Shifting Sedentism in West Africa

Studies of past mobility in West Africa and beyond have traditionally seen sedentism and mobility as binary opposites, with sedentism as the stable option and mobility as an exception that needs to be explained. Additionally, archaeologists have tended to gravitate toward deeply stratified sites, wh...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Canós-Donnay, Sirio
Tipo de recurso: otro
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/285498
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/285498
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Shifting sedentism
Mobility
Flat sites
Horizontal stratigraphy
West Africa
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spelling Shifting Sedentism in West AfricaCanós-Donnay, SirioShifting sedentismMobilityFlat sitesHorizontal stratigraphyWest AfricaStudies of past mobility in West Africa and beyond have traditionally seen sedentism and mobility as binary opposites, with sedentism as the stable option and mobility as an exception that needs to be explained. Additionally, archaeologists have tended to gravitate toward deeply stratified sites, while flat sites were often neglected, presumed to be ephemeral and of little interest. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, archaeologists across West Africa have been increasingly documenting a phenomenon that deeply challenges those assumptions: that of populations that are sedentary but whose settlements regularly “shift” or move short distances but keep the name, institutions, and networks of the community intact. Known as “shifting sedentism,” this pattern opens new theoretical and methodological possibilities as it demonstrates that lack of stratification does not necessary entail ephemeral occupations, nor insecurity or lack of social complexity. In fact, over the past few decades, shifting sedentism patterns have been documented archaeologically, historically, and ethnographically in a wide range of societies, from stateless groups to hierarchical empires, from cattle-herders to agriculturalists, and in the most diverse sociopolitical, cultural, and economic settings. Thanks to all these studies, it is now clear that shifting sedentism has been present in societies across West Africa, from Senegal to Cameroon, for centuries, but its importance is only now beginning to be understood.Peer reviewedOxford University PressConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202220222022info:eu-repo/semantics/otherhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookPartapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/285498reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttps://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.510Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/2854982026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
title Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
spellingShingle Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
Canós-Donnay, Sirio
Shifting sedentism
Mobility
Flat sites
Horizontal stratigraphy
West Africa
title_short Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
title_full Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
title_fullStr Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
title_sort Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Canós-Donnay, Sirio
author Canós-Donnay, Sirio
author_facet Canós-Donnay, Sirio
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Shifting sedentism
Mobility
Flat sites
Horizontal stratigraphy
West Africa
topic Shifting sedentism
Mobility
Flat sites
Horizontal stratigraphy
West Africa
description Studies of past mobility in West Africa and beyond have traditionally seen sedentism and mobility as binary opposites, with sedentism as the stable option and mobility as an exception that needs to be explained. Additionally, archaeologists have tended to gravitate toward deeply stratified sites, while flat sites were often neglected, presumed to be ephemeral and of little interest. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, archaeologists across West Africa have been increasingly documenting a phenomenon that deeply challenges those assumptions: that of populations that are sedentary but whose settlements regularly “shift” or move short distances but keep the name, institutions, and networks of the community intact. Known as “shifting sedentism,” this pattern opens new theoretical and methodological possibilities as it demonstrates that lack of stratification does not necessary entail ephemeral occupations, nor insecurity or lack of social complexity. In fact, over the past few decades, shifting sedentism patterns have been documented archaeologically, historically, and ethnographically in a wide range of societies, from stateless groups to hierarchical empires, from cattle-herders to agriculturalists, and in the most diverse sociopolitical, cultural, and economic settings. Thanks to all these studies, it is now clear that shifting sedentism has been present in societies across West Africa, from Senegal to Cameroon, for centuries, but its importance is only now beginning to be understood.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022
2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/other
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart
format other
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/285498
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/285498
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.510
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Oxford University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Oxford University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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