grooved axe

stone

Neolithic (c. 4000 BCE to 1000 BCE)

Gofat, Niger (north of Agadez)

length 4 ½ inches

acquired by Jack Daulton in Niger

The Neolithic in Saharan Africa refers to the period from about 7,000 BC to about 1,000 BC. These grooved axes are generally assigned to the “developed” Neolithic, i.e., not to the early Neolithic.

For the type, see J. L. Forde-Johnston, Neolithic Cultures of North Africa: Aspects of One Phase in the Development of the African Stone Age Cultures (Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Press, 1959), Plate IV, ill. 8.