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Sahara Desert Was Once Lush and Populated
LiveScience ^ | 20 July 2006 | Bjorn Carey

Posted on 07/20/2006 3:55:53 PM PDT by Marius3188

At the end of the last Ice Age, the Sahara Desert was just as dry and uninviting as it is today. But sandwiched between two periods of extreme dryness were a few millennia of plentiful rainfall and lush vegetation.

During these few thousand years, prehistoric humans left the congested Nile Valley and established settlements around rain pools, green valleys, and rivers.

The ancient climate shift and its effects are detailed in the July 21 issue of the journal Science.

When the rains came

Some 12,000 years ago, the only place to live along the eastern Sahara Desert was the Nile Valley. Being so crowded, prime real estate in the Nile Valley was difficult to come by. Disputes over land were often settled with the fist, as evidenced by the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba where many of the buried individuals had died a violent death.

But around 10,500 years ago, a sudden burst of monsoon rains over the vast desert transformed the region into habitable land.

This opened the door for humans to move into the area, as evidenced by the researcher's 500 new radiocarbon dates of human and animal remains from more than 150 excavation sites.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: africa; catastrophism; climatechange; desert; drought; environment; giza; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; greatsphinx; sahara; saharaforest; sphinx; thesahara
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To: Interesting Times

Thanks for the ping. Yes, it might help tighten dating of the Sphinx and necessarily set the date earlier than this period of rainfall. I also note that the Sahara was dry during the last "ice age" -- not covered with ice.


41 posted on 07/21/2006 12:53:46 PM PDT by zot (GWB -- the most slandered man of this decade)
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To: Marius3188
Sahara Desert Was Once Lush and Populated

...but the people ignored Kyoto and just kept driving their SUVs.

42 posted on 07/21/2006 12:56:15 PM PDT by TChris (Banning DDT wasn't about birds. It was about power.)
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To: livius
The Romans did serious deforestation when they arrived in various colonies (such as Spain).

I can't imagine Spain used to have forests, having visited Spain myself. Do you have a source to elaborate all that?

43 posted on 07/21/2006 12:56:36 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican (Everyone that doesn't like what America and President Bush has done for Iraq can all go to HELL)
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To: phoenix0468
Have you read anything about the temple in Yonaguni Jaban?

Actually, I just finished reading about Yonaguni in a book called, 'Underworld'. Excellent read. They had a skeptical geologist dive with them on the site, and give all the possible natural explanations. But he never was able to rule out the possibility that they were man-made.

So it remains an open question, as far as I am aware.

Personally, I think it is a man-carved structure. But more research is necessary to establish that for sure.

44 posted on 07/21/2006 1:11:04 PM PDT by Dominic Harr (Conservative = Careful, as in 'Conservative with money')
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To: Marius3188
Also, the Mediterranean was once a lot lower as North America was the North Pole and covered with Ice as thick as Antarctica.

Antarctica was habitable. The Mediterranean coastline was a lot lower and thus there were many towns and villages along its then shore, now buried under water.

No one knows what lies beneath the Black Sea. Suffice to say, its waters were also a lot lower and the Yalta peninsula extended further than it does today.
45 posted on 07/21/2006 7:42:40 PM PDT by Prost1 (We can build a wall, we can evict - "Si, se puede!")
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To: Marius3188

Ditto to that comment


46 posted on 07/21/2006 9:55:18 PM PDT by Dustbunny (Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me)
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To: Marius3188

If the Sphinx is really much older has hinted by the water erosion, other conjectures may also be wrong. If information about importance of the star Sirius (the dog star) is in fact true, perhaps the Sphinx is a resting dog, not a lion. Any thoughts on this?


47 posted on 07/21/2006 11:53:16 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: Marius3188
Does anyone have a map of the rivers that use to flow in the Sahara? I believe they were mapped through sonar.

Also, I know that there is lots of proof that the Sahara use to flourish but what is the proof that it was a desert before that? Anyway, very extreme change in a short amount of time.

48 posted on 07/21/2006 11:56:59 PM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: phoenix0468

"Wouldn't that also indicate the existence of advanced civilizations prior to Mesopotamia and Indus River?"

If you are not already aware of the writings of Graham Hancock, you should make his acquaintance. He also has an on line forum. Long before I ever heard of him I thought fairly well developed settlements must have been flooded when the great meltings of the last ice age and the Younger Dryas took place. Before then the Mediterranean was two very large inland seas. Then the water rose and flooded through Gibralter. Was that Noah's flood?


49 posted on 07/22/2006 12:04:50 AM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: blam

"The beginning of the end of the last Ice Age."

