Description du projet
Pathiana: une petite mais puissante région dans l’histoire de l’Afrique de l’Ouest
La région de Pathiana, une petite zone au sud du Sénégal, a joué un grand rôle dans l’histoire de la Sénégambie au cours du dernier millénaire. Du XIIIe au XXe siècle, le territoire de Pathiana a survécu en tant qu’unité politique et centre de pouvoir à travers quatre États différents, et a joué un rôle important dans le commerce atlantique. Cependant, son archéologie n’a toujours pas fait l’objet d’études. Le projet PALP, financé par l’UE, combinera documents d’archives, traditions orales et archéologie pour étudier l’histoire de cette région fascinante et ses implications plus larges.
Objectif
This project focuses on the archaeology and history of the territory of Pathiana, a small (30x40km) region in southern Senegal which has played a key role in the history of the Senegambia over the last millennium. From the 12th to the early 20th C, and through four major socio-political disruptions, Pathiana survived as a political unit and centre of power, becoming a key player in the Atlantic trade in the process. Nevertheless, despite its key historical importance, Pathiana has never been archaeologically or historically studied, except for some limited excavations conducted as part of the applicant’s PhD. The proposed project aims to redress this situation by combing archival research with surface survey and recording of oral traditions amongst village elders. This will generate three interrelated datasets -historical European accounts and maps, local oral historical narratives, and archaeological survey data- which will be combined to achieve two main goals.
Firstly, this project will rectify a major lacuna in our understanding of the Senegambia by systematically documenting the archaeology of Pathiana and its associated traditions. This will correlate for the first time the region’s intangible narratives with tangible remains and generate the chronologies and baselines for future research to build on. Additionally, this interdisciplinary dataset will be used to explore how the political structures of a small but powerful polity changed and adapted through seven centuries and three major societal upheavals, and how such structures were reflected in, and articulated through, the landscape. This project thus will generate highly significant data and interpretations concerning both the history of the Senegambia and wider debates on societal organization, political complexity, and the relationship between power and spatiality, as well as further exploring the long-standing dialogue between oral traditions, written sources and archaeology.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinateur
28006 Madrid
Espagne