Early domesticated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from Central Ghana

From examining the remains of charred cowpeas from rock shelters in Central Ghana, the authors throw light on the subsistence strategies of the Kintampo people of the second millennium BCE. Perhaps driven southwards from the Sahel by aridification, the Kintampo operated as both foragers and farmers, cultivating selected plants of the West African tropics, notably cowpea, pearl millet and oil palm.