Scientists studying two 7,000-year-old female mummies from Libya’s Takarkori rock shelter have uncovered a previously unknown North African genetic lineage.

#Archaeology #Genetics #GreenSahara #NorthAfrica #HumanHistory

When The Sahara Was Green By Martin Williams — Review The fascinating but little-known history of how the Sahara was transformed from a green and fertile land into the largest hot desert in the world.

When The Sahara Was Green By Martin Williams — #Review, #book published by @princetonupress.bsky.social

#BookReview by @grrlscientist.bsky.social

#Nonfiction #SaharaDesert #GreenSahara #Geology #Archaeology #Ecology #ClimateChange www.forbes.com/sites/grrlsc...

how the Sahara became a desert The Sahara isn't exactly the place where you would want to store your DNA for a few millennia and expect it to still be readable, so it was a bit of a sensation that researchers recently published the first genome-wide analysis of 7000-year-old DNA of humans who lived there, when it wasn't a desert yet. A good excuse to look a bit more closely at the "Green Sahara" and how it became the Sahara desert we know today. It also serves as a warning, as some places are at risk of desertification due to climate change. The resulting feature is out now: **Becoming a desert** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 10, 19 May 2025, Pages R357-R359 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The Acacus Mountains in Southwest Libya, where archaeological excavations at sites such as the Takarkori Cave have revealed a rich fauna and human habitation during the African Humid Period. (Photo: Franzfoto/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).)

this week's feature is about the #GreenSahara. blog entry contains magic link for free access. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/05/how-sahara-becam... #science #environment #climateChange #desert #drought #ancientDNA

The prevalence of dust leads to questions about the past 'Green Sahara.' What caused it? Users discussed the potential for similar conditions to reoccur, suggesting significant environmental shifts are possible. #GreenSahara 4/6

Uncovering the Green Sahara: A Lost Civilization Reemerges from the Sands - WIOBS DNA from ancient mummies reveals a mysterious, long-isolated human lineage in the once-lush Sahara Desert, reshaping Africa’s genetic...

Uncovering the Green Sahara: A Lost Civilization Reemerges from the Sands
wiobs.com/uncovering-t...
#GreenSahara #AncientDNA #SaharaHistory #HumanOrigins #Archaeogenetics #ClimateChangeHistory #AfricanCivilizations #Takarkori #LostLineages #AnthropologyNews

Secrets of the Green Sahara: Ancient DNA Reveals Lost North African Lineage A new study reveals that a distinct North African human lineage lived in the Central Sahara over 7,000 years ago, during the African humid period. This population had been long isolated from other groups....

Secrets of the Green Sahara: Ancient DNA Reveals Lost North African Lineage #Science #Biology #Genetics #GreenSahara #AncientDNA #NorthAfrica

A green-stone ax and crocodile scute (dermal bone) from Gobero, an archaeological site in Niger, inhabited in the mid-Holocene, when the central Sahara was a series of interconnected lakes. #FieldworkFriday #archaeology #GreenSahara 📸 by me

Original post on c.im

aDNA of African #Neolithic #pastoralists from the #GreenSahara
#AfricanHumidPeriod

'Here we report ancient genomic data from the Central Sahara, obtained from two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals buried in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya. The […]

Ancient Genomes Reveal Isolated Human Lineage in Green Sahara Researchers have decoded the first ancient human genomes from the Green Sahara, uncovering a long-isolated North African lineage that thrived over 7,000 years ago during the African Humid Period.

Ancient genomes from Libya's Green Sahara reveal a long-isolated North African lineage, reshaping our understanding of prehistoric human migration. #AncientDNA #HumanEvolution #GreenSahara

Original post on mastodon.social

2-Apr-2025
First #ancientGenomes from the #GreenSahara deciphered
A new study reveals a long-isolated North African human lineage in the Central #Sahara during the African humid period more than 7,000 years ago

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1078547 #science #genome #humans […]

Decifrati i primi genomi antichi del “Green Sahara” di 7.000 anni fa Uno studio su Nature, con la partecipazione dell’Università di Firenze e della Sapienza di Roma, svela nuove informazioni sulla preistoria del Sahara

➡️ Leggi l'articolo: #GreenSahara

Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage - Nature Pastoralism spread through cultural diffusion into the Green Sahara, where an isolated, distinct North African ancestry persisted.

Our study analyzing the DNA of ~7ky-old Pastoralists from the "Green Sahara" is out! Who were these people, and how did herding spread into the region when the present-day desert was dotted with water bodies? 🧬🦴🏜️ (1/7)

#PopGen #GreenSahara #aDNA

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Fulani Enigma: Unraveling the Deep Genetic History of Africa’s Legendary Pastoralists New research traces the origins of the Fulani to the Green Sahara, reshaping our understanding of migration, culture, and ancestry in Africa

The Fulani’s genetic origins trace back to the Green Sahara, blending African and Eurasian ancestry. This study reshapes our understanding of migration and diversity in African history.

#Genetics #Anthropology #Fulani #AfricanHistory #Migration #DNAResearch #GreenSahara

Record of past floods of the Nile during the wetter North African Humid Period (7,500-9,500 yrs ago). Top: thickness of flood layers with green (yellow) thicker (thinner) layers indicating stronger (weaker) floods and the median thickness in black. Intervals of stronger floods also have a larger variability. Bottom: wavelet analysis of the thickness record with strong and significant signals (yellow) showing a strong influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation on flood variability.

3. We used a #varved sediment core from offshore the Nile mouth to reconstruct past #Nile floods during the #GreenSahara -> we observe much stronger #floods AND a higher variability of floods @varveswg

Map showing rainfall anomalies globally for simulations of the AWI-ESM model with conditions 9,000 yr ago, during the North African Humid Period: increase in rainfall in the African Monsoon region.

2. Wetter intervals of the geological past (e.g., North African Humid Periods or #GreenSahara phases) are useful (partial) #analogues

and 3) Call 📣 for feedback 💭 on a paper submitted ! Annual #Nile floods during the #GreenSahara 🌧️ PREPRINT here: researchsquare.com/article/rs-3... Forever grateful :) 🙏

#GreenSahara - oder was #Sedimentkerne aus dem #Mittelmeer vor der Küste #Libyen|s über die Geschichte der großen #Umweltveränderungen in #Nordafrika in den letzten 160.000 Jahren erzählen können.

Neue Forschungen:...