Rock art is categorized into different groups (e.g. Bubaline, Kel Essuf, Round Head, Pastoral, Caballine, Cameline), based on art method, organisms, motifs, superimposed, etc. wikKEP
So far there is no evidence for ATLATLS in Africa. wikST
ROCK ART V in the Acacus Mountains of Algeria continues 12,000 BC to 100 CE. This one at Tadart shows a giraffe. |
photo: roberdan
wikAcM |
by 10,000 |
KEL ESSUF rock art, the earliest form of engraved anthropomorphic Central Saharan rock art, is produced. Oval-shaped humans with short arms (often with 3 or 4 fingers) & legs, and usually a large penis. Like these 3 at Tadrart Acacus, Libya. 20 sites depict more than 300 Kel Essuf rock artforms in the Tadrart of Algeria and a few sites in the Tadrart of Libya depict at least 20 Kel Essuf rock artforms. |
drawing: Karl Heinz Striedter
by 10,000 wikKEs, wikSRA, pre-9800 wikKEP, 9800 wikSRA |
c. 10,000 |
Tassili n'Ajjer begins ARCHAIC Period until 7500, attributed to hunter-gatherers, consisting of only etchings, mostly of larger wild animals depicted in a naturalistic manner, with occasional geometric patterns and humans, usually, in the context of a hunting scene. |
10,000 wikTnA |
c. 10,000 |
BUBALUS Period (aka Large Wild Fauna Period) started by Saharan hunter-gatherers until 4000. Bubaline rock art portrays geometric designs and naturalistic outlined depictions of animals, such as antelope, aurochs, buffalos (Bubalus antiquus/Syncerus complexus), asses, elephants, fish (e.g. catfish, Nile perch), giraffes, hippos, ostriches, and rhinos. |
photo: Linus Wolf
12,000 wikBbl, 10,000 wikSRA, 7200 wikBbl |
c. 10,000 |
West African hunter-gatherers migrate until 6000 from coastal West Africa, toward the north of West Africa as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, as evidenced by their microlithic industries. |
10,000 wikPWA |
c.9800 |
NABTA PLAYA V in Nubia is inhabited with small seasonal camps. They hunt wild aurochs. |
9800 Copilot, 9-7000 wikNP |
by 9400 |
Niger-Congo V speakers in Ounjougou Mali independently invent BOW & ARROW, and make Λ POTTERY V. They begin migrating into the Central Sahara until 8000. Linguistic divergence begins to increase. |
10,000 wikPWA 9400 wikPHWA, wikPtr, wikPWA |
c.9000 |
EBURRAN INDUSTRY in East Africa from 13,000 ends. Artifacts from Gamble's Cave and Nderit Drift, include large backed blades, crescent microliths, burins, and end-scrapers. Some tools are made from obsidian. |
9000 wikCps |
c.9000 |
Mesolithic QADAN Culture in Nubia from 13,000 ends. economy was based on fishing, hunting/gathering, and use of wild grain |
9000 wikQd |
c.9000 |
IBEROMAURUSIAN Culture on the northwest coast of Africa from 22,000 ends. Artifacts include small narrow instruments, notched blades, variously retouched, coloring substances, grinding tools, hammer-stones, circular end-scrapers, disks, alterative flake pebbles. |
9000 wikIm |
c.9000 |
WHEAT, cultivated in Levant from 9600, first cultivated in Africa. See Egypt 6000. |
10-8000 wikPA 5000 Copilot |
c.9000 |
From 10 to 8000 BC, Northeast Africa cultivates WHEAT & BARLEY and raises sheep and cattle from Southwest Asia. |
10-8000 wikPA |
c.9000 |
From 9 to 5000, Λ Niger-Congo speakers domesticate the oil palm and raffia palm. They independently develop AGRICULTURE V (e.g., Yams/Dioscorea). Black-eyed peas and voandzeia (African groundnuts) are domesticated, followed by okra and kola nuts. |
9000 wikPWA |
c.9000 |
1st known Negro skeleton comes from Iwo Ileru in Nigeria. |
9000 mxfld |
c.9000 |
