Archaeologists have uncovered 9,000-year-old artifacts in Senegal that are shedding new light on the last hunter-gatherer communities of West Africa. The rare discovery, made at the Ravin Blanc X site in the Falémé Valley, offers a glimpse into how prehistoric groups crafted tools and adapted to their environment during the early Holocene.
A region with limited traces of the past
The find is significant because West Africa’s prehistoric record remains poorly documented compared to Europe, Asia, and parts of southern and eastern Africa.
Harsh climatic and geological conditions have destroyed much of the region’s stratified remains, which are vital for tracing settlement patterns and cultural change.
“In this part of the continent, climatic and geological factors have not favored the preservation of stratified remains in the soil,” said Anne Mayor, director of the ARCAN Laboratory at the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Science.
“Stratification is crucial: it captures successive phases of occupation and provides key information on chronology, lifestyle changes, and climatic and environmental evolution.”
Small site with big significance
The Ravin Blanc X site was discovered in 2017 under the direction of archaeologist Eric Huysecom, then head of the Human Population and Paleoenvironment in Africa project.
Although the site covers only 25 square meters (270 square feet), it is remarkably well preserved. Beneath a later Neolithic layer, researchers found a deep deposit dating to the early Holocene, a temperate period that followed nearly 10,000 years of drought.
Evidence of toolmaking and daily life
A team from the University of Geneva, working with the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, uncovered the remains of a quartz knapping workshop and a fireplace.
“We didn’t find any formal quartz tools—the hunter-gatherers took them—but we did find a pile of production waste,” said Charlotte Pruvost, a doctoral researcher and lead author of the study.
“By patiently piecing together the flakes and cores that had remained in place since then, like a jigsaw puzzle, we were able to reconstruct the techniques used, the criteria for selecting high-quality quartz, and the skill level of the knappers.”
Shared traditions across the savannahs
The artifacts align with discoveries at other rare sites in West Africa, where small stone tools, known as microliths, were commonly produced. These microliths were likely used as hunting weapons and show a high degree of standardization. The similarities suggest shared traditions among hunter-gatherer groups living in the savannahs.
By contrast, sites further south in tropical forest zones reveal less standardized tools and more opportunistic methods. According to the Mayor, this indicates cultural groups were already distinct, influenced by the environments in which they lived.
Collaboration across disciplines and borders
The study also drew on extensive interdisciplinary analysis. Specialists in carbon-14 dating and anthracology identified wood species from the fireplace charcoal. Geomorphologists, sedimentologists, and paleoenvironmentalists examined soils and plant remains to reconstruct the landscape and climate that shaped these communities.
The research, published in PLOS One, involved institutions from Switzerland, Senegal, France, and Germany. It underscores the diversity of technical practices and material cultures in West Africa during a period marked by overlapping cultural, climatic, and environmental transformations.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
