ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the dynamic relationship between human communities and their environments in the past in an attempt to reframe the climate change discourse away from the popular 'environmental optima' narrative. It argues that the long-term perspectives developed by archaeological inquiry can provide a unique set of insights into the complexities of socio-ecological systems. Decades of archaeological research in West Africa have provided a rich reservoir of data on diachronic processes of climate change and human response. The chapter analyses the trajectory of social organisation and risk-buffering strategies along portions of West Africa's two great river valleys – the Inland Niger Delta, and the Middle Senegal River Valley – within the context of the distinct environmental circumstances of each region. The modern populations of the Middle Senegal Valley (MSV), composed mostly of Halpulaar communities, have developed dynamic strategies to exploit the topographical discontinuities created by the river system in ways that manage the unpredictable nature of the environment.
