African archaeology

The continent of Africa has the longest record of human activity of any part of the world and along with its geographical extent, it contains an enormous archaeological resource.

Scholars have studied Egyptology for centuries but archaeologists have only paid serious attention to the rest of the continent in more recent times.

Pliocene and Pleistocene Africa

The earliest archaeological evidence for human behavior found anywhere in the world is from eastern Africa. Early sites along the East African Rift include Lomekwi in the Turkana Basin and Olduvai Gorge farther south in modern-day Tanzania. It is thought that the earliest hominins evolved in Olduvai or somewhere similar around 4 million years ago (mya). They are known as australopithecines and their fossils include the famous Lucy. The first crude Oldowan stone tools, used as the beginning marker of the Early Stone Age, produced there were made as long as 2.5 million years ago by the later Homo habilis, but by this time tool-making had demonstrated a well-developed understanding with respect to the mechanics of flaking on the part of Homo habilis, suggesting a potential earlier period of tool-making. Incorporation of tools provided early hominins the ability to respond to changes more readily outside of the immediate needs of daily-life and extended adaptability behavioral patterns into long term trends experienced over generations. Around a million years later, Homo erectus produced more advanced Acheulian handaxes. Pioneering archaeological research on this time period was conducted by scholars including Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, and more recent research has centered on the earliest development of tool use, fire and diet in hominin societies.