This project aims to trace the history of human nutrition and its evolution over the last two millennia in West Africa. Its originality lies in two fundamental aspects: on the one hand, the establishment of a dialectic between the present and the past, through ethnoarchaeological and archaeological approaches on subcontemporary and medieval sites; on the other hand, the adoption of an integrated approach aimed at transcending traditional compartmentalised approaches (faunal and botanical remains, pottery, etc.), by acquiring and comparing data on the contents of ceramics, fauna and plant remains, while taking into account the morphometry and traces of use of pottery, as well as the spatial organisation of food-related activities at the archaeological sites under consideration.

This is a particularly innovative project, aimed at overcoming methodological and interpretative barriers that hinder the identification of foods with high symbolic or nutritional value, such as fermented beverages, plant and aquatic resources, using innovative molecular and isotopic approaches, particularly lipidomics. The complementary nature of the teams and the integration of the project into the FRA Bioarchaeology programme are guarantees of success in achieving a better understanding of food practices, developments and transitions for the study area in question.