Editing History of Senegal (section)

==Prehistory==

In the case of Senegal, the periodization of [[prehistory]] remains controversial. It is often described as beginning with the age of [[metallurgy]], thus placing it between the first [[metalworking]] and the appearance of [[writing]]. Other approaches exist such as that of Guy Thilmans and his team in 1980,<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Guy Thilmans, Cyr Descamps et B. Khayat, ''Protohistoire du Sénégal : recherches archéologiques'', tome 1 : ''Les Sites Mégalithiques'', IFAN, Dakar, 1980, 158 pages</ref> who felt that any archeology from pre-colonial could be attached to that designation or that of [[Hamady Bocoum]], who speaks of "Historical Archaeology" from the 4th century, at least for the former [[Tekrur]].<ref>See his third thesis supported at the Sorbonne in 1986, ''La Métallurgie du fer au Sénégal'' et ses travaux des années 1990 on this topic</ref>

A variety of archaeological remains have been found:
* On the coast and in river estuaries of the [[Senegal (river)|Senegal]], [[Saloum]], [[Gambia (river)|Gambia]], and [[Casamance River|Casamance]] rivers, burial mounds with clusters of shells often referred to as [[middens]]. 217 of these clusters have been identified in the [[Saloum Delta]] alone,<ref name="Arrêté"/> for example in  [[Joal-Fadiouth]],<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Edmond Dioh et Mathieu Gueye, « Les amas coquilliers de la lagune de Joal-Fadiouth (région de Thiès) », dans ''Senegalia'', op. cit., pp. 323–328.</ref> Mounds in the Saloum Delta have been dated back as far as 400 BCE, and part of the Saloum Delta is now a [[World Heritage Site]]. Funerary sites or tumuli were built there during the 8th to 16th centuries.<ref>{{cite web|title=Saloum Delta|url=http://worldheritagesite.org/sites/saloum.html|publisher=World Heritage Site|access-date=29 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006153656/http://worldheritagesite.org/sites/saloum.html|archive-date=6 October 2012}}</ref> They are also found in the north near [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint-Louis]],<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Annie Ravisé, ''Contribution à l'étude des Kjökkenmöddinger (amas artificiels de coquillages) dans la région de Saint-Louis'', Dakar, Université de Dakar, 1969 (mémoire de Maîtrise)</ref> and in the estuary of the Casamance.<ref>Olga Linares de Sapir, « Shell middens of lower Casamance and problems of Diola protohistory », ''West African Journal of Archaeology'', Oxford University Press, Ibadan, 1971, vol. I, pp. 23–54.</ref>
*The West is rich in burial mounds of sand that the [[Wolof people|Wolof]] refer to as ''mbanaar'', which translates to "graves",<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Jean-Léopold Diouf, ''Dictionnaire wolof-français et français-wolof'', Paris: Karthala, 2003, p. 216.</ref>  A solid gold [[Gorget|pectoral]] of mass 191 g has also been discovered near [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint-Louis]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Raymond Mauny]], ''Tableau géographique de l'Ouest africain au Moyen-Âge d'après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie'', Amsterdam: Swets et Zeitlinger, 1967, p. 163.</ref>

[[File:MégalitheSénégal.jpg|thumb|Megalithic alignments in Senegal]]

*In a huge area of nearly {{formatnum:33000}}&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> located in the center-south around the Gambia there have been found alignments of boulders known as the [[Stone Circles of Senegambia]] which were placed on the list of [[UNESCO World Heritage]] sites in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/fr/list/1226|title=Cercles mégalithiques de Sénégambie|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=2 July 2008|language=fr}}</ref> Two of these sites are located within the territory of Senegal: [[Sine Ngayène]]<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Augustin Holl et [[Hamady Bocoum]], « Variabilité des pratiques funéraires dans le mégalithisme sénégambien : le cas de Sine Ngayène », dans ''Senegalia'', op. cit., pp.&nbsp;224–234</ref> and Sine Wanar, both located in the [[Nioro du Rip Department]]. Sine Ngayène has 52 stone circles including a double circle. At Wanar, they number 24 and the stones are smaller. There are stone-carved lyre in the [[laterite]], Y- or A-shaped.
*The existence of proto-historic ruins in the middle Senegal River valley was confirmed in the late 1970s.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Bruno Chavane, ''Recherches archéologiques dans la moyenne vallée du fleuve Sénégal'', 1979 (thèse)</ref> Pottery, perforated [[ceramic]] discs <ref>{{in lang|fr}} Guy Thilmans, « Les disques perforés en céramique des sites protohistoriques du fleuve Sénégal », ''Notes africaines'', n° 162, 1979, pp.&nbsp;29–35.</ref> or ornaments have been unearthed. Excavations at thé site of Sinthiou Bara,<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Guy Thilmans et Annie Ravisé, ''Protohistoire du Sénégal, Recherches archéologique, tome II, Sinthiou-Bara et les sites du Fleuve'', 1983, Dakar, 213 pages (mémoire [[Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire|IFAN]])</ref> near [[Matam, Senegal|Matam]], have proved particularly fruitful. They have revealed, for example, the flow of trans-Saharan trade from distant parts of North Africa.