Population dynamics and Paleoclimate over the past 3000 years in the Dogon Country, Mali

This paper reviews the issue of the peopling of the Dogon Country (Mali) and surrounding regions over the past 3000 years, taking into account the influence of Sahelian paleoclimatic variations as well as archaeological, ethnoarchaeological, and historical data. The integration of all these elements is important in order to understand the conditions of settlement in this region now listed as part of UNESCO's natural and cultural world heritage. The new archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnoarchaeological data presented here were gathered through the international pluridisciplinary research program “Paleoenvironment and Human Population in West Africa” begun in 1997. This program is centered on the study of Ounjougou, an area located in the Yamé valley on the Bandiagara Plateau. It includes numerous archaeological sites exposed by recent erosion processes, indicating the presence of human populations from the Lower Paleolithic to present times.