Stone Age mass graves reveal green Sahara

18:00 14 August 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Nora Schultz


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, called Gobero, was discovered by Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago, during a dinosaur-hunting expedition. It had been used as a burial site by two very different populations during the millennia when the Sahara was lush.

Careful examination of 67 graves - a third of the 200 plots on the site - has uncovered unprecedented details about the lifestyles of the people who inhabited the green Stone Age "desert", says Sereno.

"The first people who used the Gobero cemetery were Kiffian, hunter-gatherers who grew up to two metres 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.

Harpoon tips found near the graves suggest that the Kiffian were skilled hunters, and the discovery of the bones of many large savannah animals in the same area suggest that they lived on the shores of the lake.

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. Bones and artefacts dated to the Tenerian episode suggest that these people herded cattle and hunted fish and wildlife with tools that required less physical strength than those of the Kiffian.

"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 researchers hope that by studying the remaining graves and natural remains at the site, they will obtain a more detailed picture of Stone Age lifestyle - including how they adapted to climate change.

"We can learn a lot about how humans adapt to dramatic climate change from these remains. The environment changed a lot on several occasions over a relatively short time, and we can read this unique record to reconstruct how people coped," says Garcea.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trevilli,

quote:

The researchers hope that by studying the remaining graves and natural remains at the site, they will obtain a more detailed picture of Stone Age lifestyle - including how they adapted to climate change.

"We can learn a lot about how humans adapt to dramatic climate change from these remains. The environment changed a lot on several occasions over a relatively short time, and we can read this unique record to reconstruct how people coped," says Garcea.

Those damned hydrocarbons causing climate change, even 8,000 years ago.

Sorry Algore, humans (particularly American ones) using oil are not the cause of global warming or climate change.

quote:

Originally posted by anarchy2day:

quote:

The researchers hope that by studying the remaining graves and natural remains at the site, they will obtain a more detailed picture of Stone Age lifestyle - including how they adapted to climate change.

"We can learn a lot about how humans adapt to dramatic climate change from these remains. The environment changed a lot on several occasions over a relatively short time, and we can read this unique record to reconstruct how people coped," says Garcea.

Those damned hydrocarbons causing climate change, even 8,000 years ago.

Sorry Algore, humans (particularly American ones) using oil are not the cause of global warming or climate change.

/\/\/\
LMAO

Why didnt Al Gore tell us about this?!?!?

quote:

Originally posted by Big D_:
Why didnt Al Gore tell us about this?!?!?

He said Al Gore

quote:

Originally posted by anarchy2day:

quote:

The researchers hope that by studying the remaining graves and natural remains at the site, they will obtain a more detailed picture of Stone Age lifestyle - including how they adapted to climate change.

"We can learn a lot about how humans adapt to dramatic climate change from these remains. The environment changed a lot on several occasions over a relatively short time, and we can read this unique record to reconstruct how people coped," says Garcea.

Those damned hydrocarbons causing climate change, even 8,000 years ago.

Sorry Algore, humans (particularly American ones) using oil are not the cause of global warming or climate change.

Whew, I will sleep better now...I guess I can eat more fish that we didn't poison now too!

I found this article interesting because of a book I read which espoused the theory that the Garden of Eden wasn't a place so much as it was a period in time. During this time, the middle east was a lush area full of greenery and plants. Food was easy to come by and people were essentially more agreeable. After some event, the area was transformed into a desert region.
This change brought about very interesting behavioral changes in the population. The ones I recall were the people becoming more warlike so they could take resources from their neighbors by force, and the societies changing from matriarchal to patriarchal which in time led to the suppression of women. The author believed that this was the basis for the story in Genesis, because there are other religions and cultures which talked about the land being a sort of "paradise" before it was all sand. I just remembered thinking it was interesting. OK, now we can return to our castigation of Al Gore.

algore algore algore

I know this maybe a little off the subject of global warming but let me ask you guys this since it seems to be a joke. How many of you would feel ok drinking water out of a stream/river/lake? How about drinking right from Lake Erie?

Just a century ago humans used to be able to do this. Not only can we not just walk up to a body of water, drink, and not get sick and live from it, but also the air we breathe is toxic. We even have smog warnings now. The global warming temp argument is not the only focus when dicussing pollution.

What would you do if there were no water treatment plants running? What if your well didn't have electricity to run? What if there was no more going to the grocery store or driving to the corner for some McDonald's. Could you live? The Earth is our home, and unfortunately most of us in the U.S. would not be able to live very long without the fragile systems we have going right now.

We are making it so bad that it will get to a point where our home will be our nightmare.

