Recognizing plague epidemics in the archaeological record of West Africa

2018/01/01 by Daphne Gallagher, Stephen A. Dueppen · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Plague (disease) #Settlement (finance) #Geography #Archaeology #Climate change #Politics #Archaeological record #History #Ethnology #Ancient history #Ecology #Political science #Biology

paper · doi:10.4000/afriques.2198

openalex publication_date 2018/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Many archaeological sites in the central West African savanna were either abandoned or reduced in size between the 14th and 15th centuries CE. Explanations have tended to invoke the effects of climate change (increasing aridity), political transformations, and religious conversion. However, more recently scholars have increasingly suggested that this regional pattern could be in part the result of plague epidemics. In this paper we explore the methodological challenges inherent in linking abandonments with the effects of epidemics in the archaeological record through a contextualized examination of settlement pattern data from recent archaeological research at sites in Burkina Faso and Mali. While plague cannot be definitively identified based on settlement pattern data alone, current evidence supports the possibility that plague affected populations in this area of West Africa. A broader view of sites throughout West Africa indicates that the possible effects of plague were widespread.

Citations

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Cited by

• Sulayman of Mali [wikipedia]

Related

• Reflections on plague in African history (14th–19th c.)
• Putting Africa on the Black Death map: Narratives from genetics and history
• Evidence for catastrophe at the time of the Plague of Justinian on Bahrain: right time, different disaster
• Race, Population Affinity, and Mortality Risk during the Second Plague Pandemic in Fourteenth-Century London, England
• 5 The Archaeology of “Plague”