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
No excuse for them not knowing how to swim
Interglacial periods............meaning the ‘normal’ state is snowball Earth.................
The US government must have been in charge of the lush forests back then! What happened?
If only the Saharans from 3000 BC were driving EVs this disaster could’ve been avoided.
4000 years ago is 2000 BC. The Egyptians were kind of active about then if I understand correctly. Did they leave anything to indicate a lush green Sahara?
is it just me or does the term “catastrophic” mean exactly what virtually ANYONE says it means, neither more nor less?
Just a bunch of mummies...................
How does this ‘reaffirm catastrophic climate change’???
They have seen this confirmed in many ways. among them, are by taking samples off the ocean floor of the Atlantic near the coast of Morocco.
they can date the layers of mud going back many thousands of years. what they see is that roughly before 3500 BC the mud is thick with pollen as you would see coming off North Africa from a green grassy world.
The newer sediments are nearly devoid of pollen as you would see coming off North Africa from the desert.
The transition happened fairly quickly—within just 100 years.
Evil Egyptians, their cattle farts, oil lamps and cooking fires.
It’s all THEIR fault. To hell with natural cycles so long that stoopid people don’t have the brain capacity to grasp the reality.
/s
suv’s were invented far earlier than I had thought!
/s
There is a regular 40,000 year cycle of greening/desertification across Northern Africa associated with precession and other factors. Sometimes these cooincide with other things like Sea level rise due to things like polar cap melting and or volcanos, meteors, position relative to the galactic plane, stuff we cannot control.
The SUVs back then were even dirtier than they are today.
I visit Central Park in Manhattan fairly often...I really love it. Anyone who's been there can't help but notice the many rocky outcrops scattered around the park. Some of them look like mini mountains to me.
But I just discovered fairly recently that scientists say that they represent irrefutable proof that that little spot of land was,as recently as a couple of thousand years ago,enveloped in a glacier about 4,000 feet high.
I wonder what happened to that glacier!
Interesting finding, but nothing new at all re: “climate change.” The green Sahara has been well-known for a long time.
A rain belt in the Sahara Desert region and permafrost in North America.
Really? It's named Desert Desert?
(Saw that on Jeopardy last night.)
From all the cars and trucks the ancient Africans were driving
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.