The Sahara is the world's hottest desert, the third largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic. At over 9,400,000 square kilometers it covers most of North Africa, making it almost as large as China or the United States.
Neolithic People and the Sahara Desert
The Sahara wasn't always the desert it is today. It goes through wet and dry phases lasting thousands of years, with shorter phases in between. Some day, the Sahara will be wet again - possibly because of Global Warming (odd you may think). During the last wet phase or "Saharan Aqualithic" period, much of the Sahara was habitable. Some areas continually, and others only seasonally. Think of some areas of the Sahara 7,500 years ago as being like the Serengeti is today. A dry season, and a wet season. Other areas were like Spain or France in climate all the time. Even today, some areas of the Sahara receive snowfall!
The Saharan Aqualithic saw a massive population boom. Some of the inhabitants were nomadic and followed the herds of animals like the Plains Indians did in North America. Others cultivated grain crops and raised cattle. Most probably took advantage of all methods, and combined hunting with crude farming and animal domestication.
There were three races of people who inhabited the Neolithic Sahara. Some were of caucasian stock who came from the East through what is now Egypt, and possibly from the North across the water from what is now Spain. Others were dark-skinned Africans of negroid stock who entered the Sahara from the South. And from the Mediterranean coast of North Africa came the mechtoids who were neither caucasoid nor negroid, but probably of Aterian descent. Cave paintings reflect the physical differences between the races.
The major Neolithic traditions across the Sahara and North Africa were the Saharo-Sudanese Neolithic, Neolithic of Capsian Tradition, Southern Mediterranean Neolithic, West African Neolithic, Predynastic Egyptian, and Khartoum Neolithic. Some of these, such as the Saharo-Sudanese Neolithic, had sub-cultures or sub-traditions
Left behind, from these early civilizations is a treasure trove of stone tools, weapons, rock art, pottery, pipes, beads, bracelets, metals, glass, spindle whorls – relics from daily life as well as fossils, shark's teeth, shells and traces of marine life. Today, nomads and adventurers search the Sahara as the ever-changing sands turn up new finds of bygone times.
The Saharan Aqualithic saw a massive population boom. Some of the inhabitants were nomadic and followed the herds of animals like the Plains Indians did in North America. Others cultivated grain crops and raised cattle. Most probably took advantage of all methods, and combined hunting with crude farming and animal domestication.
There were three races of people who inhabited the Neolithic Sahara. Some were of caucasian stock who came from the East through what is now Egypt, and possibly from the North across the water from what is now Spain. Others were dark-skinned Africans of negroid stock who entered the Sahara from the South. And from the Mediterranean coast of North Africa came the mechtoids who were neither caucasoid nor negroid, but probably of Aterian descent. Cave paintings reflect the physical differences between the races.
The major Neolithic traditions across the Sahara and North Africa were the Saharo-Sudanese Neolithic, Neolithic of Capsian Tradition, Southern Mediterranean Neolithic, West African Neolithic, Predynastic Egyptian, and Khartoum Neolithic. Some of these, such as the Saharo-Sudanese Neolithic, had sub-cultures or sub-traditions
Left behind, from these early civilizations is a treasure trove of stone tools, weapons, rock art, pottery, pipes, beads, bracelets, metals, glass, spindle whorls – relics from daily life as well as fossils, shark's teeth, shells and traces of marine life. Today, nomads and adventurers search the Sahara as the ever-changing sands turn up new finds of bygone times.