From 5th century BCE
Sahara, Sahel, and Sudan
West African Iron Age cattle herding was based on introduced livestock and developed across the Sahara, Sahel, and Sudan. Archaeological evidence includes cattle representations and bones dating to the fourth and third millennia BC, while later pastoral expansion was aided by increasing aridity and the southward retreat of the tsetse zone.
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The Story
Cattle herding formed a major component of West African pastoral economies, although cattle were not domesticated in West Africa itself. The extract identifies cattle, sheep, and goats as introductions from regions north of the tropics. Cattle remains and representations reveal that herding was already important in Saharan communities long before the Iron Age societies described in the later historical evidence.
Rock art from Tassili n-Ajjer, Tibesti, Adrar of the Iforas, the Mauritanian Adrar, Ahaggar, and Air records the prominence of cattle during the Saharan Neolithic. Radiocarbon dates from Jabbaren and Sefar place the cattle-herder period in the fourth and third millennia BC. Archaeological bones from the Tichit-Walata escarpment, Uan Muhuggiag, Adrar Bous, Daima, and Karkarichinkat further document the presence of cattle across widely separated regions.
The later development of cattle farming was shaped by environmental change and animal disease. As the Sahara and Sahel became drier, the tsetse zone moved southward, opening new areas to cattle farmers. The extract also stresses that the date and route by which zebu cattle reached West Africa remain unresolved, with possible paths across the Sahara or eastward through the savanna from the Nile toward Lake Chad.
From 5th century BCE
Sahara, Sahel, and Sudan
West African Iron Age cattle herding was based on introduced livestock and developed across the Sahara, Sahel, and Sudan. Archaeological evidence includes cattle representations and bones dating to the fourth and third millennia BC, while later pastoral expansion was aided by increasing aridity and the southward retreat of the tsetse zone.
Continue exploring
The Story
Cattle herding formed a major component of West African pastoral economies, although cattle were not domesticated in West Africa itself. The extract identifies cattle, sheep, and goats as introductions from regions north of the tropics. Cattle remains and representations reveal that herding was already important in Saharan communities long before the Iron Age societies described in the later historical evidence.
Rock art from Tassili n-Ajjer, Tibesti, Adrar of the Iforas, the Mauritanian Adrar, Ahaggar, and Air records the prominence of cattle during the Saharan Neolithic. Radiocarbon dates from Jabbaren and Sefar place the cattle-herder period in the fourth and third millennia BC. Archaeological bones from the Tichit-Walata escarpment, Uan Muhuggiag, Adrar Bous, Daima, and Karkarichinkat further document the presence of cattle across widely separated regions.
The later development of cattle farming was shaped by environmental change and animal disease. As the Sahara and Sahel became drier, the tsetse zone moved southward, opening new areas to cattle farmers. The extract also stresses that the date and route by which zebu cattle reached West Africa remain unresolved, with possible paths across the Sahara or eastward through the savanna from the Nile toward Lake Chad.