Ethnoarchaeological study of ceramic borrowings: a new methodological approach applied in the middle and upper valleys of the Senegal River

The ethnoarchaeological study conducted in the Senegal River Valley (Senegal) has revealed two different ceramic traditions, influencing each other at some steps of the "chaine operatoire". Each borrowing process has been analysed according to a new methodology, inspired by the dynamic systems approach. Thanks to this approach, I have first understood the borrowing mecanisms, and then defined its actualisation context. From this analysis, I have proposed several rules of inference linking ceramic borrowings and the type of contact between the two traditions craftsmen.