The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali)

• Autores: Eric Huysecom, M. Rasse, Laurent Lespez, K. Neumann, A. Fahmy, Aziz Ballouche, Sylvain Ozainne, M. Maggetti, Chantal Tribolo, S. Soriano
• Localización: Antiquity, ISSN 0003-598X, Vol. 83, Nº 322, 2009, págs. 905-917
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • New excavations in ravines at Ounjougou in Mali have brought to light a lithic and ceramic assemblage that dates from before 9400 cal BC. The authors show that this first use of pottery coincides with a warm wet period in the Sahara. As in East Asia, where very early ceramics are also known, the pottery and small bifacial arrowheads were the components of a new subsistence strategy exploiting an ecology associated with abundant wild grasses. In Africa, however, the seeds were probably boiled (then as now) rather than made into bread.