Pottery is one of the earliest transformative technologies in human history, marking new ways of storing, cooking, and processing food. In Africa, ceramics first appeared in the Sahara during the African Humid Period, around 11,000–10,000 years ago, when hunter-gatherer-fisher groups were adapting to environments of growing ecological productivity.

While several regions have been proposed as the birthplace of this innovation, researchers have long debated whether pottery in Africa emerged once or through multiple independent developments. The small sample sizes and high levels of chronological uncertainty associated with these finds have, so far, made this problem a particularly challenging one to tackle.

In a new study in Nature Communications, Rocco Rotunno and Enrico Crema from the University of Cambridge, compiled radiocarbon evidence from across Early Holocene Africa, including both sites with and without pottery.

Using novel statistical models of spatio-temporal diffusion, they compared different scenarios for the spread of ceramic technology. The analysis found the strongest support for models with dual or triple origins, suggesting independent centres of innovation in the Central Sahara, Nile Valley, and West Africa.

These findings challenge the idea of a single-point origin and emphasise the importance of localised technological choices, regional ecological conditions, and intergroup interaction. By refining the chronology and modelling the spread of ceramics, the study provides new insights into the role of innovation and connectivity in shaping the cultural trajectories of early African societies.