Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present
The reconstruction of land use practices in hyper-arid Saharan Africa is often hampered by the accuracy of the available tools and by unconscious biases that see these areas as marginal and inhospitable. Considered that this has been for a long time the living space of pastoral mobile communities, n...
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/2/13 |
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doaj-e34327e59d2e454d99eb2bb7c51e88b42021-04-22T23:06:37ZengMDPI AGQuaternary2571-550X2021-04-014131310.3390/quat4020013Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the PresentCarla Lancelotti0Stefano Biagetti1CaSEs Research Group, Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c/Trias Fargas 25, 08005 Barcelona, SpainCaSEs Research Group, Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c/Trias Fargas 25, 08005 Barcelona, SpainThe reconstruction of land use practices in hyper-arid Saharan Africa is often hampered by the accuracy of the available tools and by unconscious biases that see these areas as marginal and inhospitable. Considered that this has been for a long time the living space of pastoral mobile communities, new research is showing that agriculture might have been more important in these areas than previously thought. In this paper, after a review of present-day land use strategies in Saharan Africa, we show how ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological data can offer us a different point of view and help in better defining land use and food production strategies in this area. Ultimately, these insights can be integrated into the ongoing efforts to reconstruct past land use globally.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/2/13drylandsland usearidity indexethnographyethnoarchaeologypastoralism |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Carla Lancelotti Stefano Biagetti |
spellingShingle |
Carla Lancelotti Stefano Biagetti Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present Quaternary drylands land use aridity index ethnography ethnoarchaeology pastoralism |
author_facet |
Carla Lancelotti Stefano Biagetti |
author_sort |
Carla Lancelotti |
title |
Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present |
title_short |
Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present |
title_full |
Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present |
title_fullStr |
Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping Food Production in Hyper-Arid and Arid Saharan Africa in the Holocene—A View from the Present |
title_sort |
mapping food production in hyper-arid and arid saharan africa in the holocene—a view from the present |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Quaternary |
issn |
2571-550X |
publishDate |
2021-04-01 |
description |
The reconstruction of land use practices in hyper-arid Saharan Africa is often hampered by the accuracy of the available tools and by unconscious biases that see these areas as marginal and inhospitable. Considered that this has been for a long time the living space of pastoral mobile communities, new research is showing that agriculture might have been more important in these areas than previously thought. In this paper, after a review of present-day land use strategies in Saharan Africa, we show how ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological data can offer us a different point of view and help in better defining land use and food production strategies in this area. Ultimately, these insights can be integrated into the ongoing efforts to reconstruct past land use globally. |
topic |
drylands land use aridity index ethnography ethnoarchaeology pastoralism |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/2/13 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT carlalancelotti mappingfoodproductioninhyperaridandaridsaharanafricaintheholoceneaviewfromthepresent AT stefanobiagetti mappingfoodproductioninhyperaridandaridsaharanafricaintheholoceneaviewfromthepresent |
_version_ |
1721513715616972800 |