal that date the end of the MSA to around 11 ka, the youngest yet documented MSA in Africa. This shows that this cultural phase persisted into the Holocene. These results highlight significant spatial and temporal cultural variability in the African Late Pleistocene, consistent with genomic and palaeoanthropological hypotheses that significant, long-standing inter-group cultural differences shaped the later stages of human evolution in Africa.

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West African Palaeolithic history: New archaeological and chronostratigraphic data from the Falémé valley, eastern Senegal

Abstract: International audienc

Cited by 34 publications

References 17 publications

The Middle Palaeolithic of West Africa: Lithic techno-typological analyses of the site of Tiemassas, Senegal

The Middle Palaeolithic of West Africa: Lithic techno-typological analyses of the site of Tiemassas, Senegal

New data on settlement and environment at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: Interdisciplinary investigation at Fatandi V, Eastern Senegal

Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene

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