Environment
The good preservation conditions of sediments and botanical remains at Ounjougou, rare in West Africa, privilege this area for environmental studies. A multidisciplinary approach associating geomorphology, geochronology and archaeobotany has been developed to reconstruct the sedimentary and climatic history of this region.
Research has thus been attached both to the understanding of the geomorphological evolution of the Yamé Valley and to the development of a general chronostratigraphic framework for the Pleistocene and Holocene. This part of the project additionally offers an excellent field for application for the OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) dating method.
Extremely rich in macro- and microbotanical material, the Holocene formations at Ounjougou are moreover conducive to the reconstruction of paleoenvironments of the region. Several methods (anthracology, palynology, phytolith studies, micromorphology, etc.) have in consequence been applied to understand the influences of human societies and climatic variability on the landscapes of the Dogon Country during the Holocene.
