Subsequent to preliminary contacts with the National Center for Scientific Research of Equatorial Guinea (CICTE : Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas), Prof. Bernard Clist carried out in Malabo a one-week exploratory mission funded by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs (26 November-2 December). The aim of this visit was to develop the Center’s interest in starting Iron Age archaeological research in conjunction with historical linguistic research, on Bioko Island in a first phase and later on on the mainland. The research project aims to uncover the very poorly understood cultural sequence of Bioko island which may have started off around 4,000-3,000 bp. This sequence is in direct relationship with the earliest expansion of Bantu speech communities and villages through Central Africa which the BantuFirst project is trying to identify south of the rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 2500 bp. In addition to fruitful meetings with the CICTE board of directors, Bernard Clist gave two conferences about our archaeological knowledge of the history of Equatorial Guinea, one at the French school, the other at the National University (see picture).