Archaeological culture · c. 7700–2500 BCE (herding from c. 6000 BCE)
Green Sahara hunter-fishers and herders
During the African Humid Period the Sahara had lakes, grassland and wildlife. Hunter-fishers such as the Kiffian people of Gobero lived by lakes, and from about 6000 BCE herders spread cattle, sheep and goats across the region, as the rock art of Tassili n'Ajjer shows.
As the rains failed between about 4000 and 3000 BCE, the Sahara dried out and people moved away or adapted.
See Green Sahara hunter-fishers and herders on the map in 7700 BCE
- On the map
- 7700–2500 BCE
How we know
No writing existed; known from campsites, burials, animal bones and rock art, dated by radiocarbon; rock art itself is hard to date.
Sites
- Gobero c. 7700–6200 and 5200–2500 BCE