While narratives of the spread of agriculture are central to interpretation of African history, hard evidence of past crops and cultivation practices are still few. This research aims at filling this gap and better understanding the evolution of agriculture and foodways in West Africa. It reports evidence from systematic flotation samples taken at the settlement mounds of Sadia (Mali), dating from 4 phases (phase 0=before first–third century AD; phase 1=mid eighth–tenth c. AD; phase 2=tenth–eleventh c. AD; phase 3=twelfth–late thirteenth c. AD). Flotation of 2200 l of soil provided plant macro-remains from 146 archaeological samples. As on most West African sites, the most dominant plant is pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum). But from the tenth century AD, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and African rice (Oryza glaberrima) appear in small quantities, and fonio (Digitaria exilis) and barnyard millet/hungry rice (Echinochloa sp.), sometimes considered weeds rather than staple crops, are found in large quantities. Some samples also show remains of tree fruits from savannah parklands, such as baobab (Adansonia digitata), marula (Sclerocarya birrea), jujube (Ziziphus sp.), shea butter (Vittelaria paradoxa) and African grapes (Lannea microcarpa). Fonio and Echinochloa sp. cultivation appears here to be a later addition that helped to diversify agriculture and buffer against failures that might affect the monoculture of pearl millet. This diversification at the end of the 1st millennium AD matches with other evidence found in West Africa.

虽然农业传播的叙述是解释非洲历史的核心，但过去农作物和耕作实践的确凿证据仍然很少。这项研究旨在填补这一空白，并更好地了解西非农业和饮食方式的演变。它报告了从萨迪亚（马里）定居点采集的系统浮选样本的证据，可追溯到 4 个阶段（阶段 0=公元一世纪至三世纪之前；阶段 1=公元八世纪至十世纪中期；阶段 2=公元十世纪至十一世纪） c. 公元 3 期=公元 12 世纪 - 公元 13 世纪末浮选 2200 升土壤提供了来自 146 个考古样本的植物宏观遗骸。与大多数西非地区一样，最主要的植物是珍珠粟（ Pennisetum glaucum ）。但从公元十世纪开始，高粱（ Sorghum bicolor ）和非洲稻（ Oryza glaberrima ）开始少量出现，而福尼奥（ Digitaria exilis ）和稗子/饿米（ Echinochloa sp.）有时被认为是杂草而不是主要作物，大量被发现。一些样本还显示了来自萨凡纳公园的树果遗迹，例如猴面包树（ Adansonia Digita ）、马鲁拉（ Sclerocarya birrea ）、枣（ Ziziphus sp.）、乳木果油（ Vittelaria paradoxa ）和非洲葡萄（ Lannea microcarpa ）。福尼奥和稗属sp。这里的种植似乎是后来增加的，有助于农业多样化，并缓冲可能影响珍珠粟单一种植的失败。公元第一个千年末的这种多样化与西非发现的其他证据相符。