BIR KISEIBA archaeological site in the north Nubian desert is occupied until 3000. Earliest evidence of food production, permanent settlement, more diverse technologies than Late Pleistocene. |
9000 wikBK |
c.8800 |
Saharan Neolithic Period begins until 4700. A shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculture, plus cattle herding. Λ POTTERY V during the early and middle phases consists of wide bowls decorated using the rocker-stamp with lines and points made by combs or cords. Early settlements are temporary, with no evidence of houses, storage pits, or wells. Tools are backed microlithic bladelets and grinding stones. |
8800 Copilot, Shaw |
c.8726 |
Saharan Neolithic has decoratively detailed POTTERY and other ceramics. A spatula and lithic grinding tools with ocher remnants (precisely dated) on them, which serves as evidence of painting, were found in an Acacus Mountains rockshelter with Round Head rock art. |
8726 wikBbl, wikKEs |
c.8500 |
Mesolithic TOOLS used in Saharan Africa. |
8500 PW 12 |
c.8500 |
Saharan Λ ROCK ART V shows wild, and later domestic, animals. |
8500 PW 12 |
c.8000 |
Niger-Congo speakers in Ounjougou Mali, migrating into the Central Sahara from 9400, now reside primarily there. |
8000 wikPHWA, wikPWA |
c.8000 |
At Nataruk in Kenya, outsiders attack and kill at least 27 people, of which remains have been found. |
8000 wikPA |
c.8000 |
Mediterranean dark-white Caucasoids appear to have come from Asia, with Cushite languages, and spread south along the Rift Valley of Africa to settle by lakes in Kenya. They fish and make pottery. |
8000 mxfld |
c.8000 |
CAPSIAN Culture begins on the north coast of Tunisia until 2700: They eat aurochs, hartebeest, hares, and snails; there is little evidence of plants eaten. Burial methods suggest belief in an afterlife. Artifacts include figurative and abstract Λ ROCK ART V. Ochre colors both tools and corpses. Ostrich eggshells are used to make beads and containers; seashells are used for necklaces. Spain 6000. |
8000 wikCps, wikPNA |
c.8000 |
CAVE V of SWIMMERS in the mountainous Gilf Kebir plateau of the Libyan Desert contains Neolithic pictographs of people apparently swimming, giraffes, and hippopotami. |
photo: Roland Unger
8000 wikCoS |
c.8000 |
Tropical MONSOON V rain system from Sub-Saharan west Africa changes direction and moves northward into the Central Sahara. |
8000 wikPst |
c.8000 |
Sahara gets more RAIN. WET period begins until 6000, perhaps because of low pressure areas over collapsing ice sheets to the north. |
8000 wikPNA 7000 mxfld |
c.8000 |
In the steppes and savannah of the Sahara and Sahel, the Nilo-Saharan speakers start to collect and domesticate wild MILLET V and SORGHUM V until 6000. |
8000 wikPWA |
c.8000 |
KIFFIANS begin in the Sahara by a lake (now dried up) until 6000. Some are over 6' tall. They hunt (with harpoons) undomesticated animals, make stylized (e.g. zig zags, wavy lines) Λ POTTERY V, and fish with fish hooks. |
8000 Copilot, wikPWA |
c.8000 |
Egalitarian black African hunter-gatherers migrate northward into the Central Sahara (e.g. Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter, Acacus Mountains, Libya). Hunter-gatherer groups occupy the Sahara until 5500 |
8000 wikTnA, wikPst |
c.8000 |
PSILOCYBIN mushrooms portrayed in murals in North Africa. |
9-7000 anor |
c.7810 |
EARLY ACACUS period in the Acacus Mountains begins until 6880. A humid period with small groups of mobile people living in valleys and along lowland lakes. |
7810 wikAcM |
c.7500 |
1st Λ POTTERY V manufactured in Sahara. It has wavy line decoration. |
7500 PW 13 |
c.7500 |
Tassili n'Ajjer ARCHAIC Period from 10,000 ends. ROUND HEAD Period begins until 5000, and includes Saharan rock art. It is associated with stylistic humanoid forms, mainly of paintings. Floating figures with round, featureless heads and formless bodies. Most animals are mouflon and antelope, usually in static positions, not part of a hunting scene. |
7500 wikSRA, wikTnA |
c.7500 |
From now until 3500, in the Green Sahara, undomesticated flora are farmed, stored, and cooked. Domesticated animals are milked and managed, by hunter-gatherers near the Takarkori rock-shelter. |
7500 wikPWA |
c.7500 |
Barbary SHEEP V (never domesticated) are hunted near the Takarkori rock-shelter. |
7500 wikPWA |
c.7500 |
NABTA PLAYA V in north Nubia, occupied from 9800, larger organised settlements arise, around deep wells. Small huts are built in straight rows. Foods include wild fruit, legumes, millets, sorghum and tubers. Later, goats and sheep from west Asia appear. Large hearths also appear. Inhabitants are probably Nilo-Saharan-speaking migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. |
7500 wikNP, wikPE 7000 Shaw 29 |
c.7000 |
DONKEYS are domesticated from the African wild ass by settlers of Ethiopian highlands and the horn of Africa. Confined to Africa until 3000. Egypt 4650 |
7000 Copilot, wikPA 5-3000 wikDnk |
c.7000 |
The Sahara is bush country, well stocked with game until 3000. |
7000 mxfld |
c.7000 |
Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria, has pre-Pastoral Λ POTTERY V until 6500. |
7000 wikTnA |
c.7000 |
Sanga CATTLE V (Bos taurus africanus) domesticated in NE Africa. Major subgroups: African taurine, Watusi, Zanga. (Egypt). |
photo: Bohringer Friedrich
7000 wikHAg 8-6000 wikSC |
c.7000 |
Λ ROCK ART V paintings begin in Cape Province, South Africa. |
7000 mxfld |
c.7000 |
Khoisan-related peoples mix with the ancestors of the Igbo people, possibly in the west Sahara. |
7000 wikPSA |
c.6880 |
EARLY ACACUS period in the Acacus Mountains from 7810 ends. A humid period with small groups of mobile people living in valleys and along lowland lakes. LATE ACACUS period begins 6870 until 5400. A dry period with sedentary people in larger groups living in valleys. They intensify food processing, store wild grains, and use grinding stones and Λ POTTERY V extensively. |
6880 wikAcM |
c.6800 |
Λ NABTA PLAYA V in north Nubia, begins making Λ POTTERY V decorated with a comb pattern. |
6800 wikNP |
c.6700 |
Hunter-fishers, who create the wavy line Λ POTTERY V are black African rather than Mediterranean in origin, and showed signs of intentional cultivation of grain crops instead of simply gathering wild grains. |
6700 wikPNA |
c.6500 |
Native north African Λ CATTLE is domesticated in Sahara. |
6500 PW 13 |
c.6500 |
Pre-Pastoral Λ POTTERY V at Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria, from 7000, ends. |
6500 wikTnA |
c.6300 |
PASTORAL Period of Saharan Λ ROCK ART V begins at Tassili n'Ajjer until 4000, and elsewhere until 1000. EARLY PASTORAL Period begins until 5400. Domestic cattle are brought to Central Sahara (e.g. Tadrart Acacus). Humans are shown with domestic cattle, herding animals and hunting portrayed by men holding bows. Herders eventually migrate west, east, and south as Saharan climate dries. |
6300 wikPst 6100 wikTnA 6000 mxfld 5200 wikSRA |
c. 6250 |
Round Head Period of rock art. Hunter-gatherers on the Tassili Plateau paint several thousand depictions in the Central Sahara of human figures with round, featureless heads, undomesticated animals (e.g. Barbary sheep, antelope).
|
75-5000 wikSRA, 75-5500 wikRHP |
c.6200 |
ASSELAR MAN dies, and is likely intentionally buried at Adrar des Ifoghas area of NE Mali. His skeleton will be discovered in 1927, one of the earliest known anatomically modern human skeletons. |
75-5000 wikPWA, wikAsM 4400 wikAsM |
c.6000 |
Λ MILLET V, cultivated in China from 8500,, is the 1st African plant cultivated. |
6000 PW 13 3000 Copilot |
c.6000 |
CAPSIAN culture: Λ ROCK ART V paintings appear at Tassili n'Ajjer and Gafsa (Capsa) in Tunisia North Africa. |
6000 MCAW |
c.6000 |
CAPSIAN culture people migrate to Spain, and introduce rock paintings, depicting hunting and food gathering. |
6000 MCAW |
c.6000 |
WET period in Sahara from 8000 ends, but doesn't turn dry until 5000. |
6000 wikPNA |
c.6000 |
KIFFIANS in the Sahara from 8000 end, because Sahara is drying up. Their culture shown no furhter traces. |
6000 Copilot, wikPWA |
c.6000 |
Some groups near lakes or rivers adopt a settled way of life, using bone harpoons for fishing. Remains of these have been found near Lake Chad, Lake Edward, and Khartoum on the upper Nile. |
6000 mxfld |
c.6000 |
15,000 individual Λ CAVE PAINTINGS V and engravings are made by Saharan hunter-gatherers in Tassili n'Ajjer Algeria.' Vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa. Subjects include hippos, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, bubalus, aurochs, and large antelopes, many of which no longer exist in the Sahara. |
8000-4000 wikSRA |
c.6000 |
Large animal engravings and other Λ ROCK ART V is made in the Tibesti mountains in NW Chad 10,000-2000. |
10,000-2000 wikSRA |
c.6000 |
In the Ennedi Plateau in NE Chad, NIOLA DOA ROCK ART begins until 0. |
6000 wikEP |
c.6000 |
Lowlands of Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria have stone tumuli and hearths until 4000. |
6000 wikTnA |
by 6000 |
CANOES (e.g., Dufuna canoe) are used in West Africa. |
by 6000 wikPWA |
c.6000 |
1st MICROLITHS in south Africa. |
6000 PW 13 |
c.5900 |
Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria has a dry period until 5200. |
5900 wikTnA |
c.5500 |
Neolithic Subpluvial in North Africa. Sahara desert supports a savanna-like environment. Lake Chad is larger than the current Caspian Sea. An African culture develops across the current Sahel region. |
75-3500 wikTop |
c.5500 |
Hunter-gatherer groups in the Sahara from 8000 transition to pastoral groups. |
5500 wikTnA |
c.5500 |
Λ NABTA PLAYA V in north Nubia, has a complex social system with a religious cult. |
5500 wikNP |
c.5500 |
Cushitic speakers, partially abandon cattle herding, and domesticate teff and finger millet until 3500. |
5500 wikPA |
c.5500 |
Highlands of Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria are occupied by humans until 1500. |
5500 wikTnA |
c.5400 |
LATE ACACUS period in the Acacus Mountains from 6870 ends. A dry period with sedentary people in larger groups living in valleys. They intensify food processing, store wild grains, and use grinding stones and Λ POTTERY V extensively. Pastoral Neolithic Period begins with increased mobility in a more humid environment, domestication of animals, and reduced use of grinding stones. |
5400 wikAcM |
c.5400 |
EARLY PASTORAL Period of Saharan Λ ROCK ART V from 6300 ends. Middle Pastoral doesn't begin until 5200. |
5400 wikPst, |
by 5300 |
SICKLE CELL mutation begins in the Sahara or in the northwest forest region of west Central Africa (e.g. Cameroon) by at least 5300 BC, but possibly as early as 20,000. |
by 5300 wikPWA |
c.5200 |
Dry period in Tassili n'Ajjer from 5900, ends. |
5200 wikTnA |
c.5200 |
MIDDLE PASTORAL Period of Saharan Λ ROCK ART V begins until 3800. Semi-sedentary settlements are used seasonally. A complete cattle pastoral economy (e.g. dairying) develops in the Acacus and Messak regions of southwest Libya. In the Messak there is rock art depicting rituals of cattle sacrifice. |
5200 wikPst, |
c.5100 |
Λ CAVE of BEASTS, a natural rock shelter at the south-west foot of the Gilf Kebir Mountains in west Egypt featuring about 5,000 Neolithic rock paintings,. |
photo: Clemens Schmillen
pre 5000 wikCoS |
by 5000 |
Domestic GOATS, in Egypt from 5900, evidenced in Sahara. |
5000 Copilot |
by 5000 |
AGRICULTURAL practices of the Niger-Congo speakers from 9000 spread thruout the woodland savanna, and afterward, are introduced southward into West African forests. |
by 5000 wikPWA |
by 5000 |
Λ NABTA PLAYA in north Nubia, has a STONE CIRCLE, but not lined up for use as a calendar. |
photo: Raymbetz
by 5000 astro |
c.5000 |
ROUND HEAD Period of Tassili n'Ajjer and associated Saharan Λ ROCK ART V from 7500 ends. |
5050 wikTnA, 5000 wikSRA |
c.5000 |
COTTON 1st cultivated in east Sudan near the middle Nile Basin. Levant 5200, Egypt 2500 |
5000 Copilot |
c.5000 |
Animal DOMESTICATION begins in the Acacus Mountains. |
5000 wikAcM |
c.5000 |
TENERIANS in the Shahra hunt, fish, herd cattle, and make pointillistic-designed ceramics. until 2500. Dead are buried with artifacts such as jewelry made of hippo tusks and clay pots. |
5000 wikPWA |
c.5000 |
Pastoralists migrate (possibly from the Near East (Mesopotamia, Palestine) and from the east Sahara) into the central Sahara, along with their pastoral animals (e.g. cattle, goats). Saharan pastoralists span thruout north Africa (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sudan), including in Niger where human burials, pottery, and rock art will be found. |
5000 wikPst |
c.5000 |
Much Λ ROCK ART V depicting mainly cattle begins in Ennedi Plateau in NE Chad. Domestic animals make up nearly 69% of the artwork. Cattle consist of over 50% of the total pictures, caprids (a type of bovids) 10%, and dogs 5%. Λ POTTERY V at Ennedi sites includes dotted wavy-line patterns unique to this period. Ennedi people hunt, fish, and gather mainly on the plains, shifting to to cattle-herding as time approaches 4000. |
5000 wikEP |
by 5000 |
Sahara, gradually drying from 6000, DRY period begins until ?. |
by 5000 wikPA |
c.5000 |
A Neolithic culture is in Algeria and Morocco with agricultural settlements and pottery. |
5000 mxfld |
c.5000 |
Earliest domestic Λ SHEEP, in Egypt from 6000, remnants in Africa are in the east Sahara, Nile Delta, and Red Sea Hills. |
51-5000 wikPst |
c.4700 |
Saharan Neolithic Period from 8800 ends. Towards the end of the period, more permanent houses and storage pits appear. Bifacially worked foliates and arrow heads become more common, along with simple palettes and beads. |
4700 Shaw |
c.4700 |
Tumuli with megalithic monuments may have developed this early in the Saharan region of Niger. |
4700 wikPWA |
c.4500 |
BOVIDIAN or PASTORAL Period of Tassili n'Ajjer rock art begins until 4000, correlating with arrival of domestic cattle in the Sahara and the gradual shift to mobile pastoralism. Increased stylistic variation, implies different cultural groups in area. Domestic cattle, sheep, goats, and dogs are depicted. Scenes show diverse communities of herders, hunters with bows, as well as women and children, and imply a growing stratification of society based on property. |
4500 wikTnA |
c.4400 |
Sahara becomes less habitable because of dryness. |
4100 Shaw 31 |
c.4379 |
PAINT from Round Head Λ ROCK ART V in the Acacus region of Libya is datable to 4379. This shows continuation of Round Head rock art well into the Pastoral Period. |
4379 wikBbl, wikKEs |
by 4300 |
Λ POTTERY V begins to appear in Konduga Nigeria. |
by 4300 wikKbd, wikPWA,
|
by 4200 |
Λ MONSOON retreats south to where it is today. |
by 4200 wikPNA |
c.4100 |
Native SORGHUM V and RICE grown in Sudan. |
4100 PW 13 |
by 4000 |
RED OCHER, used to paint Λ POTTERY V, jewelry, or pictographs, is developed by West African hunter-gatherers, possibly because of interaction with populations from lake areas to the northeast. |
by 4000 wikPWA |
c.4000 |
There are 2 LANGUAGES of the west Sudan family - Yoruba and Idoma, but they are already different and have been diverging for several thousand years. |
4000 mxfld |
c.4000 |
MANDE peoples independently develop Λ AGRICULTURE V until 3000. |
4000 wikPA |
c.4000 |
Lowlands of Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in southeast Algeria, living sites with stone tumuli and hearths from 6000, no longer occupied. |
4000 wikTnA |
c.4000 |
BOVIDIAN or PASTORAL Period of Tassili n'Ajjer rock art from 4500 ends. |
4000 wikTnA |
c.4000 |
The climate of the Sahara and Sahel region start drying at a fast pace. Lakes and rivers shrink and cause desertification. This causes migrations of farming communities to the more humid climate of West Africa. |
4000 wikShl |
c.4000 |
BUBALUS Period (aka Large Wild Fauna Period) from 10,000 ends. |
8000 wikBbl 4000 wikSRA 3500 wikBbl |
c.4000 |
Pastoral Λ POTTERY V at Tassili n'Ajjer, a national park on a vast plateau in SE Algeria, from 6300, ends. |
4000 wikTnA |
c.4000 |
Ennedi Plateau occupied by hunter-gatherers from 5000, occupied by pastoralists until ?. |
4000 wikEP |
c.4000 |
In tropical Africa are probably scattered bands of peoples whose descendants are pygmies of the Zaire forests and Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert (covering all of Botswana). The first true Negroes probably live as fishers along the Nile and Niger rivers and the savannah north and west of the forest. |
4000 mxfld |
c.3800 |
MIDDLE PASTORAL Period of Saharan Λ ROCK ART V from 5200 ends. LATE PASTORAL Period does not begin until 2500. |
3800 wikPst, |
c.3600 |
At Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter a 2.5 year old Sub-Saharan boy (determined by the complete set of human remains, including a Negroid skull and remnants of dark skin) is mummified (embalmed, eviscerated-removal of organs from the abdomen, chest, and thorax, followed by replacement with organic preservatives, and wrapped in antelope skin and leaves for insulation) utilizing advanced mummification methods. He is buried with an ostrich egg necklace. |
3600 wikPst |
c.3500 |
End of the African humid period possibly linked to the Piora Oscillation: a rapid drying, which probably started the current Sahara dry phase and a population increase in the Nile Valley due to migrations from nearby regions. This contributes to the end of the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia. |
3500 wikPHWA, wikPWA, wikTop |
c.3500 |
Wild WATERMELON seeds are left in Uan Muhuggiag Libya. It is a bitter fruit with hard, pale-green flesh. See Egypt 2000. |
3500 Copilot |
c.3500 |
Many Saharan lakes reach their maximum extent when Lake Chad covers some 200,000 square miles. |
