West Africa

===Prehistory===
{{Main|Prehistoric West Africa#Early Stone Age 2}}

West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the [[population history of West Africa]].<ref name="Haour II">{{cite book |last1=Haour |first1=Anne |title=Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa |date=Jul 25, 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969774-8 |page=38 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYBpAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22population+history+of+west+africa%22&pg=PP1 |chapter=Wealth-in-people |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199697748.001.0001 |oclc=855890703 |s2cid=127485241}}</ref> Acheulean tool-using [[archaic humans]] may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP ([[Middle Pleistocene]]).<ref name="Scerri">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.137 |chapter=The Stone Age Archaeology of West Africa |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |date=2017 |last1=Scerri |first1=Eleanor |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref> During the [[Pleistocene]], [[Middle Stone Age]] peoples (e.g., [[Iwo Eleru skull|Iwo Eleru people]],<ref name="MacDonald">{{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=Kevin C. |title=Korounkorokalé Revisited: The Pays Mande and the West African Microlithic Technocomplex |journal=The African Archaeological Review |date=1997 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=161–200 |doi=10.1007/BF02968406 |jstor=25130625 |s2cid=161691927 }}</ref> possibly [[Aterians]]), who dwelled throughout West Africa between [[MIS 4]] and [[MIS 2]],<ref name="Niang">{{cite journal |last1=Niang |first1=Khady |last2=Blinkhorn |first2=James |last3=Ndiaye |first3=Matar |last4=Bateman |first4=Mark |last5=Seck |first5=Birame |last6=Sawaré |first6=Gora |title=The Middle Stone Age occupations of Tiémassas, coastal West Africa, between 62 and 25 thousand years ago |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=December 2020 |volume=34 |pages=102658 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102658 |bibcode=2020JArSR..34j2658N |s2cid=228826414 }}</ref> were gradually replaced by incoming [[Central African foragers|Late Stone Age peoples]], who migrated into West Africa<ref name="Schlebusch">{{cite journal |last1=Schlebusch |first1=Carina M. |last2=Jakobsson |first2=Mattias |title=Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa |journal=Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics |date=31 August 2018 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=405–428 |doi=10.1146/annurev-genom-083117-021759 |pmid=29727585 }}</ref> as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the [[Guinean Forests of West Africa|West African forest]].<ref name="Scerri II">{{cite journal |last1=Scerri |first1=Eleanor M. L. |title=Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene |journal=Scientific Reports |year=2021 |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=70 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-79418-4 |pmid=33431997 |pmc=7801626 |oclc=8878081728 |s2cid=231583475}}</ref> [[West African hunter-gatherers]] occupied western [[Central Africa]] (e.g., [[Shum Laka]]) earlier than 32,000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald" /> dwelled throughout [[Guinea (region)|coastal West Africa]] by 12,000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald X">{{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Kevin C. |title=Archaeology and Language II: Archaeological Data and Linguistic Hypotheses |chapter=Archaeology, language and the peopling of West Africa: a consideration of the evidence |date=Sep 2, 2003 |publisher=Routledge |pages=39–40, 43–44 |isbn=9780203202913 |doi=10.4324/9780203202913-11 |oclc=815644445 |s2cid=163304839 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48iKiprsRMwC&q=%22West+African+hunter-gatherers%22&pg=PA37}}</ref> and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso,<ref name="MacDonald X" /> and Mauritania.<ref name="Abd-El-Moniem">{{cite book |last1=Abd-El-Moniem |first1=Hamdi Abbas Ahmed |title=A New Recording Of Mauritanian Rock Art |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444476/1/U591781.pdf |date=May 2005 |page=221 |publisher=University of London |oclc=500051500 |s2cid=130112115}}</ref>

During the [[Holocene]], [[Niger-Congo]] speakers independently created pottery in [[Ounjougou]], Mali<ref name="Ness">{{cite book |last1=Ness |first1=Immanuel |title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration |chapter=Sub-Saharan Africa: Linguistics |date=Nov 10, 2014 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |page=100 |isbn=9781118970591 |oclc=890071926 |s2cid=160957067 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HMTBwAAQBAJ&q=niger+congo+bce&pg=PA100}}</ref><ref name="Ehret V">{{cite book |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE |date=2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691244105 |pages=14–17 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5KjEAAAQBAJ |chapter=African Firsts in the History of Technology |doi=10.2307/j.ctv34kc6ng.5 |jstor=j.ctv34kc6ng.5 |oclc=1330712064}}</ref><ref name="Jesse">{{cite journal |last1=Jesse |first1=Friederike |title=Early Pottery in Northern