Africa is probably the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human species in some quarters thought to actually originate from that continent. Thanks to computer technology, photographs and images of Africa’s History can now be easily discerned in order to facilitate us with a better understanding of evolution in itself. Anthropologists have discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans are thought to have evolved into modern man. Images of the Ishango bone have been exhibited internationally as it dates back to about 25,000 years ago.
The reality is that there are absolutely no records, however, theorists have concluded that by 130,000 BC the bulk of Africa's populations inhabited the Sahara. At this time it is believed that this extensive dessert was a fertile valley criss-crossed by rivers. Images of artful incisions in African ocher (a type of stone) allow historians to better deliberate the progress of mankind. Based on historical photos of the continent, it is assumed that around 70,000 BC Africa suffered an extinction of 30% of its wildlife species. Logically following this theory, around 30,000 BC the world entered the last major ice age. Thus the Sahara Desert reached up to the Ethiopian Highlands, the Central Africa's mountain ranges were submerged by ice flow and the River Nile, north of Khartoum, disappeared.
Then emerged the international phenomenon known as the Beaker culture, which affected western North Africa. Named thus because of distinctively shaped ceramics found in graves, the Beaker culture is associated with the emergence of a warrior mentality. Pictures of North African rock art of this period illustrates animals, but it also focuses on the human figure, equipped with weapons and adornments. People from the Great Lakes Region of Africa settled along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to become the proto-Canaanites who dominated the lowlands between the Jordan River, the Mediterranean and the Sinai Desert.
By the 1st millennium BC ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa and quickly began spreading across the Sahara into the northern parts of sub-saharan Africa. Technically doctored artifact historical photos show that metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. Ironworking was fully established by roughly 500 BC in areas of East and West Africa, though other regions didn't begin ironworking until the early centuries AD.