The studied faunal remains were excavated by archaeologists from the University of Frankfurt at sites in the West African Sahel, more precisely in the North East of Burkina Faso and around Lake Chad in Nigeria. The sites are dated roughly between 4000 BP and present. The two major themes within the archaeological research are the transition from hunter gathering to food production and iron age developments. Since the region is archaeologically virtually unexplored, the main goal is to produce a general chronology. The research on the fauna sheds light on the follosing aspects: economy, evolution of climate and environment, trade and religion.