ABSTRACT
T he spread of agricultural and herding lifeways in Africa presents an intriguing alternative to the Near Eastern or European model in that the raising of livestock-in particular, cattle-precedes the appearance of fully domesticated crops by some 5,000 years. at cattle herding and shing dominated the food-producing systems of Saharan Africa for much of the Middle to Late Holocene is evidence of an alternative developmental trajectory to the typical sedentary agricultural model (Garcea 2006; Holl 2005; MacDonald 1998; Sutton 1974, 1977). Instead, it is widely believed that the spread of domestic livestock and high mobility levels supported signi cant east-west migrations, re ected in a broadly shared Saharan material culture. e process of integrating domestic cereals into this long-standing foodproduction system remains poorly understood and yet poses a pivotal moment in the social and economic history of sub-Saharan Africa. is chapter examines recent evidence from the Lower Tilemsi Valley, presenting new insights into the timing and spread of domestic pearl millet.
