The Advent of Herding in Southern Africa: Early AMS Dates on Domestic Livestock from the Kalahari Desert1

In Africa cattle, sheep, and goats play a major role in the socioeconomic and ecological adaptations of many peoples, both past and present. For this reason as well as others, documenting the spread of domesticated livestock in Africa is a problem of major anthropological interest. The development of desiccation in the Sahara is considered the major factor contributing to the spread of livestock from the Sahara into East Africa, where cattle and goats are present at Pastoral Neolithic sites at Lake Turkana in northern Kenya by as early as 4,000-4,500 BP.