9th century – 11th century
Bandiagara escarpment, present-day Mali
The Tellern were an archaeological population associated with cave occupations on the Bandiagara escarpment in present-day Mali. Radiocarbon dates indicate that their occupation began at the end of the period under discussion and continued for two or three centuries. The present Dogon attribute the cave remains to the Tellern, while physical-anthropological studies distinguish Tellern skeletons from the Kurumba of present-day Burkina Faso, challenging earlier claims that the Tellern were ancestral to that population.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Tellern are known primarily through archaeological and skeletal remains recovered from caves on the Bandiagara escarpment in present-day Mali. Unlike the temporary use of caves by many later iron-using farmers, these caves preserve evidence of a more substantial occupation. The archaeological record has made the Tellern an important case for studying communities that occupied the Guinea zone at the transition between the first and second millennia.
Radiocarbon dates indicate that occupation of the caves began only at the very end of the period covered by the chapter and lasted for two or three centuries. This chronology places the Tellern within a late phase of the regional sequence rather than among the earliest farming or Stone Age populations discussed in the passage.
The present Dogon people of the area attribute the cave remains to the Tellern and state that the caves were unoccupied when they arrived from the west. Earlier interpretations proposed that the Tellern migrated eastward into what is now Burkina Faso and became ancestral to the Kurumba. Studies of physical anthropology, however, indicate that the Kurumba and Tellern skeletons are genetically different.
9th century – 11th century
Bandiagara escarpment, present-day Mali
The Tellern were an archaeological population associated with cave occupations on the Bandiagara escarpment in present-day Mali. Radiocarbon dates indicate that their occupation began at the end of the period under discussion and continued for two or three centuries. The present Dogon attribute the cave remains to the Tellern, while physical-anthropological studies distinguish Tellern skeletons from the Kurumba of present-day Burkina Faso, challenging earlier claims that the Tellern were ancestral to that population.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Tellern are known primarily through archaeological and skeletal remains recovered from caves on the Bandiagara escarpment in present-day Mali. Unlike the temporary use of caves by many later iron-using farmers, these caves preserve evidence of a more substantial occupation. The archaeological record has made the Tellern an important case for studying communities that occupied the Guinea zone at the transition between the first and second millennia.
Radiocarbon dates indicate that occupation of the caves began only at the very end of the period covered by the chapter and lasted for two or three centuries. This chronology places the Tellern within a late phase of the regional sequence rather than among the earliest farming or Stone Age populations discussed in the passage.
The present Dogon people of the area attribute the cave remains to the Tellern and state that the caves were unoccupied when they arrived from the west. Earlier interpretations proposed that the Tellern migrated eastward into what is now Burkina Faso and became ancestral to the Kurumba. Studies of physical anthropology, however, indicate that the Kurumba and Tellern skeletons are genetically different.