DaBrowns it sounds like you're talking about the bottom line of this issue and that's what I've always considered. There are some on here who've made the point that this isn't an issue like that anymore, it's political. Why? Al Gore. Go figure.
It seems to me that you're right.

If the doctor tells you to stop smoking and then Nancy Pelosi made a movie about the dangers of smoking are you going to say, "the heck with the doctor! If she's saying it's dangerous then it's only politically logical that it's completely safe and the whole issue is a myth. After all, Rush said so and he knows doctors."?

quote:

The researchers hope that by studying the remaining graves and natural remains at the site, they will obtain a more detailed picture of Stone Age lifestyle - including how they adapted to climate change.

It's pretty obvious how they adapted. They died. Evolution at its finest.

DBRP, you're exactly right. GW may be a pile of steaming BS but pollution is real and dangerous. The fragile system you speak of is right on, too. Just 25 years ago there was a small farm everywhere you looked. Now. Nothing. If you drive far enough you can come across a large dairy farm or two but the majority of the small farmers (in my area) went the way of the buffalo about 20 years ago. Most of the barns have be vacant long enough now that they're falling in or already gone. These days, if push comes to shove we will have a very difficult time providing for ourselves. If something ever seriously disrupts our transportation system we're going to be in a lot of trouble.

I remember helping my grandfather milk the cows when I was a kid. He sold them off decades ago. Its sad.

What does this have to do with pollution, you ask? I'm not sure. It's more about big business. They seem to pollute more than the small farmers who cared not only about their pocket-books but their land as well.

PS: What's with the Al Gore/Algore thing? I'm must've missed the post where this became an inside joke. Someone clue me in here.

The joke is if anybody mentions Global Warming someone needs to say anything about Al Gore and we all laugh.



You had to be there.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBrownsRPhat:
I know this maybe a little off the subject of global warming but let me ask you guys this since it seems to be a joke. How many of you would feel ok drinking water out of a stream/river/lake? How about drinking right from Lake Erie?

Just a century ago humans used to be able to do this. Not only can we not just walk up to a body of water, drink, and not get sick and live from it, but also the air we breathe is toxic. We even have smog warnings now. The global warming temp argument is not the only focus when dicussing pollution.

What would you do if there were no water treatment plants running? What if your well didn't have electricity to run? What if there was no more going to the grocery store or driving to the corner for some McDonald's. Could you live? The Earth is our home, and unfortunately most of us in the U.S. would not be able to live very long without the fragile systems we have going right now.

We are making it so bad that it will get to a point where our home will be our nightmare.

Dude a 100 years ago the life expediency was what 40? Yes, Lake Erie was clean but it still had crap in in that I wouldn't want to drink...Not saying I don't believe in Global Warming but It seems everyone is either totally for it or against it...I'm in the middle. I'm actually more worried about running out of Fuel then I am about the CO2 emissions killing us first.

quote:

Originally posted by weinerdog:
The joke is if anybody mentions Global Warming someone needs to say anything about Al Gore and we all laugh.



You had to be there.

Thanks.

quote:

The Earth is our home, and unfortunately most of us in the U.S. would not be able to live very long without the fragile systems we have going right now.

Good, when all the weak die I can have all the resources to myself.

quote:

Dude a 100 years ago the life expediency was what 40? Yes, Lake Erie was clean but it still had crap in in that I wouldn't want to drink...Not saying I don't believe in Global Warming but It seems everyone is either totally for it or against it...I'm in the middle. I'm actually more worried about running out of Fuel then I am about the CO2 emissions killing us first.

LBJVirus, you saved my life. The above posts did what they do best, scare me. All this liberal negativity.

I almost joined the bandwagon...but then you came along.

I honestly and wholeheartedly thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by QuinnJT11:

quote:

The Earth is our home, and unfortunately most of us in the U.S. would not be able to live very long without the fragile systems we have going right now.

Good, when all the weak die I can have all the resources to myself.

I like how you showcased your age in your username. I wish everyone would do that.

^^^

quote:

Just a century ago humans used to be able to do this. Not only can we not just walk up to a body of water, drink, and not get sick and live from it, but also the air we breathe is toxic. We even have smog warnings now. The global warming temp argument is not the only focus when dicussing pollution.

ROFLMAO. Are you kidding? Where do you think people went to relieve themselves back then? Maybe you'd want to drink it but then you should remember what the life expentancy was back in them good old days!

There are far more immediate issues than global warming. In no particular order...

-declining soil productivity resulting in...
-...more global deaths from hunger
-pollution from all sources
-an increasing d