The Archaeology of Shea Parklands (Vitellaria paradoxa) in Burkina Faso

Supplementary Content. Thousands of years of farming and herding have transformed much of the West African savannas into parklands, cultivated landscapes dotted with trees and shrubs. Various useful multipurpose trees are protected within this type of agroforestry system, among which the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is widely valued for the butter extracted from the seeds. While there is evidence of its use and management in historic times, the development of the shea-dominated parklands in more distant times remains unclear. At Kirikongo, archaeobotanical analysis of the carbonized shea seed shells found evidence for management of trees for shea butter production during the 1st millennium AD. Here we complement this research with the analysis of wood charcoal preserved in the same site. The results show that exploitation of shea nuts does not exempt the use of shea wood. In line with other archaeological evidence, we argue that the increase of shea charcoal fragments as well as their later decrease during the 1500 years of settlement represent the development and retraction of a shea park.

Cite this as

Alexa Höhn; Stephan A. Dueppen; Daphne Gallagher; Lukas Lammers (2024). The Archaeology of Shea Parklands (Vitellaria paradoxa) in Burkina Faso [Data set]. DAI. https://doi.org/10.34780/bgo1z5ka
Retrieved: 16:53 08 Aug 2026 (UTC)

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Additional Info

Field Value
Author(s) Alexa Höhn
Stephan A. Dueppen
Daphne Gallagher
Lukas Lammers
Maintainer KAAK Redaktion
Version 1.0
Last Updated August 3, 2026, 09:53 (UTC)
Created October 1, 2024, 12:48 (UTC)
Subtitle Supplementary Online Material: Charcoal types – diagnostic remarks & SEM documentation
Publisher Kommission für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
In Language English
Year of publication 2024
Resource Type General Journal Article
DOI 10.34780/bgo1z5ka
Related Resources

https://doi.org/10.34780/hsrn4z77