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Kiffian culture is an ancient culture that existed during the prehistoric period in the region of present-day Niger and Mali in sub-Saharan Africa. This culture is named after the archaeological site of Kiffa in Mauritania, where artifacts related to this culture were discovered.

Language
Kiffians may have been Nilo-Saharan or Niger-Congo speakers. (1)(2)(3)

Kiffian culture is known for its unique form of stone tool-making and fishing techniques. Fishing played a major role in their daily subsistence. Its believed the speared giant perch with harpoons.

The culture is believed to have emerged around 8,000 BC, during the early Holocene. And, lasted for several millennia, to 6000 BC
It is believed there domain actually existed in the Sahara Desert. But during the African humid period. Also referred to as the neolithic subpluvial.

The people of Kiffian culture were great hunter-gatherers who lived in communities near water sources, such as lakes and rivers
They relied on wild animals, fish, and plants for their food.

Given there size, there were skilled hunters. Many human specimens have been found over 6 feet tall (4)
Craniometric (measurement of skull) analysis by scientists have identified the population. And, that they may have been related to late pleistocene iberomaurusians, holocene capsians, as well as mecta groups. (5)

There formation was probably as a result of the Green Sahara
Sahara desert was verdant and wet. (6)

One of the key characteristics of the Kiffian culture was the production of microliths. Small stone tools that were used for hunting and fishing
These microliths included arrowheads, spearheads, and fishing hooks.

Kiffian culture is also known for its distinctive pottery, which was decorated with geometric patterns and zig zags.

Human remains from this culture were found in 2000 AD at a site known as Gobero, located in Niger in the Ténéré Desert. (4) The site is known as the largest and earliest burial place of Stone Age people in the Sahara desert.

Due to the Sahara dry period. Traces of the Kiffian culture do not exist after 6,000 BC. After this time, and a break. The Tenerian culture colonized the area. (7)

The decline of the Kiffian culture is believed to have been caused by climate change. Which led to the drying out of the region’s lakes and rivers, making it more difficult for people to sustain themselves. They eventually disappeared, as did many other prehistoric cultures of the region.
Check it out, with some more neolithic architecture today.

Cite: 1) Garcea, Elena A. A. (2013). Gobero: The No-return Frontier : Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland (https://books.google.com/books?id=fUy8gejsmSIC&q=Pastoral&pg=PA251). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Africa Magna Verlag. pg. 9, 274. ISBN 9783937248349.

2) Blench, Roger (January 2020). “The evolution of foraging and the transition to pastoralism in the Sahara” (https://www.academia.edu/40227137). Landscapes and Landforms of the Central Sahara. University of Cambridge.

3) Blench, Roger (2019). “The Linguistic Prehistory of The Sahara” (https://www.academia.edu/53
16756). Published in a Volume of Selected Papers. D. Mattingley ed. Cambridge University Press & Libyan Studies Association. University Press & Libyan Studies Association: 431. or niger congo speakers

4) “Stone Age Graveyard Reveals Lifestyles Of A ‘Green Sahara’ ” (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080815101317.htm). Science Daily. 2008-08-15.

5) Sereno PC, Garcea EAA, Jousse H, Stojanowski CM, Saliège J-F, Maga A, et al. (2008).
“Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change” (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/asset?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002995.P
DF) (PDF). PLOS ONE. 3 (8). e2995. Bibcode:2008PLoSO…3.2995S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008PLoSO…3.2995S). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002995 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002995). PMC 2515196 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC25
15196). PMID 18701936 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18701936).

6) Wilford, John Noble (2008-08-14). “Graves Found From Sahara’s Green Period” (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/science/15sahara.html). New York Times.

7) Schultz, Nora (2008-08-14). “Stone Age mass graves reveal green Sahara” (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14536-stone-age-mass-graves-reveal-green-sahara.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news3_head_dn14536). New Scientist.

Bibliography:
Irish, Joel D (April 2016). Tracing the “Bantu Expansion” from its source: Dental nonmetric affinities among West African and neighboring populations (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316740156). American Association of Physical Anthropologists. doi:10.13140/
RG.2.2.14163.78880 (https://doi.org/10.13140%2FRG.2.2.14163.78880) – via ResearchGate

Kamrani, Kambiz. “The Kiffian & Tenerean Occupation Of Gobero, Niger: Perhaps The Largest Collection Of Early-Mid Holocene People In Africa.” Anthropology.net. N.p., 14 Thursday August 2008. Web. 01 Jan. 2015. (http://anthropology.net/2008/08/14/the-kiffian-tenerean-occupation-of-gobero-niger-perhaps-the-largest-collection-of-early-mid-holocene-people-in-africa/ Archived(https://web.archive.org/web/20170414083647/https://anthropology.net/2008/08/14/the-kiffian-tenerean-occupation-of-gobero-niger-perhaps-the-largest-collection-of-early-mid-holocene-people-in-africa/)

Blench, Roger. “The Linguistic Prehistory of The Sahara” (https://www.academia.edu/5316756)