Under the supervision of Dr. Augustin Holl, Daphne Gallagher will investigate the prehistoric transition from hunting and gathering to farming at the base of the Gobnangou Escarpment in southeastern Burkina Faso, West Africa. Rising 100 meters above the savanna, the escarpment is a sandstone cliff with an extensive watershed stretching 15km into the floodplain before joining the Volta River drainage system. Its numerous micro-environmental zones make it an attractive locale for humans, as evidenced by a 7000 year cultural sequence (the longest currently known in West Africa), and survey in the region has identified many different types of archaeological sites. These include deeply stratified rockshelters, ephemeral campsites, small occupation mounds, and dispersed villages as well as sites used for special purposes such as rock paintings, storage, and iron smelting. Gallagher will expand on this survey to develop a more comprehensive understanding of settlement in the region. The occupation mounds, which were abandoned ca. AD 1000, are the first sedentary habitations in the region and may have been the homes of the first local farmers. These sites will be the focus of excavation.
Since agricultural techniques can produce higher yields and enable higher population densities, their incorporation into an economic system can involve changes in many other aspects of the social system. Through a thorough examination of the process by which this adoption occurs, archaeologists can begin to understand one element of culture change. Gallagher will evaluate two competing models for subsistence transformations in the Gobnangou: (1) domesticated resources were first adopted as supplements to an existing resource base and only gradually become important in the diet or (2) domesticated resources replaced existing resources and almost immediately became staples. To identify the subsistence strategies in the various types of site, she will use both direct evidence (e.g. botanical and faunal remains from excavations) and indirect evidence (e.g. site location and organization from survey, and material items such as grinding stones from excavation). The resulting case study will be a valuable addition to the limited body of primary archaeological data available for West Africa. This project also adds geographic diversity to a global body of research documenting the dispersal of agriculture.
This project will have a significant impact on Burkinabe archaeology, most immediately through the inventory of sites threatened by cotton farming. As most archaeological fieldwork in Burkina Faso is funded by foreign sources, the inclusion of an advanced student from the University of Ouagadougou in the field team is an important contribution to developing a local community of scholars. Results will be widely disseminated to both Francophone and Anglophone audiences, and communicated to modern residents of the survey region through oral presentations translated into Gourmantche.
