Kola nut (Cola cf. nitida) and Safou fruit (Dacryodes edulis) remains have been discovered in eleventh- to fourteenth-century archaeological contexts at Togu Missiri near Ségou in Mali. These remains are evidence of early trade in perishable foodstuffs from the West African forest zone into the Middle Niger region. On the basis of these finds, this paper argues that long-distance trade links were well established by the end of the first millennium AD. It thereby supports the hypothesis that dates the inception of trade between the West African forest zone and the savanna regions to the first millennium AD. The circumstances of the find are discussed, as are the implications for our understanding of the wider exchange network based on the Niger River system in the late first and early second millennium CE.

可乐果 ( Cola cf. nitida ) 和 Safou 果 ( Dacryodes edulis) 遗骸是在 11 至 14 世纪考古环境中在马里塞古附近的 Togu Missiri 中发现的。这些遗迹是早期易腐食品从西非森林区到尼日尔中部地区的贸易的证据。在这些发现的基础上，本文认为，到公元第一个千年末，长途贸易联系已经很好地建立起来。因此，它支持了西非森林区和热带稀树草原地区之间贸易开始于公元第一个千年的假设。讨论了这一发现的情况，以及对我们理解公元一世纪末和二世纪初基于尼日尔河系统的更广泛交换网络的影响。