A reconsideration of the West African macrolithic conundrum: new factory sites and an associated settlement in the Vallée du Serpent, Mali

Abstract

Within West African prehistory, perhaps no period remains more mysterious than that between the Terminal Pleistocene and the mid-Holocene. This time period is shared by diverse macrolithic and microlithic industries. The macrolithic phenomenon has remained ill-defined, with most occurrences being generally lumped together as a single group, or attributed to earlier time periods. Recent archaeological investigations in the Vall~e du Serpent and southern Gourma regions of Mali have revealed Holocene macrolithic assemblages quite different from the well-known bifacial traditions of Cap Manuel and Manianbougou, but not without parallels from elsewhere in the Sahel and Savanna. The most important of the ValiSe du Serpent sites is that of Sirakoro-Ancien, where worked stone aggregations are associated with several rings of laterite cobbles believed to be the remnants of structures. Its lithic industry consists of massive flakes, perhaps removed directly from local outcrops, and smaller flakes from prepared cores as well as formal tools. Geomorphological and archaeological evidence suggests an age of the ValiSe du Serpent sites somewhere between 9000 and 6000 bp. A new synthesis based upon sites investigated by the authors and the predominantly Francophone literature is presented in order to shed light upon this neglected portion of African prehistory. R~sum~Dans toute la pr~histoire de l'Afrique occidentale, aucune p6riode ne reste peut-@tre plus myst~rieuse que celle situ~e entre la fin du Pleistocene et le milieu de l'Holoc~ne. Diverses industries macrolithiques et microlithiques se partagent cette p~riode. Le ph6nombne macrolithique reste mal d6fini, la plupart des exemples en sont g6n~ralement rassembl6s en un seul groupe, ou attribu6s ~ des p~riodes ant~rieures. Des recherches arch6ologiques effectu~es dans les r~gions de la valise du Serpent et du sud du Gourma au Mali ont r&,~l~ des collections macrolithiques de l'Holocbne bien diff~rentes des traditions bifaciales bien connues de Cap Manuel et Manianbougou, mais non sans parall~les ailleurs dans le Sahel et la Savanne. Le plus important des sites de la valise du Serpent est celui de SirakoroAncien o~5 des agr~gats de pierres travaill~es sont associ~s ~ plusieurs cercles de galets en lat~rite que l'on pense 6tre des restes de structures. Cette industrie lithique consiste en ~clats massifs, peut-6tre retires directement de couches g6ologiques locales, et en ~clats 74 Kevin C. MacDonald and P. Allsworth-Jones plus petits provenant de nucleus pr6par~s ainsi que des outils. Des preuves g~omorpholo-giques et arch~ologiques sugg~rent que les sites de la valise du Serpent ont entre 9000 et 6000 ans. Une nouvelle synth~se, fond~e sur les sites ~tudi~s par les auteurs et des documents principalement en fran~ais, est pr~sent~e afin d'ficlairer cette partie n~glig6e de la pr6histoire africaine.

Dhar Néma: from early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania

“…Materials are inevitably of fine quartzite and schist. Zweïma, the most extensive assemblage, resembles the macrolithic industries from Mali described by MacDonald and Allsworth-Jones (1994).…”

New research on the Holocene settlement and environment of the Chad Basin in Nigeria

“…Ground stone tools of this kind are known in West Africa only from later archaeological contexts. The tools were therefore probably unground core-axe-like and pick-like bifacial tools of macrolithic appearance, such as are known from Rim 1 (northern Burkina Faso) at about the same latitude (Andah, 1978) and known elsewhere in West Africa for decades (MacDonald and Allsworth-Jones, 1994). In some cases they have been considered as an adaptation to the forest environment (Shaw, 1980, p. 77).…”

A fluid past: Socio‐hydrological systems of the West African Sahel across the long durée

“…Despite these conditions, however, there is evidence for occupation of southern West Africa in this period—albeit somewhat limited. These include sites with prepared core/and or macroflake industries, such as those in Senegal at Badoye (Camara & Duboscq, ) and Mali at Onjougou (Huysecom et al, ) and the Vallée du Serpant (MacDonald & Allsworth‐Jones, ) among few others.…”