Red Chalk Palimpsest: The Logic of Somba Landscape

Fabrice Noukpakou,Nawri Khamallah,Ghita Barkouch,Renaud Pleitinx

doi:10.17645/up.v5i2.2796

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study on the traditional settlement patterns of the Somba people, living in the department of Atacora, north-western Benin. Adopting a methodology based on both a generative approach and André Corboz’s (1983) territory–palimpsest analogy, the study specifically questions the ‘dispersed’ character of the Somba habitat. Built upon two hypotheses, according to which Tatas Somba settle approximately to pre-existing Tatas and near to watercourses, this study seeks to understand the reasons and conditions of this dispersal throughout history. By cross-checking on-site inventory and geographic information system data allowing to analyse the distances between Tatas, archaeological sites and nearby watercourses, and thus revealing the permanent, the persistent, and the disappeared landscape elements, this article aims to prove that the settlement of the Tatas Somba is not determined by geometrical compositions, landmarks, or infrastructures, but rather by a combination of social, agricultural, environmental, and subsistence factors.

Highlights

This article presents the results of a study on the traditional settlement patterns of the Somba people, living in the department of Atacora, north-western Benin
The second hypothesis, suggested by the agricultural orientation of the Tata and by the water supply required for their construction, is that they settle near watercourses, making the hydrographic network the matrix of the Somba landscape
By studying the Tatas Somba from a generative perspective and a territory-as-palimpsest approach, the research presented in this article sought to further understand the dispersal of the Tatas Somba, as it is one of the characteristic features of the Somba landscape

Summary

Introduction

The Somba people’s modes of production, especially agriculture and earthen architecture, are characterised by their fragility and their lightness. As a result, they leave few visible and tangible traces of previous occupation and make few changes to the topography and hydraulic network, so much so that the settlement of the Tata does not seem to be dependent upon the per-. To understand the settlement of the Tata Somba in Benin, two hypotheses are proposed in this study. The second hypothesis, suggested by the agricultural orientation of the Tata and by the water supply required for their construction, is that they settle near watercourses, making the hydrographic network the matrix of the Somba landscape. Based on the recent geographical maps of Benin published by the Institut Géographique National (IGN), on a geolocated inventory of Tatas Somba, counting 3,546 individuals, these two hypotheses are put to the test, using QGIS software, through the analysis of the distances between the closest neighbors

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion