Louis
Champion
  • Occitanie Regional delegation, Montpellier, France

Specialities

Tropical archaeobotany, evolution of agricultural and gastronomic systems over time

Function

Research Scientist

Team(s)

Membership Institute

IRD

As an archaeobotanist, I specialize in tropical agriculture and food systems. I study the long-term interactions between plants, societies, and the environment, combining archaeology, ethnobotany, agroecology, and genetics. My field research in Africa and Asia aims to understand the evolution of agroecological knowledge, which is essential for building a sustainable future.

Keywords
  • Archeobotany
  • Domestication
  • Long time scale
  • Ethnoecology
  • Transdisciplinarity

Publications

Kaczmarek T., Cubry P., Champion L., Causse S., Couderc M., Orjuela J., Uyoh E. A., Oselebe H. O., Dachi S. N., Adje C. O. A., Sekloka E., Achigan-Dako E. G., Ibrahim Bio Yerima A. R., Idi Saidou S., Bakasso Y., Diop B. M., Gueye M. C., Agyare R. Y., Adjebeng-Danquah J., Gueye M., Wieringa J. J., Vigouroux Y., Billot C., Barnaud A., Lecler C. 2025. Independent domestication and cultivation histories of two West African indigenous fonio millet crops. Nature Communications. 16. 4067.
Pryce T. O., Pradier B., Favereau A., Oo U. S. N., Le Meur C., Oo D. K. T., Aye U. A., Win D. T. T., Langowska K. A., Hanus K., Iizuka Y., Georgon C., Zhuang Y. J., Castillo C., Fuller D., Win D. H. S., Aung D. H. M. K., Champion L., Oo U. M. M., Oo U. M. N., Phyo U. Z., Maung U. P. W., Myat D. Y. M., Zaw U. T., Paibool K. A., Domethong K. V., Willis A., Higham C. F. W., Higham T. F. G. 2024. Late prehistoric and early historic chronology of Myanmar : a four-millennia sequence from Halin. Antiquity. 98(397). 30-47.
Fuller D. Q., Champion L., Castillo C. C., den Hollander A. 2024. Cotton and post-Neolithic investment agriculture in tropical Asia and Africa, with two routes to West Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 57. 104649.
Debels P., Drieu L., Chiquet P., Studer J., Malergue A., Martignac L., Champion L., Garnier A., Fichet V., Sall M., Regert M., Mayor A. 2024. Investigating grandmothers’ cooking: A multidisciplinary approach to foodways on an archaeological dump in Lower Casamance, Senegal. PLOS ONE. 19(5). e0295794.
Ollier C., Champion L., Rasse M., Mayor A. 2023. “The women know”: agroecological expertise of women rice farmers facing global change in Lower Casamance (Senegal). Anthropology of Food. 17. 1-25.
Daraojimba K.C., Babalola A.B., Brittain M., Adeyemo E., Champion L., Smith Shaw P. J., Sulas F. 2022. Expanding space and time at Igbo-Ukwu: insights from recent fieldwork. African Archaeological Review. 39. 437-459.
Champion L., Hohn A., Neumann K., Franke G., Breunig P. 2022. A question of rite—pearl millet consumption at Nok culture sites, Nigeria (second/first millennium BC). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 32. 263-283.
Toutes les publications
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