The Tumuli Zone of Central West Senegal: Geophysical and Archaeological Investigations into a Buried Cultural Landscape

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sonja Magnavita Santos
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 394519756

Thousands of burial mounds are known throughout Senegal, but the highest density occurs in the central West of the country. Remarkably, apart from the presence of the prominent monuments, other traces of the human occupation of that region remain archaeologically elusive. Standard reconnaissance surveys conducted within the past 40 years were only able to record the archaeological "emptiness" near the mounds, and at best a few "off-site" artefact scatters. Contrary to the former, the results of a preceding DFG-funded project directed by the applicant have demonstrated that settlement remains from various pre- and protohistorical periods can be relatively easily located, if suitable methodology is employed. In the scope of a landscape-based archaeological project that will combine state-of-the-art technologies and conventional methodologies, the applicant expects to make two major contributions to African archaeology. On the local and regional level, the project shall provide a first insight into the long-term development of the archaeological landscapes into which the mortuary structures were embedded. On a continental scale, the project shall set a benchmark by demonstrating exemplarily how large-scale surveys employing modern technologies can be useful for exploring and better understanding discrete African archaeological cultural landscapes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants