Africa boasts the longest and arguably the most diverse archaeological record of any continent. It is the cradle of human evolution, the birthplace of Homo sapiens, and a witness to millennia of unique cultural and technological developments. This article explores the vast and multifaceted archaeology of Africa, from the early Stone Age to the pre-colonial era, highlighting key discoveries and the ongoing efforts to reconstruct the continent's rich past.
A map of Africa, highlighting its diverse regions and archaeological sites.
Early Stone Age (ESA)
The Early Stone Age (ESA), spanning from approximately 2.6 million years ago (mya) to 280,000 years ago (ya), marks the period in African prehistory when the first stone tools were developed. Early sites along the East African Rift include Lomekwi in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The earliest hominids were discovered in Ethiopia and titled Ardipithecus ramidus. The diverging species of hominin are known as australopithecines and were first discovered in Olduvai.
In 2015, Sonia Harmand discovered the earliest relative dating for stone tool use at Lomekwi 3 in West Turkana, Kenya, dating these tools to 3.3 million years ago. These Lomekwi tools differ from Oldowan tools in their primitive technological features, making them large and heavy. It is thought that the Lomekwi tools were made by Australopithecus afarensis. Prior to this discovery, some of the oldest stone tools were found at Lokalalei 2C in West Turkana, where artifacts exhibiting knapping processes conducted by Australopithecus africanus date to about 2.34 million years ago, marking the beginning of the ESA.
Around a million years later, Homo erectus evolved and created more advanced tools known as the Acheulean handaxes. Homo erectus are also associated with the first instances of "modern human living," such as fire, "modern emotions", and art. The earliest evidence for hominins controlling fire is found in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Along with their new technologies, they were also a part of the first "Out of Africa" movement and spread to all parts of the world.
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One of the most notable Homo erectus skeletons ever found was that of Nariokotome Boy, who was discovered near Lake Turkana in Kenya by Richard Leakey and Kamoya Kimeu. Just recently discovered was a new addition to the line of human ancestors named Homo naledi.
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, a significant site for early hominid fossils and stone tools.
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania | Human Evolution
Middle Stone Age (MSA)
The Middle Stone Age (MSA), dating from roughly 280,000 to 40,000 years ago, is characterized by hunter-gatherer lifestyles and the origins of modern human behavior and cognition. Homo sapiens appear for the first time in the archaeological record around 300-270,000 years ago in Africa. During the late Middle Pleistocene, many groups began to migrate away from eastern Africa, especially southward.
Evidence of a variety of behaviors indicative of Behavioral modernity date to the African Middle Stone age, associated with early Homo sapiens. Abstract imagery, widened subsistence strategies, and other "modern" behaviors have been discovered from that period in Africa, especially South, North, and East Africa. The Blombos Cave site in South Africa, for example, is famous for rectangular slabs of ochre engraved with geometric designs. In 2008, an ochre processing workshop likely for the production of paints was uncovered dating to ca. 100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave, South Africa.
Expanding subsistence strategies beyond big-game hunting and the consequential diversity in tool types has been noted as signs of behavioral modernity. A number of South African sites have shown an early reliance on aquatic resources from fish to shellfish. Pinnacle Point, in particular, shows exploitation of marine resources as early as 120,000 years ago, perhaps in response to more arid conditions inland. Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site of Olorgesailie, of the early emergence of modern behaviors including: long-distance trade networks, the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points.
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Around 10,000 BCE, African hunter-gatherer societies developed microlith technologies. Composite microlithic tools were useful for harvesting wild grasses and also permitted the production of fine shell and bone fish hooks, which may have allowed for the exploitation of a broader range of food resources.
Neolithic and the Rise of Agriculture
Cultural developments during the early Neolithic led nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to be slowly supplanted by pastoralism in northern Africa. Africa's earliest evidence for domesticated animals comes from the Sahara c. 7000-6000 BCE, and evidence for new cattle herding lifestyles are preserved at both archaeological sites such as Gobero and in Saharan rock art. As the Sahara increased in size due to aridification, early pastoralists migrated south and eastwards into the Niger and Nile valleys, bringing with them herding practices that would also spread throughout eastern and southern Africa.
