ABSTRACT
for several decades one of the burning issues in African archaeology has been the question of the origin of sub-Saharan food production. It has often been associated, though not necessarily always correctly, with a sedentary form of habitation. In some twenty-seven sites in Ghana's savanna and forest lands and two other sites in the Ivory Coast, recurrent evidence has been found both in excavations and from surface materials which has led to the hypothesis that peoples of the Late Stone Age adopted and practised sedentism and food production shortly after 2000 Bc (Davies 1962; Davies 1964; Davies 1967; Flight 1976; Dombrowski 1980; Anquandah 1982; Chenorkian 1983; Posnansky 1984; Stahl 1985b; Stahl, Ch. 14, this volume). Although the hypothesis for sedentism seems to be supported by and large by the available evidence, that for food production appears to be tenuous since it is often uncertain whether faunal remains found in Kintampo deposits represent those of wild, captive, tame or domesticated animals. Similar doubts have been raised about plant food remains found in Kintampo contexts.
