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New rock art discoveries in Eastern Sudan reaffirm catastrophic climate change
www.scimex.org ^ | May 7, 2024 | Macquarie University

Posted on 05/08/2024 12:56:10 PM PDT by Red Badger

A rare cast of a red-painted cow in a rock shelter, accompanied by a man

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New archaeological findings from the hyper-arid Atbai Desert, in Eastern Sudan, indicate the Sahara Desert was once a lush and green environment.

Dr Julien Cooper from the Department of History and Archaeology, led a team of archaeologists in 2018 and 2019 on the Atbai Survey Project, discovering 16 new rock art sites in Wadi Halfa, one of the most desolate and driest areas of the Sahara. Almost all of the newly discovered artwork, which dates back 4000 years, features the presence of cattle.

“It was puzzling to find cattle carved on desert rock walls as they require plenty of water and acres of pasture, and would not survive in the dry and arid environment of the Sahara today,” says Dr Julien Cooper.

“The presence of cattle in ancient rock art is one of the most important pieces of evidence establishing a once ‘green Sahara.’”

The rock art discovered in Eastern Sudan also paints the desert as a grassy savannah, brimming with pools, rivers, swamps and waterholes and home to a variety of African savannah fauna such as the giraffe and elephant.

The idea of a ‘green Sahara’ has been proven in previous archaeological and climatic fieldwork and research, with experts referring to this as the ‘African humid period’ – a time of increased summer monsoon rainfall which began approximately 15,000 years ago and ended roughly 5,000 years ago.

Depictions of humans alongside the cattle could indicate the act of milking, suggesting the region was once occupied by cattle pastoralists until as late as the second or third millennium BCE. After this point, decreasing rainfall rendered cattle pastoralism impossible. Today, this region receives almost no annual rainfall.

Following the end of the ‘African humid period’, around 3000 BCE, lakes and rivers began to dry up, sand covered dead pastures and most of the human population left the Sahara for refuge closer to the Nile.

“The Atbai Desert around Wadi Halfa, where the new rock art was discovered, became almost completely depopulated. For those who remained, cattle were abandoned for sheep and goats.”

“This would have had major ramification on all aspects of human life – from diet and limited milk supplies, migratory patterns of herding families and the identity and livelihood of those who depended on their cattle.”

Today, cattle is a symbol of identity and significance across South Sudan and parts of East Africa. Cattle are decorated, branded and have a significant role in funerary customers, with cattle skulls marking graves and consumed in feasts.

Link to paper:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03075133231211917#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20the%20Atbai,rock%20art%20and%20surface%20remains.

Journal/conference: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology

Link to research (DOI): 10.1177/03075133231211917


TOPICS: History; Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Weather
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; ecoterrorism; ecoterrorists; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; greennewdeal; herodotus; sudan
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1 posted on 05/08/2024 12:56:10 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

%$*&$%^# Trump!


2 posted on 05/08/2024 12:57:45 PM PDT by 728b (Never cry over something that can not cry over you.)
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To: 728b

MAKE AFRICA GREEN AGAIN!........................


3 posted on 05/08/2024 12:59:39 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger; SunkenCiv

Wait, what ?

Are you insinuating that climate change has happened before ?

Certainly you could not say it might have something to do with the giant fusion reactor about 8 light seconds away would you ?


4 posted on 05/08/2024 12:59:47 PM PDT by algore
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To: 728b

4000 years ago my suv didn’t get as good gas mileage as it does now...

why cannot the left connect the dots?


5 posted on 05/08/2024 1:00:14 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: algore

Ooooooo cow farts... look at the picture more closely.


6 posted on 05/08/2024 1:01:00 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: SunkenCiv

PinGGG!..........................


7 posted on 05/08/2024 1:01:47 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: 728b

These Saudi oil barons were driving their fancy limos and flying their corporate jets much longer than we believed.


8 posted on 05/08/2024 1:04:10 PM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Red Badger

Those Sudanese and their diesel-powered pick-ups.


9 posted on 05/08/2024 1:04:16 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Red Badger

10 posted on 05/08/2024 1:04:53 PM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Red Badger

Red Heiffer!


11 posted on 05/08/2024 1:05:13 PM PDT by xoxox
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To: algore

8 minutes.


12 posted on 05/08/2024 1:05:22 PM PDT by Codeflier (Don't worry....be happy )
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To: Red Badger

Maybe the dude he drew it came FROM a place where there were cattle and green pastures?


13 posted on 05/08/2024 1:05:54 PM PDT by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
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To: Mathews

Exchange student


14 posted on 05/08/2024 1:06:47 PM PDT by Codeflier (Don't worry....be happy )
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To: Red Badger

SUVs created the Sahara Desert!

I KNEW it!


15 posted on 05/08/2024 1:09:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: 728b

They really do not know how “catastrophic” it was - something that happend suddenly, or change that was a long time in the making.

When were a lot of todays deserts not deserts? When ice covered most of the northern hemisphere. I prefer these times to then.


16 posted on 05/08/2024 1:09:43 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Red Badger

...and much of north America was a shallow sea.
They have found shark skeletons in mammoth cave Arkansas.
Ya, things change.


17 posted on 05/08/2024 1:11:15 PM PDT by READINABLUESTATE (Make orwell fiction again)
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To: Red Badger

Damn petroleum powered transportation. :-(


18 posted on 05/08/2024 1:11:16 PM PDT by dblshot
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To: Red Badger

Yes, da Erf’s climate rises and falls by 16 or so degrees every 100 to 120 thousand years over the past 850,000 years that we know of during this three million year ice age. They are known as inter-glacial periods.


19 posted on 05/08/2024 1:11:33 PM PDT by Tom Tetroxide
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To: Mathews

That’s what I was thinking.

Maybe he was reminiscing about his home...............


20 posted on 05/08/2024 1:12:45 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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