in the
Fezzan Scientists have identified more than 230
humid periods in North Africa, occurring every 21,000 years for the past eight million years. A modern laboratory examination of the
Uan Muhuggiag child mummy and Tin Hanakaten child have suggested that the Central Saharan peoples from the
Epipaleolithic,
Mesolithic, and
Pastoral periods possessed dark skin complexions. The creators of the
Round Head rock art possessed
dark skin. A 2025 study sequenced individuals from
Takarkori (7,000 YBP) and discovered that most of their ancestry was from an unknown ancestral North African lineage, related to the African admixture component found in
Iberomaurusians. According to the study, the Takarkori people were distinct from both contemporary sub-Saharan Africans and non-Africans/Eurasians. They had "only a minor component of non-African ancestry" but did "not carry sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that, contrary to previous interpretations, the
Green Sahara was not a corridor connecting Northern and sub-Saharan Africa." As per
Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute, one of the authors of the study "The Takarkori lineage likely represents a remnant of the genetic diversity present in northern Africa between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago." In the Central Sahara, engraved and painted rock art were created perhaps as early as 10,000 years ago, spanning the
Bubaline Period,
Kel Essuf Period,
Round Head Period,
Pastoral Period,
Caballine Period, and
Cameline Period. The Sahara was then a much wetter place than it is today. Over 30,000
petroglyphs of river
animals such as
crocodiles survive, with half found in the Tassili n'Ajjer in southeast Algeria.
Fossils of
dinosaurs, including
Afrovenator,
Jobaria and
Ouranosaurus, have also been found here. The modern Sahara, though, is not lush in vegetation, except in the
Nile Valley, at a few
oases, and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the
olive tree are found to grow. Shifts in
Earth's axis increased temperatures and decreased precipitation, which caused an abrupt beginning of North Africa desertification about 5,400 years ago. According to a number of genetic studies, the
haplogroup E was found to have highest frequency and distribution across Africa, including supra-Saharan regions which encompass the
Sahel along with the
Horn of Africa and northern Saharan African countries such as
Morocco and
Mauritania. The widespread presence of "P2/215/M35.1
(E1b1b), for short
M35, likely also originated in eastern tropical Africa, and is predominantly distributed in an arc from the Horn of Africa up through Egypt". The
R haplogroup has also been identified to have high frequencies in central Saharan Africa, among some
Afro-Asiatic and
Nilo-Saharan language speaking groups. In the view of
biological anthropologist Shomarka Keita, associate of National Human Genome Center, the E haplogroup connects groups across both sides of the Saharan territories which undermines traditional 'racial' taxonomy associated with a 'white' northern Africa and 'black' southern Africa. He further added that modern scholarship should abandon terms such as "North Africa" and "Sub-Saharan Africa" which "ignore diversity within the regions and come from a form of stereotyping racialist thought, and categorical thinking that stems from a section of older discourse."
Kiffians The
Kiffian culture is a prehistoric industry, or domain, that existed between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago in the Sahara, during the
Neolithic Subpluvial. Human remains from this culture were found in 2000 at a site known as
Gobero, located in
Niger in the
Ténéré Desert. The site is known as the largest and earliest grave of Stone Age people in the Sahara. The Kiffians were skilled
hunters. Bones of many large savannah animals that were discovered in the same area suggest that they lived on the shores of a lake that was present during the Holocene Wet Phase, a period when the Sahara was verdant and wet. Traces of the Kiffian culture do not exist after 8,000 years ago, as the Sahara went through a dry period for the next thousand years. After this time, the
Tenerian culture colonized the area.
