Prehistory
Lebombo Bone: One of the World's Oldest Counting Devices
The notched bone became a widely cited example of early tallying, though its exact purpose remains unknown.
Region
Africa
Prehistory
Apollo 11 Cave Stones: Africa's Oldest Figurative Art
The painted slabs became the oldest securely dated figurative art in Africa and showed that rock painting there began in the Stone Age tens of thousands of years ago.
Prehistory
Ishango Bone: Notched Tally Stick from Ice Age Congo
The bone became one of the most famous early tally objects, often cited in debates about the origins of counting.
Prehistory
Green Sahara: The African Humid Period and Why It Ended
The Sahara turned from savanna and lakes back into desert, pushing people towards the Nile, the Sahel and oases.
Prehistory
Tassili n'Ajjer Rock Art: Prehistoric Paintings of a Green Sahara
One of the world's largest groups of prehistoric rock art, recording thousands of years of climate change in the Sahara; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.
Prehistory
Nabta Playa: Prehistoric Stone Circle in the Egyptian Sahara
A seasonal meeting place of Saharan herders whose megaliths and cattle burials are among the earliest ceremonial monuments in Africa.
Prehistory
Cave of Swimmers: Prehistoric Rock Art of the Gilf Kebir
The paintings became a famous symbol of a once wetter Sahara, though whether they really show swimming is still debated.
Prehistory
Gobero: Prehistoric Cemetery of the Green Sahara in Niger
Gobero became the largest and best-documented Stone Age cemetery in the Sahara, recording two successive cultures and 5,000 years of climate change.
Prehistory
Faiyum Neolithic: The First Farmers of Ancient Egypt
Faiyum A communities combined imported Near Eastern crops and livestock with fishing and hunting, giving Egypt its earliest well-documented farming.
Prehistory
Merimde Beni Salama: Early Farming Village of the Nile Delta
A long-lived farming village whose houses, grain stores and art reveal the beginnings of settled agricultural life in Lower Egypt.
Prehistory
Domestication of the Donkey: From African Wild Ass to Pack Animal
The donkey became the first domestic pack animal of Africa and the Near East, transforming long-distance transport and trade.
Prehistory
Badarian Culture: Early Farmers of Upper Egypt
The Badarian culture established farming, herding and elaborate burial in Upper Egypt and was followed by the Naqada culture that led towards the Egyptian state.