Editing History of Senegal (section)

==Paleolithic==

The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the [[Falémé River|Falémé]] in the south-east.<ref>Unless otherwise stated, the material in this part is based on Ndiouga Benga and on Mandiomé Thiam, "prehistory prehistory and history", in ''Atlas du Sénégal, op. cit.'', p. 74</ref>

The presence of man in the [[Lower Paleolithic]] is attested by the discovery of [[Archaeological industry|stone tools]] characteristic of [[Acheulean]] such as [[hand axe]]s reported by [[Théodore Monod]]<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Théodore Monod]], « Sur la découverte du Paléolithique ancien à Dakar », ''Bulletin du Comité d'études historiques et scientifiques de l'AOF'', t. XXI, 1938, pp. 518–519</ref> at the tip of [[Fann-Point E-Amitié|Fann]] in the peninsula of [[Cap-Vert]] in 1938, or cleavers found in the south-east.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Abdoulaye Camara et Bertrand Duboscq, ''La préhistoire dans le Sud-Est du Sénégal, Actes du 2<sup>e</sup> Colloque de Kédougou, 18–22 fév. 1985'', Doc. du CRA du Musée de l'Homme (Paris), n° 11, 1987, pp. 19–48</ref> There were also found stones shaped by the [[Levallois technique]], characteristic of the [[Middle Paleolithic]]. [[Mousterian]] Industry is represented mainly by [[Scraper (archaeology)|scraper]]s found in the peninsula of Cap-Vert, as well in the low and middle valleys of the [[Senegal River|Senegal]] and the Falémé. Some pieces are explicitly linked to hunting, like those found in [[Tiémassass]], near [[M'Bour]], a controversial site that some claim belongs to the [[Upper Paleolithic]],<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Th. Dagan, « Le Site préhistorique de Tiémassas (Sénégal) », ''Bulletin de l'Institut français d'Afrique noire'', 1956, pp. 432–448</ref> while other argue in favor of the [[Neolithic]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Cyr Descamps, « Quelques réflexions sur le Néolithique du Sénégal », ''West African Journal of Archaeology'', 1981, vol. 10–11, pp. 145–151</ref>