In the western Sahel, the rise of settled communities occurred largely as a result of the domestication of millet and of sorghum. Archaeology points to sizable urban populations in West Africa later, beginning by the 2nd millennium BCE. Symbiotic trade relations developed before the trans-Saharan trade, in response to the opportunities afforded by north-south diversity in ecosystems across deserts, grasslands, and forests. In West Africa, Dhar Tichitt and Oualata in present-day Mauritania figure prominently among the early urban centers, dated to ~2,000 BCE.
The Metal Age and the Bantu Expansion
The early use of metallurgy by farming communities may have been developed independently in Africa around 3000-2000 BCE. Pockets of iron usage appeared in subsequent millennia but metal did not supplant stone in the south of the continent until around 500 BCE, when both iron and copper spread southwards through the continent, reaching the Cape around 200 CE. Although some details regarding the Bantu expansion are still controversial amongst archaeologists, linguists, and historians, the widespread use of iron does seem to have played a major role in the spread of Bantu farming communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
The Bantu Expansion across Africa.
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Complex Societies and Trade Empires
In central Nigeria, West Africa, around 1,500 BCE, the Nok culture developed on the Jos Plateau. By 500 BCE, and possibly a few centuries earlier, they were smelting iron. By 200 AD the Nok culture had vanished. Trade with the Near East and Europe led to strong mercantile empires growing such as the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum and Harla Kingdom.
Bantu peoples in southern Africa built the impressive site of Great Zimbabwe between the 10th and 15th centuries CE. The north of the continent had close cultural and economic ties with the Classical and medieval Mediterranean. Cattle herding became important in the Horn of Africa and huge earthwork enclosures were built to corral the animals.
Various states and polities also developed in West Africa including Ife, the Kingdom of Benin, Igbo Ukwu, Djenné-Djenno, Ghana Empire, Bono State and the Ashanti Empire.
Map of Great Zimbabwe.
Rediscovering Africa's Past
For a long time, the narrative of Africa's history was distorted by colonial perspectives, often portraying the continent as "a man without a past." However, the work of historians and archaeologists has revealed a steady civilizing growth through many centuries. Much African history is oral history: tales of king lists and mythical events passed down through generations, containing grains of hard historical fact.
Archaeology and its newest tools have greatly aided historical research. In 1929, Gertrude Caton-Thompson examined the stone ruins of Southern Rhodesia and showed that these ruins were medieval in date and Bantu-speaking African in origin. Later work has confirmed these findings. In 1952, measurements of radioactive carbon of timber fragments from beneath the walls at Great Zimbabwe brought fresh certainty. By similar tests in London, two years later, these carbon 14 results showed that the earliest builders at Zimbabwe began their work around 750 A.D.
The study of African archaeology is ongoing, with new discoveries continually reshaping our understanding of the continent's past. The field is truly interdisciplinary, drawing upon history, ethnography, linguistics, and other disciplines to construct comprehensive narratives of Africa's past. Despite infrastructural challenges, practitioners are dedicated to preserving and interpreting Africa's rich archaeological legacy.
| Period | Timeframe | Key Characteristics | Notable Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Stone Age (ESA) | 2.6 million years ago - 280,000 years ago | Development of first stone tools (Oldowan and Acheulean), emergence of early hominids | Lomekwi (Kenya), Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) |
| Middle Stone Age (MSA) | 280,000 years ago - 40,000 years ago | Hunter-gatherer lifestyles, origins of modern human behavior, development of composite tools | Blombos Cave (South Africa), Olorgesailie (Kenya) |
| Neolithic | 10,000 BCE onwards | Development of microlith technologies, transition to pastoralism and agriculture | Gobero (Sahara) |
| Metal Age | 3000-2000 BCE onwards | Independent development of metallurgy, Bantu expansion | Nok Culture (Nigeria), Great Zimbabwe |
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