Papers by Kevin MacDonald
On the Margins of Ghana and Kawkaw: Four Seasons of Excavation at Tongo Maaré Diabal (AD 500-1150), Mali
Journal of African Archaeology
This article summarises the results of four seasons of excavation at Tongo Maaré Diabal (AD 500-1... more This article summarises the results of four seasons of excavation at Tongo Maaré Diabal (AD 500-1150), near Douentza, Mali. Deep stratigraphic excavations were directed by MacDonald and Togola in 1993, 1995 and by MacDonald in 1996. Complementary, large exposure excavations of the abandonment layer were undertaken by Gestrich in 2010. The combined excavation results speak to topics of craft specialisation, trade, and social organisation. They provide evidence of a specialised blacksmithing community situated at the margins of early Middle Niger and Niger Bend statehood and urbanisation.
Western Africa: History of Archaeology
In Vogel J Encyclopaedia of Precolonial Africa Archaeology History Languages Cultures and Environments Walnut Creek Altamira, 1997
Korounkorokalé revisited : The Pays Mande and the West African microlithic technocomplex
African Archaeological Review, 1997
In 1992 and 1993, the author reexcavated the rockshelter of Korounkorokalé, located in the heart ... more In 1992 and 1993, the author reexcavated the rockshelter of Korounkorokalé, located in the heart of the Pays Mande. Evidence from this reinvestigation supports the idea of a long-term recurrent occupation of this site by peoples possessing a conservative quartz microlithic tradition for at least 5000 years. Seemingly aberrant “recent” first millennium AD dates from similar sites in the region are reexamined in the light of the Korounkorokalé sequence. It is argued that some isolated groups of Sub-Saharan peoples maintained a hunting-gathering lifestyle as recently as the mid to late first millennium AD. Oral traditions among modern Savanna groups, which refer to the presence of “little peoples” at their first colonization of the region, are used to support this argument. A new model for the peopling of West Africa is presented based upon a long-term autochthonous presence south of the Sahara.
Djenne: A Thousand Year-Old City in Mali
African Archaeological Review 13 147 152, May 31, 1996
Djenne, situated in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali, is a modern city neighboring an older sister ... more Djenne, situated in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali, is a modern city neighboring an older sister settlement-Jenn6-Jeno or "old Jenne." Jenn6-Jeno is an occupation mound (tell) which was first set-tled in the last two centuries BC, with evidence suggesting the emer-gence of full-...
Ethics and the African Archaeologist: the Case of Mali
Professor Thurstan Shaw CBE, FBA, FSA: a personal appreciation and remembrance
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0067270x 2013 828390, Sep 10, 2013
The Avifauna of the Haua Fteah (Libya)
Archaeozoologia, 1998
Résumé/Abstract Le site de Haua Fteah, ou la «Grande Grotte», a été fouillé en 1951, 1952 et 1955... more Résumé/Abstract Le site de Haua Fteah, ou la «Grande Grotte», a été fouillé en 1951, 1952 et 1955 par Charles McBurney de l'Université de Cambridge. L'occupation de la grotte s' étale sur plus de 100.000 ans, avec des dépôts du Paléolithique moyen jusqu'à l'époque ...
