Early cattle herding in the eastern Sahara
Pastoreo de ganado vacuno en el Sahara oriental
- Date
- c. 8000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Bir Kiseiba and Nabta Playa, Western Desert, Egypt
- Credited to
- Early Holocene pastoralists of the Green Sahara
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Cattle bones in a desert with no permanent water suggest herds managed by humans and moved between seasonal waterholes. It opened the way for the African pastoral economy, which predates agriculture across much of the continent.
Wendorf and Schild argued for an independent African domestication; genetics indicates that African taurine cattle derive mainly from the Near East, with contributions from local aurochs, so independent domestication remains disputed.
What it led to
- herding as the dominant way of life in the Sahel and East Africa
- rituals and monuments linked to cattle
- the spread of herding southward across the continent
Built on
- hunting of the African aurochs