Madingo Kayes is an archaeological site in modern-day

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

, lying close to the town of Madingo-Kayes. It is the site of one of the earliest documented complex societies in West Central Africa. Excavations conducted by James Denbow in the 1990s established a two order settlement pattern dated to the early centuries CE by

Carbon-14 Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

method. At least three sites of differing sizes were found, although their connections and the existence of any sort of settlement or economic hierarchy have not yet been established.

References

*Denbow, James. "Congo to Kalahari: data and hypotheses about the political economy of the western stream of the Early Iron Age." ''African Archaeological Review'' 1990, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp 139-175 Archaeological sites in the Republic of the Congo Congo 1990s archaeological discoveries Populated places established in the 1st century 1st-century establishments Archaeological sites of Central Africa {{Africa-archaeology-stub