Search

The megaliths of Senegal and The Gambia comprise nearly 30,000 erected stones recorded over a surface of around 30,000 km², mainly in the northern basin of the Gambia River. The very first radiocarbon date associated with the megaliths of Senegal and Gambia was published in 1965. Most of the radiocarbon dates obtained since then concern the westernmost part of Senegambian megalithism. More than 28 additional dates for the necropolis of Wanar (Senegal) alone, can now be added to the 25 previously available. Bayesian models incorporating the stratigraphic constraints specific to each sequence for each of the studied monuments, independently of each other, enable us to clarify these data and to propose an historic scenario. They illustrate a regional settlement sequence of more than two millennia, whereas the construction of standing stone circles could not have lasted for more than a few hundred years. Two radiocarbon dates on human teeth confirm that the death of the buried individuals dates from the eleventh or twelfth centuries AD.

The castle site of le Tronçay at Chevagnes is a Medieval earth and timber fortification composed of a succession of enclosures. Its excavation has enabled us to discover a castle motte and bailey, established during the 13th century, along with a fortified manor house added during the second half of the 14th century, although the original castle still existed.Craftwork was carried out here from the sites’ early days. At the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War it was a metal working centre. Analysis of waste has revealed the entire production chain, from local ore extraction through to the production of objects in forges, including ore transformation in smelting furnaces. These activities were all at some time grouped within the same fortified manor.Forty pieces of wood, originally from the entrance gangway, were found totally or partially carbonized in the moat. They have been dated by dendrochronology to the winter of 1360-1361. These elements enable us to reconstitute a deck and a bascule type drawbridge.