Archaeological Investigations of Iron Age Sites in the Mema Region, Mali West Africa

by Togola, Tereba

• ISBN13: 9781407301785
• ISBN10: 1407301780
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-31
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

The African region traditionally known to Malians as the Mema is a plain of deep alluvial deposits that lies west of the current seasonally flooded Inland Delta of the Niger River and southwest of the of the Lakes Region. As for most traditional regions in Mali, its geographical borders are loosely defined. Nampala, the biggest town of the area, is located at 15o 16' north and 5o 35' west. The Mema is also sometimes referred to in the literature as the "Dead Delta", a name that evokes the presence of a dense network of dry watercourses. Due to the dearth of information on both the history and archaeology of Mema, the Mema archaeological research program was designed as an exploratory inquiry. The primary objective of the archaeological research program executed from December 1989 to June 1990 was to collect basic data that will permit a preliminary analysis of settlement pattern and radiocarbon and ceramic chronology as well as a careful description of the material culture of the Mema during the Iron Age (IA). Research comprised two components: a) a regional site survey and b) the excavations at the IA site complex of Akumbu. These two components were intended to complement each other. They also had the broad common goal to collect basic information from which future research questions and research strategies could be derived. The specific survey and excavation methodologies were developed to begin the process of answering the unresolved questions of Mema prehistory and early history. Of fundamental importance was the question of the kinds of archaeological sites present in the Mema, their chronology and distribution within the landscape. To answer this question, the research team needed to develop a survey of regional scope that would gather basic data on the nature, location, and distribution of archaeological sites (of all periods) in relation to the different geomorphological zones of the Mema.