Knowra Prehistoric Africa Prehistoric Africa Prehistoric Africa is the span of the continent’s past before written records, reconstructed from fossils, artifacts, archaeological sites, and environmental evidence. Its chronology varies by region because writing emerged at different times.
Human evolution : The evolutionary process through which humans and their ancestors developed from earlier primates. African fossils document many of the earliest stages in the human lineage.
Pleistocene : The geological epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, marked by repeated glacial cycles. Its climate swings repeatedly altered African habitats and human opportunities.
Olduvai Gorge : An archaeological and palaeoanthropological site in Tanzania with a long sequence of hominin fossils and stone tools. Its stratified finds preserve a detailed record of early human activity.
Egyptian hieroglyphs : A writing system used in ancient Egypt, combining phonetic signs with logograms and determinatives. Written sources mark a transition from prehistory to recorded history in parts of Africa.
Hominini : The evolutionary tribe containing modern humans and their extinct relatives after divergence from chimpanzees. Its fossil record in Africa anchors the study of human origins.
African Humid Period : A wetter interval in North Africa, approximately 14,500 to 5,000 years ago, when lakes and grasslands expanded across the Sahara. Its changing rainfall transformed where people could live across the Sahara.
Blombos Cave : A South African archaeological site containing Middle Stone Age artifacts, including engraved ochre and shell beads. Its finds document symbolic expression and complex technology tens of thousands of years ago.
African archaeology : The study of Africa’s past through material remains, landscapes, and archaeological methods. It supplies much of the evidence used to reconstruct pre-literate African societies.
Sahelanthropus : An extinct hominin genus known chiefly from fossils found in Chad, including a cranium dated to about seven million years ago. Its fossils are among the earliest evidence relevant to hominin origins in Africa.
Sahara : The world’s largest hot desert, spanning North Africa and bordered by the Mediterranean and Sahel. Its alternation between arid and wet phases shaped routes and settlement.
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