Under the direction of Dr. Susan McIntosh, Mr. Alioune Deme will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological survey and excavation in the Middle Senegal Valley in Senegal. This research builds on prior survey conducted in the same region by Mr. Deme, his thesis advisor and colleagues. This work has revealed the presence of numerous settlements, most of a small and relatively ephemeral nature, the earliest of which dates to ca. two thousand years ago. Decades of research in the Niger Valley, an environmentally similar region in West Africa indicates the rise of a uniquely African style of complex society during the first millennium AD but in the Middle Niger, a comparable level of organization appears lacking. It is only after 1,000 AD that evidence clearly indicates similar complexity. However is yet uncertain whether this difference exists in fact or rather is an artifact of very limited survey and excavation. Mr. Deme believes that several large early sites are present and that no survey has been conducted in the valley environments most likely to contain such entities. With National Science Foundation support he will survey of one such promising zone and collect data on the timing and intensity of occupation and the size of sites occupied. His two additional excavations will focus on early first millennium stratified mound sites. Although upper layers were bulldozed away during construction projects, the lowest levels are available for study and these should reveal insight into the early settlement of the Valley.
In recent years archaeologists interested in the rise of civilization have paid increasing attention to West Africa because the models developed in Egypt, the Near East, China and portions of the New World appear not to apply. Although some hallmarks of complex society such as craft specialization, trade, population heterogeneity and urban growth are evident, social stratification and effectively centralized power appear to be lacking. Mr. Deme's research in the Middle Senegal Valley will provide a valuable comparison to the well known Niger sequence and determine the extent to which the pattern observed there is generalizable to other parts of West Africa. The research will also assist in training a promising young scientist.