Africa - An Overview |journal=Journal of African Archaeology |date=December 2010 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=219–238 |doi=10.3213/1612-1651-10171 |jstor=43135518 }}</ref> – the earliest [[Pottery#Africa|pottery in Africa]]<ref name="Huysecom X">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.66 |chapter=The First Emergence of Ceramic Production in Africa |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology |date=2020 |last1=Huysecom |first1=Eric |isbn=978-0-19-085458-4 }}</ref> – by at least 9400 BCE,<ref name="Ness" /> and along with their pottery,<ref name="Huysecom X" /> as well as wielding independently invented [[bows and arrows]],<ref name="Blench">{{cite web|last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Africa over the last 12000 years: how we can interpret the interface of archaeology and linguistics? |date=21 October 2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28768228 |pages=13, 25 |publisher=University of Cambridge}}</ref><ref name="Roy">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |title=A Global History of Pre-Modern Warfare: Before the Rise of the West, 10,000 BCE–1500 CE |date=Sep 15, 2021 |page=Unnumbered |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781000432121 |oclc=1261367188 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yE85EAAAQBAJ&q=Bows+arrows+West+Africa+independently+hunting |chapter=Military Convergence And The Bronze Age Civilisations of Eurasia}}</ref> migrated into the Central Sahara,<ref name="Huysecom X" /> which became their primary region of residence by 10,000 BP.<ref name="Blench" /> The emergence and expansion of ceramics in the Sahara may be linked with the origin of Round Head and Kel Essuf rock art, which occupy rockshelters in the same regions (e.g., [[Djado]], [[Tadrart Acacus|Acacus]], [[Tadrart Rouge|Tadrart]]).<ref name="Achrati">{{cite journal |last1=Achrati |first1=Ahmed |title=What ever Happened to the People? Humans and Anthropomorphs in the Rock Art of Northern Africa: International Conference (Brussels, 17, 18 & 19 September 2015) |journal=Rock Art Research |date=May 2020 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=109–112 |id={{Gale|A623569190}} {{ProQuest|2403309251}} }}</ref> Hunters in the Central Sahara farmed, stored, and cooked undomesticated central Saharan [[flora]],<ref name="Mercuri">{{cite journal |last1=Mercuri |first1=Anna Maria |title=Plant behaviour from human imprints and the cultivation of wild cereals in Holocene Sahara |journal=Nature Plants |date=January 29, 2018 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=73 |doi=10.1038/s41477-017-0098-1 |pmid=29379157 |s2cid=3302383 |hdl=11380/1153032 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> underwent domestication of [[antelope]],<ref name="Aïn-Séba">{{cite journal |last1=Aïn-Séba |first1=Nagète |title=Saharan rock art, a reflection of climate change in the Sahara |journal=Tabona |date=2022 |volume=22 |pages=303–317 |doi=10.25145/j.tabona.2022.22.15 }}</ref> and [[domesticated]] and shepherded [[Barbary sheep]].<ref name="Mercuri" /> After the [[Kel Essuf Period]] and [[Round Head Period]] of the Central Sahara, the [[Pastoral Period]] followed.<ref name="Soukopova I">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Central Saharan rock art: Considering the kettles and cupules |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |date=August 2017 |volume=143 |pages=10–14 |doi=10.1016/J.JARIDENV.2016.12.011 |s2cid=132225521 |bibcode=2017JArEn.143...10S }}</ref> Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not.<ref name="Soukopova X">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Tassili Paintings: Ancient roots of current African beliefs? |date=September 2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/24483825 |journal=Expression |issn=2499-1341 |pages=116–120}}</ref> As a result of increasing [[aridification]] of the [[Green Sahara]], Central Saharan [[hunter-gatherers]] and cattle [[herders]] may have used seasonal waterways as the migratory route taken to the [[Niger River]] and [[Chad Basin]] of West Africa.<ref name="Soukopova II">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Rain and rock art in the Sahara: a possible interpretation |date=2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43418786 |journal=Expression |issn=2499-1341 |pages=79–90}}</ref> In 2000 BCE, "[[Thiaroye]] Woman",<ref name="Metropolitan Museum of Art">{{cite book |last1=LaGamma |first1=Alisa |title=Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara |date=2020 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-687-7 }}{{pn|date=January 2024}}</ref> also known as the "[[Venus figurine|Venus]] of Thiaroye",<ref name="Thiam">{{cite journal |last1=Thiam |first1=Mandiomé |title=Milieu et culture matérielle dans le Néolithique sénégambien |journal=Antropo |date=2012 |volume=27 |pages=13–121 |url=http://www.didac.ehu.es/antropo/27/27-16/Thiam.pdf |oclc=884501689 |s2cid=160637192}}</ref><ref name="Metropolitan Museum of Art"/> may have been the earliest [[statuette]] created in [[Sub-Saharan]] West Africa; it may have particularly been a [[Fertility rite|fertility]] statuette, created in the region of [[Senegambia]],<ref name="Thiam" /> and may be associated with the emergence of [[complex society|complexly organized]] [[Pastoral period|pastoral societies]] in [[History of West Africa#Iron Age|West Africa]] between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE.<ref name="LaGamma">{{cite book |last1=LaGamma |first1=Alisa |title=Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara |date=2020 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1588396877 |pages=74–75 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cfLDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Thiaroye%22+%22Venus%22&pg=PP2 |chapter=Pre-Islamic Artistic Patronage}}</ref> Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE,<ref name="Akpan" /> [[Nsibidi]] may have also developed in 2000 BCE,<ref name="Hales">{{cite thesis |last1=Hales |first1=Kevin |title=The Moving Finger: A Rhetorical, Grammatological and Afrinographic Exploration of Nsibidi in Nigeria and Cameroon |date=2015 |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1431071905 |page=15 }}</ref><ref name="Akpan">{{cite book |last1=Akpan |first1=Unwana Samuel |title=African Media Space and Globalization |date=Aug 24, 2023 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-031-35060-3 |page=32 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPPSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |chapter=African Traditional Media: Looking Back, Looking Forward |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-35060-3_1 |oclc=1395910241}}</ref> as evidenced by depictions of the [[West African script]] on [[Ikom monoliths]] at [[Ikom]], in [[Nigeria]].<ref name="Akpan" /> Migration of Saharan peoples south of the Sahelian region resulted in seasonal interaction with and gradual absorption of West African hunter-gatherers, who primarily dwelt in the [[West Sudanian savanna|savannas]] and [[Guinean Forests of West Africa|forests]] of West Africa.<ref name="MacDonald X" /> In West Africa, which may have been a major regional cradle in Africa for the [[domestication]] of crops and animals,<ref name="Shen">{{cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Quan-Kuan |display-authors=etal |title=Genomic analyses unveil helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) domestication in West Africa |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |date=1 May 2021 |volume=13 |issue=evab090 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evab090 |pmid=34009300 |pmc=8214406 |oclc=9123485061 |s2cid=234783117 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Scarcelli">{{cite journal |last1=Scarcelli |first1=Nora |title=Yam genomics supports West Africa as a major cradle of crop domestication |journal=Science Advances |volume=5 |issue=5 |page=eaaw1947 |year=2019 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aaw1947 |bibcode=2019SciA....5.1947S |oclc=8291779404 |pmid=31114806 |pmc=6527260 |s2cid=155124324}}</ref> Niger-Congo speakers domesticated the [[helmeted guineafowl]]<ref name="Murunga">{{cite journal |last1=Murunga |first1=Philip |display-authors=etal |title=Mitochondrial DNA D-Loop Diversity of the Helmeted Guinea Fowls in Kenya and Its Implications on HSP70 Gene Functional Polymorphism |journal=BioMed Research International |year=2018 |volume=2018 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1155/2018/7314038 |pmid=30539018 |pmc=6258102 |oclc=8754386965 |s2cid=54463512 |doi-access=free}}</ref> between 5500 BP and 1300 BP;<ref name="Shen" /> domestication of field crops occurred throughout various locations in West Africa, such as [[Yam (vegetable)|yams]] (d. praehensilis) in the Niger River basin between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria (northern Benin), [[rice]] ([[oryza glaberrima]]) in the [[Inner Niger Delta]] region of Mali, [[Pearl millet#Africa|pearl millet]] ([[cenchrus americanus]]) in northern Mali and Mauritania, and [[cowpeas]] in northern Ghana.<ref name="Scarcelli"/> After having persisted as late as 1000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald X" /> or some period of time after 1500 CE,<ref name="Van Beek">{{cite book |last1=Van Beek |first1=Walter E.A. |last2=Banga |first2=Pieteke M. |title=Bush Base, Forest Farm: Culture, Environment, and Development |chapter=The Dogon and their trees |date=Mar 11, 2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=66 |isbn=9781134919567 |doi=10.4324/9780203036129-10 |oclc=252799202 |s2cid=126989016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppuKAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Tellem%22+%22Dogon%22&pg=PA57}}</ref> remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in the [[Guinean forest-savanna mosaic|forest-savanna]] region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into the larger groups of West African [[agriculturalists]], akin to the migratory [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]]-speaking agriculturalists and their [[Bantu expansion#Central Africa|encounters]] with [[Central African hunter-gatherers]].<ref name="MacDonald X" />

[[File:West African sites with archaeobotanical remains from third to first millennium cal bc.webp|thumb|300px|West African sites with [[archaeobotany|archaeobotanical]] remains from third to first millennium cal bc. The arrows indicate directions of [[pearl millet]] diffusion into [[sub-Saharan]] West Africa.]]