Tenerians Gobero was discovered in 2000 during an archaeological expedition led by
Paul Sereno, which sought
dinosaur remains. Two distinct prehistoric cultures were discovered at the site: the early
Holocene Kiffian culture, and the middle Holocene
Tenerian culture. The post-Kiffian desiccation lasted until around 4600 BCE, when the earliest artefacts associated with the Tenerians have been dated to. Some 200 skeletons have been discovered at Gobero. The Tenerians were considerably shorter in height and less robust than the earlier Kiffians. Craniometric analysis also indicates that they were osteologically distinct. The Kiffian skulls are akin to those of the
Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians, early Holocene
Capsians, and mid-Holocene
Mechta groups, whereas the Tenerian crania are more like those of Mediterranean groups. Graves show that the Tenerians observed spiritual traditions, as they were buried with artifacts such as jewelry made of hippo
tusks and clay pots. The most interesting find is a triple burial, dated to 5300 years ago, of an adult female and two children, estimated through their teeth as being five and eight years old, hugging each other. Pollen residue indicates they were buried on a bed of flowers. The three are assumed to have died within 24 hours of each other, but as their skeletons hold no apparent trauma (they did not die violently) and they have been buried so elaborately – unlikely if they had died of a plague – the cause of their deaths is a mystery. and village of
Taghit Tashwinat Mummy Uan Muhuggiag appears to have been inhabited from at least the 6th millennium BCE to about 2700 BCE, although not necessarily continuously. The most noteworthy find at Uan Muhuggiag is the well-preserved
mummy of a young boy of approximately years old. The child was in a fetal position, then embalmed, then placed in a sack made of antelope skin, which was insulated by a layer of leaves. The boy's organs were removed, as evidenced by incisions in his stomach and thorax, and an organic preservative was inserted to stop his body from decomposing. An ostrich eggshell necklace was also found around his neck. In 1958–59, an archaeological expedition led by
Antonio Ascenzi conducted anthropological, radiological, histological and chemical analyses on the Uan Muhuggiag mummy. The team claimed that the mummy was a 30-month-old child of uncertain sex. They also found a long incision on the specimen's abdominal wall, which indicated that the body had been initially mummified by evisceration and later underwent natural desiccation. The team also stated that the mummy possessed "
Negroid features." However, modern genetics has since proven that the final claim is unscientific and not supported by evidence. A more recent publication referenced a laboratory examination of the
cutaneous features of the
child mummy in which the results verified that the child possessed a dark skin complexion. One other individual, an adult, was found at Uan Muhuggiag, buried in a crouched position.
Nubians , a holy city surrounded by thick walls in the Algerian Sahara During the
Neolithic Era, before the onset of
desertification around 9500 BCE, the central Sudan had been a rich environment supporting a large population ranging across what is now barren desert, like the Wadi el-Qa'ab. By the 5th millennium BCE, the people who inhabited what is now called
Nubia were full participants in the "agricultural revolution", living a settled lifestyle with domesticated plants and animals. Saharan rock art of cattle and herdsmen suggests the presence of a
cattle cult like those found in Sudan and other pastoral societies in Africa today.
Megaliths found at
Nabta Playa are overt examples of probably the world's first known
archaeoastronomy devices, predating
Stonehenge by some 2,000 years. This complexity, as observed at Nabta Playa, and as expressed by different levels of authority within the society there, likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Archaeological evidence has attested that population settlements occurred in Nubia as early as the Late
Pleistocene era and from the 5th millennium BCE onwards, whereas there is "no or scanty evidence" of human presence in the Egyptian Nile Valley during these periods, which may be due to problems in site preservation.
Egyptians , Egypt By 6000 BCE
predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. Subsistence in organized and permanent settlements in predynastic Egypt by the middle of the 6th millennium BCE centered predominantly on cereal and animal agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. Metal objects replaced prior ones of stone. Tanning of animal skins, pottery and weaving were commonplace in this era also. There are indications of seasonal or only temporary occupation of the
Al Fayyum in the 6th millennium BCE, with food activities centering on fishing, hunting and food-gathering. Stone
arrowheads, knives and scrapers from the era are commonly found. Burial items included pottery, jewelry, farming and hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit. Burial in desert environments appears to enhance Egyptian preservation rites, and the dead were buried facing due west. Several scholars have argued that the African origins of the Egyptian civilisation derived from pastoral communities which emerged in both the Egyptian and Sudanese regions of the Nile Valley in the fifth millennium BCE. According to
UNESCO scholar, Alain Anselin, recent data "over the last thirty years" have confirmed the migration of peoples from the Sahara and
south of Egypt into the Nile Valley during the early, formative period. Archaeologist,
Fekri Hassan, (2002) indicated that the
megalithic monuments in the Saharan region of
Niger and the Eastern Sahara which developed, as early as 4700 BCE, may have served as antecedents for the
mastabas and pyramids of
ancient Egypt. By 3400 BCE, the Sahara was as dry as it is today, due to reduced precipitation and higher temperatures resulting from a shift in Earth's orbit. They are believed to largely descend from native ancient black populations that inhabited the Sahara. Historically, it was commonly believed that the Haratins were entirely descended from
Sub-Saharan slaves, but they also are descendants from groups native to southern Morocco and the northern Sahara. French academic
André Adam attributed their origin mostly to inhabitants of the Sahara.
