Lake Chad refills; Iwo Eleru rock shelter first occupied

Following the dry period of 20,000 years ago, conditions began to get wetter again around 10,000 BC: the Mali Niger joined up with the Nigerian Niger and Lake Chad again became vast. The forest spread northwards from relict coastal areas. At Iwo Eleru rock shelter, near Akure, occupation begins around 10,000 BC, and the shelter was used at frequently recurring intervals for some ten thousand years prior to our era.