By 12,000 BC, about 4000 years earlier than West Asia, grains such as wheat or barley were not yet cultivated, but wild seeds were being gathered and ground into flour.

One of the first stages in farming was in discovering how to use wild grains by grinding them into flour. Many examples of early grinding stones have been found across north and east Africa. These consist of a heavy dish- or bowl-shaped rock where the seeds are placed and a round egg-shaped rock which would be rolled back and forth to crush the seeds. Animals such as cattle and horses have grinding teeth and more than one stomach to help digest the tough plant fibres. People had to invent an artificial way to prepare wild seeds so they could use this nutritional source of food.