Tichitt culture In 4000 BCE, the start of sophisticated social structure (e.g., trade of cattle as valued assets) developed among herders amid the
Pastoral Period of the Sahara. Saharan
pastoral culture (e.g., fields of tumuli, lustrous stone rings, axes) was intricate. By 1800 BCE, Saharan pastoral culture expanded throughout the Saharan and Sahelian regions. The Tichitt Tradition of eastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE to 200 BCE. Tichitt culture, at Dhar Néma, Dhar Tagant, Dhar Tichitt, and Dhar Walata, included a four-tiered hierarchal social structure,
farming of
cereals,
metallurgy, numerous
funerary tombs, and a
rock art tradition. At Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata,
pearl millet may have also been independently tamed amid the
Neolithic. Dhar Tichitt, which includes Dakhlet el Atrouss, may have served as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of the Tichitt Tradition, and the
Malian Lakes Region, which includes
Tondidarou, may have served as a second regional center of the Tichitt Tradition. The
urban Farming of crops (e.g.,
millet) may have been a feature of the Tichitt cultural tradition as early as 3rd millennium BCE in Dhar Tichitt. Thereafter, the
Ghana Empire developed in the 1st millennium CE. The Garamantes achieved this development by digging tunnels far into the mountains flanking the valley to tap
fossil water and bring it to their fields. The Garamantes grew populous and strong, conquering their neighbors, and capturing and enslaving many individuals who were forced to work by extending the tunnels. The ancient Greeks and the
Romans knew of the Garamantes and regarded them as uncivilized nomads. However, they traded with them, and a
Roman bath has been found in the Garamantes' capital of Garama.
Archaeologists have found eight major towns and many other important settlements in the Garamantes' territory. The Garamantes' civilization eventually collapsed after they had depleted available water in the
aquifers and could no longer sustain the effort to extend the tunnels further into the mountains. Between the first century BCE and the fourth century CE, several
Roman expeditions into the Sahara were conducted by groups of military and commercial units of
Romans.
Islamic and Arabic expansion The
Byzantine Empire ruled the northern shores of the Sahara from the 5th to the 7th centuries. After the Muslim conquest of Arabia, specifically the Arabian peninsula, the
Muslim conquest of North Africa began in the mid-7th to early 8th centuries and Islamic influence expanded rapidly on the Sahara. By the end of 641 all of Egypt was in Muslim hands. Trade across the desert intensified, and a significant
slave trade crossed the desert. It has been estimated that from the 10th to 19th centuries some 6,000 to 7,000 slaves were transported north each year. The
Beni Ḥassān and other nomadic Arab tribes dominated the
Sanhaja Berber tribes of the western Sahara after the
Char Bouba war of the 17th century. As a result, Arabian culture and language came to dominate, and the Berber tribes underwent some
Arabization.
Ottoman Turkish era controlled the central Sahara and
its trade, by
George Francis Lyon, 1821 In the 16th century the northern fringe of the Sahara, such as coastal regencies in present-day
Algeria and Tunisia, as well as some parts of present-day Libya, together with the semi-autonomous kingdom of Egypt, were occupied by the
Ottoman Empire. From 1517 Egypt was a valued part of the Ottoman Empire, ownership of which provided the Ottomans with control over the Nile Valley, the east Mediterranean and North Africa. The benefit of the Ottoman Empire was the freedom of movement for citizens and goods. Traders exploited the Ottoman land routes to handle the spices, gold and silk from the East, manufactured goods from Europe, and the slave and gold traffic from Africa. Arabic continued as the local language and Islamic culture was much reinforced. The Sahel and southern Sahara regions were home to several independent states or to roaming
Tuareg clans.
