The Dufuna canoe, unearthed in 1987 in Yobe State, Nigeria, stands as the world' s second- oldest known boat and the oldest in Africa, dating to around 6250 BC. This 8. 4 m dugout crafted from Scots pine (material identification still debated) was preserved in waterlogged clay, enabling radiocarbon analyses that placed its construction between 6556– 6388 BCE and 6164– 6005 BCE. Discovered by a Fulani herdsman digging a well, it reveals advanced woodworking skills— axe- like and pick- axe tools produced finely pointed bow and stern— indicating a long tradition of boat construction in the central Sahelian region.

As an artifact linking prehistoric communities across the Sahara, Nile, and Lake Chad basin, the canoe offers unique insights into early Holocene settlement, environment, and waterborne lifeways in West Africa. On 4 May 1987, Mallam Ya' u, digging a well near Dufuna village, struck a hard object at 4. 5 m depth, later identified as a dugout canoe. Initial investigations by the University of Maiduguri (1989– 1990) confirmed its organic preservation and retrieved charcoal for dating.

A full excavation in 1994 by German and Nigerian teams mobilized fifty labourers over two weeks; the canoe lay in anoxic, clay- separated layers that prevented decay. Archaeologists documented finely worked bow and stern points, attributing manufacture to micro- lithic core- axe and bifacial pick- axe tools, implying considerable technical evolution rather than ad hoc design. Radiocarbon assays of charcoal found adjacent to the canoe yielded dates of 8500– 8000 years before present, anchoring its creation to c. 6250 BC.