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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Anne Haour
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Projet SAHEL, a multidisciplinary project, was initiated to investigate long-term patterns of human occupation in the environmentally sensitive and archaeologically under-researched Sahel. This paper outlines an initial field survey carried out in this context in December 2004, in the Mékrou Valley, Parc W, Niger. This pilot study incorporated specialists in Palaeolithic and historic archaeology, and aimed to refine our understanding of the chronology and nature of the occupation of this area, an occupation already known from earlier work by other researchers to have been extensive. On the Palaeolithic front, Projet SAHEL carried out sampling aimed at assessing the potential for OSL dating of the Pleistocene sediments lining the Mékrou Valley - dating remains the major unknown in this sequence - and explored questions linked with raw materials procurement and the pattern of Pleistocene landscape use. On the historical front, Projet SAHEL carried out the first systematic collection of ceramic material, and obtained dates on an iron-working episode which allowed the cross-checking of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and extends the known time-depth of iron-working in the area.
Author(s): Haour A, Winton V, Ide OA, Rendell H, Clarke M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of African Archaeology
Year: 2006
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Pages: 299-315
ISSN (print): 1612-1651
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
