These very old tools come from Oldoway (Kenya). They were embedded in a volcanic tuff at the base of the famous bowl to which L. S. B. Leakey has attached his name. Their value comes from their stratigraphic position which allows them to be dated. Although identical tools exist in various places in the Sahara, they have not yet been dated. Moreover, the acidic nature of the soil rarely allowed a human skeleton to be preserved. However, the French scientist Y. Coppens discovered the first very ancient remains in Chad, which suggest that this gap is due more to the absence of serious excavations than to the absolute lack of documents that alone allow us to reconstruct humanity's past: stone tools and the bone remains of the men who made them. As far as we know, the oldest known tool is between 2 160 000 and 2 120 000 years old.

No traveller who has crossed the Sahara returns from there without bringing back a set of "arrowheads". It is safe to assume that millions of these fine and beautiful objects have been taken away, and that one of the best chances to learn about the ancient palethnology of hunting and warfare has thus been lost for good. The only hope we have to counteract this looting is the excavations that specialists are continuing at some, unfortunately too rare, sites in the Sahara. There are many different forms of arrowheads - their actual name is "arrowhead fittings" - depending on the purpose the user intended to achieve. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

Probably the most common evidence of the Neolithic in the Sahara are arrowheads. There are numerous forms, depending on the target the user was aiming at. Broadly speaking, three main varieties can be distinguished: triangular, pedunculated and those with a transversal edge, the latter being prototypes of the medieval bolts. Although certain points could have been used for fishing, it is clear that the vast majority were intended for hunting and probably also for war. And experience showed the users very early on that the weight and shape of the stone attachment with which the tip of the arrow shaft was equipped had to be calculated with reference to the target to be reached. That is why there is such an astonishing variety of forms, but they can easily be classified according to type and family. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The bearer of the two-sided industry - essentially the pithecanthropus - is followed by the Neanderthal. If this one still produces two-sided devices, it is only in very small numbers and, compared to similar devices of its predecessors, greatly reduced in size. No Neanderthal skeleton has been found in the Sahara, nor any industry that could be attributed to him with any certainty. Nevertheless, there is a curious stock of implements, spread over the whole desert, which can be compared with the European Moustérien, and in addition there is a greater or lesser number of stemmed objects, noteworthy for the peculiarity of being made from off-cuts, the chipped surface of which is very rarely retouched. Only the stem is reworked on its entire surface. Although these "handle tools" often have a tip and the other implements show quite familiar forms, we still know nothing about the use of this Atérien, which owes its name to a well in the south of the province of Constantine in Algeria, in whose surroundings it has been discovered in abundance (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

No traveller who has crossed the Sahara returns from there without bringing back a set of "arrowheads". It is safe to assume that millions of these fine and beautiful objects have been taken away, and that one of the best chances to learn about the ancient palethnology of hunting and warfare has thus been lost for good. The only hope we have to counteract this looting is the excavations that specialists are continuing at some, unfortunately too rare, sites in the Sahara. There are many different forms of arrowheads - their actual name is "arrowhead fittings" - depending on the purpose the user intended to achieve. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The polished axe must have been the primary weapon or implement of Neolithic man. Thousands of them have been found, and the beauty of its shape and the fine grain of the minerals chosen are a source of admiration. Numerous ethnographic comparisons allow us to assume that it was shafted in wood, the shaft hole having been drilled with the help of fire. A vegetable resin, like glue, may have secured the fastening (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

In addition to the smaller implements made of stone or bone, much heavier tools continued to be used, or were used anew, such as enormous stone axes and also two-handed implements, such as the one shown in the picture, which comes from Guinea, a wonderful implement made of transparent quartzite with finely retouched edges. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.)

Among the polished axes, the "grooved axes" (French haches à gorge) occupy a special place both because of their beauty and because of the technical mastery to which they bear witness. These two pieces (collection M. Bruggmann) come from the Ténéré, where they are relatively common. The closest find site is the Wadi Beth in Morocco - several hundred kilometres away.

