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Nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) grains: towards a reconstruction of past cultivation conditions in the Sahel, West Africa

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Abstract

The nitrogen isotope compositions of charred wheat and barley grains reflect manuring intensity and have been used to reconstruct past manuring practices at archaeological sites across Europe and western Asia. To assess whether this analytical method can be applied to a staple crop in the West African Sahel, the nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum grains in this region were determined and the effect of charring ascertained. Pennisetum glaucum ears were collected from fields in northeast Senegal, where the fertilisation histories of the plots (manure and/or household waste) were known. The nitrogen isotope values of these millet grains provide an insight into the values to expect for P. glaucum grains grown with low to moderate addition of manure/household waste in a semi-arid climate. Charring of P. glaucum grains by heating at 215–260 °C for 4–24 h increases their nitrogen isotope values by a maximum of 0.34‰. In light of these modern data, the nitrogen isotope values of millet grains recovered from the archaeological settlement mound of Tongo Maaré Diabal, Mali, can be interpreted as evidence for modest levels of manure/household waste input throughout the occupation of the site from cal ad 500–1150. This study demonstrates the potential for nitrogen isotope values of P. glaucum grains to shed light on past farming practices in West Africa.

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Acknowledgements

Our sincere thanks go to the farmers in Senegal, in particular Assane Lô and Sherif Loum, for permission to access their fields and for providing cultivation histories. We also thank the USDA project ‘Projet Services Entreprises Mil Sénégal’ for access to their database and for their help during the sampling of P. glaucum in Senegal. We would like to thank Doris Bergman-Dörr and Dagmar Schneider at the Institut für Physische Geographie, Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, for their assistance in soil analyses. We are also grateful to Jens Fiebig and Sven Hofmann for their assistance in isotopic determinations at the Institut für Geowissenschaften, Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and to Peter Ditchfield for his assistance at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, UK. AS is funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The excavations at TMD were funded by the Prehistoric Society, the British Academy and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK (KCM 1993–1996) and by the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Emslie Horniman Scholarship, the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Tweedie Exploration Fellowship (NG 2010). We would also like to thank Jessica Metcalfe and an other anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments, which have greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, IG-Farben-Haus, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Amy K. Styring & Katharina Neumann

  2. Center for Regenerative Agriculture in Africa, 82 Place Cayenne, Avenue du Caen, Thiès, Senegal

    Amadou M. Diop

  3. School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PG, UK

    Amy Bogaard

  4. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK

    Louis Champion, Dorian Q. Fuller & Kevin C. Macdonald

  5. Frobenius Institute, Frankfurt, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Nikolas Gestrich

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Correspondence to Amy K. Styring.

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Styring, A.K., Diop, A.M., Bogaard, A. et al. Nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) grains: towards a reconstruction of past cultivation conditions in the Sahel, West Africa. Veget Hist Archaeobot 28, 663–678 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00722-9

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