Actually, the end of the cooling of the Younger Dryas. There was a warmer phase between 18,000 years ago and the YD, 12,500 years ago.

This probably explains the orthodoxy problem in North America, where archeologist stopped looking when they found Clovis points. The Clovis were probably part of the post YD recovery. Now that they are digging deeper they are finding older remains, 14 and 15,000 years old.


50 posted on 07/22/2006 12:10:08 AM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: gleeaikin
perhaps the Sphinx is a resting dog, not a lion. Any thoughts on this?

I have seen that theory expressed elsewhere, yes.

51 posted on 07/22/2006 4:23:03 AM PDT by happygrl
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To: gleeaikin
" Before then the Mediterranean was two very large inland seas. Then the water rose and flooded through Gibralter. Was that Noah's flood?"

Scouring marks on the bottom at Gibralter attest to this event. Similar marks are on the bottom of the Black Sea at the Bosporus. The Mediterranean has completely dried out at least 40 times however, the last time was 5 million years ago.

FYI. It is my opinion that Noah's Ark was built up on the mountain as rumors of flooding and refugees reached Noah from the Mediterranean 'refill'.
It's my theory that something similar may have happened in the Gulf Of Mexico.

52 posted on 07/22/2006 5:10:10 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

"Something similar may have happened in the Gulf of Mexico."

I'm not clear on what you mean, filling in a surrounded depression (where), or water overtopping some barrier?


53 posted on 07/23/2006 12:52:29 AM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: gleeaikin
"I'm not clear on what you mean, filling in a surrounded depression (where), or water overtopping some barrier?"

During the Ice Age, the Gulf Of Mexico was blocked from the worlds oceans by a 'dam' from Florida, Cuba and the Yucatan causing it to severely dessicate (not dry out). This is the only explanation of the 'man-made' structures 1/2 mile under water off the west coast of Cuba. They were originally built on dry solid ground during the Ice Age. Atlantis may be down there too?

54 posted on 07/23/2006 5:34:05 AM PDT by blam
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To: Marius3188

The Sahara Desert Was Once Lush and Populated, then the Arabs took over and Voila! barren nothingness.


55 posted on 07/23/2006 5:39:32 AM PDT by reg45
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To: gleeaikin
These people may have been survivors of that flood. Researchers describe fabrics found at this site that are thousands of years old as being as 'finely woven' as a T-shirt from today. In other parts of the world, this technology is associated with well established metropolitan centers not with people living 'out in the woods.'

Bye, Bye Beringia (8,000-Year-Old Site In Florida

56 posted on 07/23/2006 5:51:08 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

This Beringia info is really fascinating. Actually, the article said this is the oldest DNA recovered, and perhaps at the time it was, but I seem to recall 9,000 year old DNA recovered from a peat bog in Britain, and they were able to trace related DNA in a modern man living nearby. Once people find a good place to live it seems some chose never to move away.

Regarding the "sudden" raise/fluctuation in sea levels between 18kya and 8kya. These changes might have occurred over decades or over several centuries. During those periods, while there might have been an initial tsunami, such as when Lake Agassiz (sp?) rushed into the Atlantic, that would have caused injury, death and destruction, the main problem would have been that as people moved uphill ahead of the slowly rising water, they would not have had time to reproduce their original level of material culture before they would have had to move again. Decades or centuries of repeated displacement would have significantly reduced any groups level of advanced civilization. This would have occurred weather it was the Americas, the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, India, South East Asia or China and Japan. Thus when sea levels finally stabilized, there would have been a significantly degraded base to build from


57 posted on 07/23/2006 12:48:39 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: gleeaikin
"I seem to recall 9,000 year old DNA recovered from a peat bog in Britain, and they were able to trace related DNA in a modern man living nearby."

That was Mr Targett and Cheddar Man. (...and my wife used to say that I never went anywhere)

Descendent Of Stone Age Skeleton Found (Cheddar Man - 9,000 Years-Old)

58 posted on 07/23/2006 3:12:56 PM PDT by blam
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To: gleeaikin

It would seem that some kind of event took place that caused flooding throughout the world. As far as I know, every civilaztion on earth has a flood story. The trick would be to tie these stories together in a timeframe to discover when the event happened. I'm sure someone has come to that conclusion already. Anyway, there is much evidence to suggest lost cities throughout the world that are now underwater or overgrown in jungles, etc.


59 posted on 07/24/2006 9:54:25 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: phoenix0468

Re: evidence of time frame for a universal flood.

Check out the 7/24/06 post "Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times." Lots of interesting although technical detail. Also many comments already. If you know how to put this in red, that would be helpful. I am new to computers and don't know how.


60 posted on 07/24/2006 11:47:25 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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