West African Neolithic

Africahunter-gatherers to food producers
Map
expand_more Description

The West African Neolithic is located throughout the West African subcontinent. It begins as early as 6000 BP in some areas, overlapping the West African Late Stone Age Tradition, and continues to about 2000 BP, although the dates vary by region. At the outset of the tradition people were mobile gatherer-fisher-hunters, a subsistence pattern that persists, even as it is gradually supplemented with domesticated animals and plants. People also become more sedentary and begin to rely more on pottery and ground stone tools; bone and chipped stone tool use continues.

Identifier
Region
  • Africa
Subregion
  • Western Africa
Subsistence Type
  • hunter-gatherers to food producers
Countries
  • Benin
  • Cameroon
  • General Africa
  • Gambia, The
  • Ghana
  • Guinea
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Liberia
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • Togo
  • Burkina Faso