Résumé
Archaeology in Western Central Africa is slowly revealing its complex history. In the current context of declining biodiversity (including agro-diversity) it is becoming urgent to understand the history of agriculture in Central Africa and its past strategies in order to improve current food security and to find resilient solutions for the future.In this paper we present the preliminary archaeobotanical results (macro remains and starch grains) recovered from 19 archaeological sites dated to the Early Iron Age (ca. 500–200 BC) and the modern period (ca. 1800 AD) located 70 km north of Yaoundé and discovered on a dam construction site. The rescue archaeology program on the Nachtigal Amont hydroelectric dam site conducted by a Franco-Cameroonian IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement) team has to date documented more than 161 archaeological sites across more than 721 hectares. In total, 50 archaeobotanical samples (for a total of 483.5 litres of soil) and 23 potsherds were analysed. The results suggest that agriculture based on the West-African package comprising pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) was introduced during the Early Iron Age and that the local diet was composed of cereals, legumes, oil-rich seeds (Canarium schweinfurthii and Elaeis guineensis) as well as tubers (Dioscorea ssp.).