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Shifting sedentism in the Upper Casamance (Senegal)

Donnay, SC; (2016) Shifting sedentism in the Upper Casamance (Senegal). Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa , 51 (4) pp. 453-468. 10.1080/0067270X.2016.1249588. Green open access

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Abstract

The Upper Casamance is a region that has witnessed dramatic socio-political developments in the last millennium, including its conquest by the Mali Empire and a prominent role in the Atlantic trade, but which until now had never been archaeologically studied. Two seasons of fieldwork undertaken in 2013 revealed a landscape of shallow, short-lived sites at odds with the large permanent towns described by historical accounts and oral traditions. This article argues that the key to reconciling these two sets of evidence lies in a very particular settlement pattern — one of ‘shifting sedentism’ — by which villages and towns regularly shifted a few hundred metres, while keeping the name, identity, and institutions of the community intact. Combining data from ethnographic observations, written historical sources, oral traditions, surface survey and excavation, the paper reviews the importance of shifting sedentism in the Upper Casamance's history, as well as its wider archaeological implications.

Type: Article
Title: Shifting sedentism in the Upper Casamance (Senegal)
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2016.1249588
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2016.1249588
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10053398
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