European colonialism European colonialism in the Sahara began in the 19th century.
France conquered the regency of Algiers from the Ottomans in 1830, and French rule spread south from
French Algeria and eastwards from
Senegal into the upper
Niger to include present-day Algeria, Chad, Mali then
French Sudan including
Timbuktu (1893), Mauritania, Morocco (1912), Niger, and Tunisia (1881). By the beginning of the 20th century, the trans-Saharan trade had clearly declined because goods were moved through more modern and efficient means, such as airplanes, rather than across the desert. The French took advantage of long-standing animosity between the
Chaamba Arabs and the Tuareg. The newly raised
Méhariste camel corps were originally recruited mainly from the Chaamba nomadic tribe. In 1902, the French penetrated the
Hoggar Mountains and defeated
Ahaggar Tuareg in the battle of
Tit. (blue) was the dominant presence in the Sahara. The French Colonial Empire was the dominant presence in the Sahara. It established regular air links from
Toulouse (HQ of famed
Aéropostale), to
Oran and over the Hoggar to Timbuktu and West to
Bamako and
Dakar, as well as trans-Sahara bus services run by La Compagnie Transsaharienne (est. 1927). A remarkable film shot by famous aviator Captain
René Wauthier in 1933 documents the first crossing by a large truck convoy from Algiers to Tchad, across the Sahara. Egypt, under
Muhammad Ali and his successors, conquered Nubia in 1820–22, founded
Khartoum in 1823, and conquered
Darfur in 1874. Egypt, including Sudan, became a British protectorate in 1882. Egypt and
Britain lost control of the Sudan from 1882 to 1898 as a result of the
Mahdist War. After its capture by British troops in 1898, the Sudan became an Anglo-Egyptian
condominium.
Spain captured present-day
Western Sahara after 1874, although Rio del Oro remained largely under
Sahrawi influence. In 1912,
Italy captured parts of what was to be named
Libya from the Ottomans. To promote the
Roman Catholic religion in the desert,
Pope Pius IX appointed a delegate Apostolic of the Sahara and the Sudan in 1868; later in the 19th century his jurisdiction was reorganized into the
Vicariate Apostolic of Sahara.
Breakup of the empires and afterwards Egypt became independent of Britain in 1936, although the
Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 allowed Britain to keep troops in Egypt and to maintain the British-Egyptian condominium in the Sudan. British military forces were withdrawn in 1954. Most of the Saharan states achieved independence after
World War II: Libya in 1951; Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia in 1956; Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in 1960; and Algeria in 1962. Spain withdrew from
Western Sahara in 1975, and it was partitioned between Mauritania and Morocco. Mauritania withdrew in 1979; Morocco continues to hold the territory (see
Western Sahara conflict).
Tuareg people in Mali
rebelled several times during the 20th century before finally forcing the Malian armed forces to withdraw below the line demarcating
Azawad from southern Mali during the
2012 rebellion. Islamist rebels in the Sahara calling themselves
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have stepped up their violence in recent years. In the post–World War II era, several
mines and communities have developed to use the desert's natural resources. These include large deposits of
oil and
natural gas in Algeria and Libya, and large deposits of
phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara. Libya's
Great Man-Made River is the world's largest irrigation project. The project uses a pipeline system that pumps
fossil water from the
Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System to cities in the populous Libyan northern Mediterranean coast including Tripoli and Benghazi. A number of
Trans-African highways have been proposed across the Sahara, including the
Cairo–Dakar Highway along the Atlantic coast, the
Trans-Sahara Highway from
Algiers on the Mediterranean to
Kano in Nigeria, the
Tripoli – Cape Town Highway from
Tripoli in Libya to
N'Djamena in Chad, and the
Cairo – Cape Town Highway which follows the Nile. Each of these highways is partially complete, with significant gaps and unpaved sections. ==Peoples and languages==