Early Domesticated Pearl Millet in Dhar Nema(Mauritania): evidence of crop processing waste as ceramic temper
In Cappers Rtj Fields of Change Progress in African Archaeobotany Barkhuis Publishing Groningen University Groningen, 2007
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Domestic geese from medieval Dublin
Archaeofauna International Journal of Archaeozoology, 1993
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Western African and Southern Saharan Advanced Foragers
In Vogel J Encylopaedia of Pre Colonial Africa Archaeology History Languages Cultures and Environments Walnut Creek Altamira, 1997
The stone arm ring and related polished stone industries of Hombori (Mali)
In Allsworth Jones P West African Archaeology New Developments New Perspectives Bar Oxford, 2010
The Dia Archaeological Project: Rescuing Cultural Heritage in the Inland Niger Delta (Mali). (Special Section)
Antiquity 75 837 848, 2001
Mali is a country with a rich history and diverse cultures. Its cultural heritage is, however, th... more Mali is a country with a rich history and diverse cultures. Its cultural heritage is, however, threatened by both the pillage of archaeological sites and illicit trade (ICOM 1995; Bedaux & Rowlands, this volunle). Looting has dramatically increased in recent years, especially in the Inland Delta of the Niger, and has obliged Malian authorities to take measures to counteract this destruction. Within the framework of a long-term Malian-Dutch cultural heritage programme, the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde at Leiden recently initiated large-scale excavations in the Inland Niger Delta at Dia, in close cooperation with the Université du Mali, the Institut des Sciences Humaines and the Musée National du Mali in Bamako, the Mission Culturelle in Djenné, the Universities of Paris I and VI, the C.N.R.S., University College London and Leiden University. This excavation, financed principally by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, started in 1998 and will continue until 2004. It is a continuation of previous international programmes of site survey and documentation in the Inland Niger Delta, which the Institut des Sciences Humaines in Bamako has co-ordinated over the past two decades (e.g. Raimbault & Sanogo 1991; Dembele et al. 1993; Togola 1996). An initial season of prospection was carried out in 1998 in the Inland Delta, following which the vicinity of Dia was chosen as the principal research zone for the project.
�The least of their inhabited villages are fortified�: the walled settlements of Segou
Azania Archaeological Research in Africa 47 343 364, Sep 1, 2012
The penetration of Sahelian West Africa by Europeans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries r... more The penetration of Sahelian West Africa by Europeans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries revealed landscapes dotted with fortified settlements of every size and shape; none more so than that of Segou, the pre-eminent Mande polity of the era. This is not surprising given the insecurity which reigned at that time, with interminable warfare or raiding linked to the capture
Colonoware in Western Colonial Louisiana: Makers and Meaning
In Kelly K and Hardy M French Colonial Archaeology in the Southeast and the Caribbean University Press of Florida Gainesville, 2011
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The Origins and Development of Domesticated Animals in Arid West Africa
In Blench Rm and Macdonald Kc the Origins and Development of African Livestock Archaeology Genetics Linguistics and Ethnography Ucl Press London, 2000
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Timbuktu under threat
Current World Archaeology 26 31, Apr 1, 2013
Dhar Néma: from early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania
Azania Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, Apr 1, 2009
Dhar Néma, easternmost of the Tichitt escarpment chain, was neglected by archaeologists throughou... more Dhar Néma, easternmost of the Tichitt escarpment chain, was neglected by archaeologists throughout the twentieth century. However, since 2000, two separate archaeological teams have conducted survey and test excavation work in the region. This article presents the final research results of one of these teams. Two sites in particular are closely examined: the settlement mound of Djiganyai with stratified intermittent occupation between c. 2000 and 800 cal. BC, and the multi-component site of Bou Khzama II, featuring structural elements, ...
Chickens in Africa: The importance of Qasr Ibrim
Antiquity, 1993
An articulated hen's ... more An articulated hen's skeleton, set under the doorway of a building at the celebrated desiccated site of Qasr Ibrim in Egyptian Nubia, is cause to look again at the flight of chickens into Africa.
Dr. T�r�ba Togola, National Director of Cultural Heritage (Mali)
African Archaeological Review, 2006
Antiquity, 2012
Coincoin, probably of Kongo parentage, was born a slave, became the concubine of a French planter... more Coincoin, probably of Kongo parentage, was born a slave, became the concubine of a French planter, Pierre Metoyer, bore him ten children, and in 1787 was settled by him on a plantation of her own. Locating and excavating her house, the authors discovered it to be a type of clay-wall building known from West Africa. The house, together with an adjacent clay boundary wall, was probably built by slaves of Bight of Biafra origin loaned from the neighbouring plantation of her ex-partner. These structures are witness to emerging initiatives and interactions among people of African descent—but different African origins—in eighteenth-century Louisiana.
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Papers by Kevin MacDonald