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The population history of West Africa is composed of West African populations that were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the history of West Africa. Acheulean tool-using archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP. During the Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age peoples, who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2, were gradually replaced by incoming Late Stone Age peoples, who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the West African forest. West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
The prehistory of Central Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in Central Africa. By at least 2,000,000 BP, Central Africa was occupied by early hominins. West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. Prehistoric West Africans may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon, and, subsequently, around 5000 BP, the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
References
- 1 2 "Stone Age Graveyard Reveals Lifestyles Of A 'Green Sahara'". Science Daily. 2008-08-15. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- 1 2 Wilford, John Noble (2008-08-14). "Graves Found From Sahara's Green Period". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ↑ Sereno PC, Garcea EAA, Jousse H, Stojanowski CM, Saliège J-F, Maga A, et al. (2008). "Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change" (PDF). PLOS ONE. 3 (8). e2995. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.2995S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002995 . PMC 2515196 . PMID 18701936 . Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- 1 2 3 Irish, Joel D (April 2016). Tracing the "Bantu Expansion" from its source: Dental nonmetric affinities among West African and neighboring populations. American Association of Physical Anthropologists. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.14163.78880 – via ResearchGate.
- ↑ Garcea, Elena A. A. (2013). Gobero: The No-return Frontier : Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Africa Magna Verlag. pp. 9, 274. ISBN 9783937248349.
- ↑ Blench, Roger (January 2020). "The evolution of foraging and the transition to pastoralism in the Sahara". Landscapes and Landforms of the Central Sahara. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ Blench, Roger (2019). "The Linguistic Prehistory of The Sahara". Published in a Volume of Selected Papers. D. Mattingley ed. Cambridge University Press & Libyan Studies Association. University Press & Libyan Studies Association: 431.
- ↑ Schultz, Nora (2008-08-14). "Stone Age mass graves reveal green Sahara". New Scientist. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
4. Kamrani, Kambiz. "The Kiffian & Tenerean Occupation Of Gobero, Niger: Perhaps The Largest Collection Of Early-Mid Holocene People In Africa." Anthropology.net. N.p., 14 Thursday August 2008. Web. 01 Jan. 2015. (http://anthropology.net/2008/08/14/the-kiffian-tenerean-occupation-of-gobero-niger-perhaps-the-largest-collection-of-early-mid-holocene-people-in-africa/ Archived 2017-04-14 at the Wayback Machine )
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