This provides a rather spectacular physical setting for villages built up on the sides of the escarpment. The Dogon are primarily agriculturalists, their principal crops being millet, sorghum, rice, onions, beans, tobacco, and sorrel. They are also arboriculturalists. The Dogon keep herds of goats and sheep along with some cows and poultry. Hunting contributes little to the diet since game in the area is scarce.
Fishing is done once a year as a collective venture.
According to their traditional history, ancestors of the Dogon migrated to the area which they now inhabit some time around the tenth century. These ancestors were four brothers, Dyon, Ono, Arou, and Domno. Inhabitants of different regions claim kinship with one of these four brothers. The Dogon have a system of social stratification similar to numerous other societies of the West African Sudan. The griots function as lineage genealogists, musicians, and poets and are evidently believed to be sorcerers as well.