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Stone Age Mass Graves Reveal Green Sahara

iminplaya sends along a New Scientist article that begins: "One of the driest deserts in the world, the Saharan Tenere Desert, hosted at least two flourishing lakeside populations during the Stone Age, a discovery of the largest graveyard from the era reveals. The archaeological site in Niger [is] called Gobero... It had been used as a burial site by two very different populations during the millennia when the Sahara was lush... 'The first people who used the Gobero cemetery were Kiffian, hunter-gatherers who grew up to two meters tall,' says Elena Garcea of the University of Cassino in Italy and one of the scientists on the team. The large stature of the Kiffian suggests that food was plentiful during their time in Gobero, 10,000 to 8,000 years ago... All traces of the Kiffian vanish abruptly around 8,000 years ago, when the Sahara became very dry for a thousand years. When the rains returned, a different population, the Tenerians, who were of a shorter and more gracile build, based themselves at this site... 'The most amazing find so far is a grave with a female and two children hugging each other. They were carefully arranged in this position. This strongly indicated they had spiritual beliefs and cared for their dead,' says Garcea." The research article is at PLoS One.

3 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Water = civilization by pieterh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't the history of civilization generally based around water for animals, agriculture, transport, industry?

    Maybe time to start treating our seas with respect. I was on a beach in Togo last week and every day the ocean washes up plastic bags.

    1. Re:Water = civilization by pitchpipe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Isn't the history of civilization generally based around water for animals, agriculture, transport, industry?

      Yup. In the United States, around 53% of the population lives near the coast[.] Also, look at any map and notice how many major cities are right on major rivers.

      Maybe time to start treating our seas with respect.

      I hope we do, though right now I'm pessimistic. See this

      --
      Look where all this talking got us, baby.
  2. Re:spiritual beliefs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Holy crap! The only reason you don't kill weaker people is because your holy book tells you not to?!?

    You can't reason it out and come to the conclusion that it's wrong without examining a holy text and/or your local laws?!?

    You, sir, are a scary scary scary person.