The polished axe must have been the primary weapon or implement of Neolithic man. Thousands of them have been found, and the beauty of its shape and the fine grain of the minerals chosen are a source of admiration. Numerous ethnographic comparisons allow us to assume that it was shafted in wood, the shaft hole having been drilled with the help of fire. A vegetable resin, like glue, may have secured the fastening (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic skull shown here, discovered in the northwest of Mautetania, does not differ in any way from that of a modern human being. On an anthropological level, the study of Neolithic skeletons is rather disappointing, because they can only be divided into three groups: Black, White and Mixed. The mystery of their origin remains, and nothing makes it understandable why Homo sapiens seized world domination within a rather short time. The available scientific data allow us to assume that the Neolithic people began to occupy the Sahara between 7000 and 6ooo BC; but these figures are only preliminary, and it is quite possible that they are a little underestimated (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

This beautiful pottery from Niger is characteristic of Neolithic ceramic art. The beautiful decoration obtained with the help of a comb attests to a sure taste and a lively originality. The extraordinary importance of the discovery of the arts of fire must be emphasised. Previously, man prepared his food in a summary way, but once he had a fireproof container, he had a strong influence on himself by enriching his food more and more. The invention of ceramics marks a turning point in human history. Until then, it was the biotope that conditioned man; but from the moment he transformed what he drew from this biotope, he modified it more and more profoundly. (IFAN collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The pottery is little known, but the beautiful piece from Ehi Mounto (Niger), 25 centimetres high, proves that the craft had reached an unusually high degree of perfection, at least in some places, far from being in decline. The black, very homogeneous clay had made it possible to produce a pottery in which the wall thickness did not exceed 3 millimetres at half height! (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

Jewellery is a feature of the Neolithic in the Sahara, for the older industries had been entirely focused on utility value. Lip pegs of various shapes and sizes may be joined by buttons for the ears and beads that could be sling stones. An astonishing variety of pendants of an obviously magical character complete the magnificent ensemble, which testifies to a high sense of art. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.) – 1969

Bone also interested the Neolithic craftsmen. Fishermen in particular turned to this material to make harpoons and fishhooks; but there is also a wide arsenal of needles, drills, rods for smoothing, pottery gauges and even hoes made of bone and sometimes even ivory. The utensils for fishing, which are so common at some sites, clearly show the place that fishing held in the Neolithic period. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.) – 1969

The Sahara was not always a desert. Periods of drought and humidity have alternated over time. For example, some Oldowan sites have been described in the Massif des Richât east of Ouadane. They were located on the banks of palaeolakes, such as El Beyedh or Guelb Er Richât. The most important sites are Wadi Akerdeil and Aftassa-Amzeili southeast of Zouerate. - These stone spheres come from El Beyedh in Mauritania. The large sphere has a diameter of 13 cm, the small one of 5.5 cm. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The tumulus represents the simplest type of the great series of Saharan funerary monuments, known as "Libyco-Berber" or, better still, "pre-Islamic". From this period onwards, there was a change in the choice of materials used to make jewellery, the first glass paste beads, imported marine shells, cones and cypresses in particular, and carnelian for the manufacture of beads made according to a new technique, as the hole is straighter and the polishing perfect. The necklace in the centre is from this period, while the other two, above and to the left, show the persistence of the glass paste beads, which are often coloured blue, until the present day. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The art of adornment, so developed today, appears in the Saharan Neolithic with a sudden and unexpected brilliance. Early explorers of South Africa reported the curious way in which ostrich egg beads were made. Test fragments were punctured, threaded onto a thong which, at the end of the operation, was knotted at both ends. The resulting coarse roll was then walked for a long time on all sides inside a narrow groove cut in a soft stone. At the end of the operation, the beads were perfectly circular. But their main purpose was to be used as... money! The majority of ancient ornaments are reused nowadays; however, plastic has recently been added to the rich material of the beautiful coloured stones (IFAN collections, Dakar). - 1969

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