The Mema area, Mali, situated climatologically within the Sahel zone, carries extensive traces of ancient settlements. Material from the author's 1978 excavation indicates environmental conditions similar to the present day inland Niger delta during the old Kingdom of Ghana (A.D. 800–1150). This centralized political power controlled gold trade from the south and salt from the north. The iron smelting in Mema was too extensive to be explained as local supply alone. It probably constituted an important basis for political centralization. The iron production seems to have caused deforestation, and the Kingdom may therefor have been weakened by ecological detonation connected with iron production.
Norwegian Archaeological Review
Volume 13, 1980 - Issue 1
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