3500 mxfld |
3370 ±100 |
Λ POTTERY and other ceramics appear in Bosumpra Cave, Ghana showing increased use among West African hunter-gatherers. |
3370±100 wikPWA |
c.3300 |
BRONZE AGE begins in Africa until 1200. |
3300 wikBA, |
c.3100 |
Pastoral Period of Λ ROCK ART V is shown around the Sahara with paintings and engravings. Humans are depicted with domestic cattle. Pictures show men holding bows. Women and children are in camps. Herders migrate west, east, and south as Saharan climate dries. |
52-1000 wikSRA |
c.3000 |
Λ AGRICULTURE: Coffee, watermelon, okra, tamarind, and black eyed peas, along with tree crops like kola nut, plantains, and oil palm domesticated in Africa. |
3000 wikHAg |
c.3000 |
The Sahara, bush country, well stocked with game from 7000, becomes uninhabitable. |
3000 mxfld |
c.3000 |
BUFFALO (Bubalus antiquus) in Africa are hunted to extinction. |
3000 wikKEs |
c.3000 |
Domesticated DONKEYS, in Africa from 7000, spread to Levant and Southwest Asia. |
3000 wikDnk,
|
by 3000 |
Λ SORGHUM, domesticated in the Sahara and Sahel from 8000, is domesticated in Sudan. |
by 3000 wikHAg |
c.3000 |
BIR KISEIBA archaeological site in the north Nubian desert, occupied from 9000, ends. Earliest evidence of food production, permanent settlement, and more diverse technologies than Late Pleistocene. |
3000 wikBK |
c.2700 |
CAPSIAN Culture on the north coast of Tunisica from 8000 ends. |
2700 wikCps, wikPNA 1900 wikSRA, |
by 2500 |
PEARL Λ MILLET is domesticated in Mali. |
by 2500 wikHAg |
by 2500 |
Saharan WATER souces have dried up. |
by 2500 wikPHWA, wikPWA |
c.2500 |
Λ LATE PASTORAL Period of Saharan Λ ROCK ART begins until 1500. |
2500 wikPst, |
c.2500 |
KINTAMPO culture established in Ghana by Saharan agropastoralists until 1400. Shows a transition from pastoralism to sedentism. Artifacts include personal adornment items, polished stone beads, bracelets, and figurines; stone tools (e.g. hand axes) and structures (e.g. building foundations). |
2500 wikKC,
, |
c.2500 |
Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan speakers in West Africa come into frequent contact with diverse Afro-asiatic immigrants from Northeast Africa, as well as speakers of a vanished language to the south, because dryness presses populations into close proximity. |
2500 wikPWA |
c.2500 |
SAHARA dessication begins, NOT from overworking agricultural land, but because of the 300 year drought. |
3000 TTPC 4 2500 PW 14, TAWH 16 |
c.2500 |
TENERIANS in the Shahra from 5000 fade out because of drier climate. |
2500 Copilot, wikPWA |
c.2300 |
CERAMICS: Seated and crouched chimpanzee statuettes begin until 1500 in savannas and forests of West and Central Africa. |
2300 wikPWA |
4.2 kiloyear event begins from 2200 to 2150?. A volcanic eruption causes marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, induces degradation of land-use conditions.

Global distribution of 4.2 kiloyear event. Hatched areas get wet conditions or flooding. Dotted areas get drought or dust storms. |
map: Jianjun Wang
2200 wik4.2, wikAE, wikAkE, wikOKE |
c.2200 |
TICHITT tradition of east Mauritania among herders of the Pastoral Period created by proto-Mande peoples until 200 It has sophisticated social structure (e.g. trade of cattle as valued assets). |
2200 wikPhWA, wikTct by 2000 wikPWA |
c.2180 |
CERAMICS dated to this time in Mbi Crater, Cameroon show increased use of ceramics among West African hunter-gatherers. |
2180±160 wikPWA |
North Africa 2000-1001 Africa 2000-1001
V V