In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel, the
Nilo-Saharan speakers started to collect and domesticate wild millet and
sorghumbetween 8000 and 6000 BCE. Later,
gourds,
watermelons,
castor beans, and
cotton were also collected and domesticated. The people started capturing wild cattle and holding them in circular thorn hedges, resulting in domestication.
[12] They also started making pottery. Fishing, using bone tipped harpoons, became a major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains.
In West Africa, the wet phase ushered in expanding rainforest and wooded savannah from
Senegal to
Cameroon. Between 9000 and 5000 BCE,
Niger–Congo speakers domesticated the
oil palm and
raffia palm. Two seed plants,
black-eyed peas and
voandzeia (African groundnuts) were domesticated, followed by
okra and
kola nuts. Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest.
[13]
Neither of them.