Archeology
Archaeological research at Ounjougou and the rest of the Dogon Country has led to access to a rich sequence of settlement from the Lower Paleolithic to the arrival of the Dogons. The currently accepted model demonstrates several cultural and technological transformations, which reveal significant changes in human-nature relationships.
During the Pleistocene, we note in particular the presence of a polyhedral industry older than 130,000 BP, the appearance of bifacial foliate arrow points 50,000 years ago and the disappearance of Levallois reduction 30,000 years ago. The Holocene period is especially marked by the emergence of pottery around 9,500 BC, the start of the millet culture around 1,800 BC and the appearance of iron metallurgy during the second half of the 1st millennium BC; Dogon settlement took place between the 13th and 15th centuries AD.
The broad scenario for settlement of the Dogon Country, for which the outline established from the work at Ounjougou reveals several sedimentary and cultural gaps, becomes clearer after each season due to the progressive expansion of research in the cliff zone and the Seno Plain, as well as in the northern part of the Bandiagara Plateau.
