Mummies From The Sahara Helped Uncover A New Lineage Of Humans
More than 7,000 years ago, during the African Humid Period, the Sahara was lush and green. A human population lived there at the time, and this long-isolated prehistoric lineage was just identified for the first time in the genomes of two mummies.
A DNA analysis confirmed that the group never mingled with people from sub-Saharan Africa. They existed in complete isolation, indicating that the Green Sahara did not act as a migration corridor between northern and sub-Saharan Africa.
Today, the Sahara is the largest dry, hot desert in the world. But back then, people once fished in the region’s rivers, hunted game in the forests, and herded livestock across grasslands. This Green Sahara existed during the African Humid Period, which peaked about 11,000 to 5,000 years ago.
During this time, pastoralism spread in the Green Sahara. The people raised cattle that were brought over to Africa from southwest Asia.
Researchers were unsure if herding became common due to immigration by farmers and shepherds from other places or if it was because of the spread of cultural practices.
So, a research team sequenced the genomes of two naturally mummified female corpses. The mummies were discovered at the Takarkori rock shelter in Libya.
The team compared the genomes to 795 modern and 117 ancient genomes from Africa, Europe, and southwest Asia.
The two female individuals did not carry any sub-Saharan ancestry, which meant that they belonged to a population cut off from those living further to the south.
The mummies shared genetic links with a group of 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherers that inhabited Taforalt Cave in Morocco before the African Humid Period.
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This group’s lineage was also unrelated to sub-Saharan African populations. So, both groups descended from North African ancestors who were not in contact with other people on the continent.
“Our research challenges previous assumptions about North African population history and highlights the existence of a deeply rooted and long-isolated genetic lineage,” said Nada Salem, the first author of the study from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
“This discovery reveals how pastoralism spread across the Green Sahara, likely through cultural exchange rather than large-scale migration.”
When the Sahara was filled with green ecosystems, there were many “ecological barriers” that limited the flow of human genetics.
The Green Saharans were also related to the first humans to leave Africa, but they did not interact with later populations who carried larger amounts of Neanderthal DNA.
Therefore, the researchers concluded that animal herding was not introduced to the region by immigrants. The cattle were most likely distributed through trading networks, giving rise to herding.
Traces of the Green Saharan ancestors can still be seen in the genomes of modern North Africans. The study was published in the journal Nature.
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