Western Sahara Project: Archaeological Context

Home About Contexts   - Historical   - Geographical   - Environmental   - Archaeological Field Seasons Publications Images People Funding Volunteer Links

The Sahara is remarkably rich in archaeology, representing the palaeolithic to the historical periods. Areas that are now hyper-arid are often littered with prehistoric artefacts, from hand axes dating back hundreds of thousands of years to arrow heads, grinding stones, pottery and other artefacts dating from the past few millennia. These remains and abundant rock art illustrate that the Sahara was not always the arid desert it is today, but was once much wetter. Like few other regions, the archaeological record of the Sahara tells a story of human adaptation to repeated, and often severe, changes in climate and environment. During past arid episodes (broadly coincident with cold glacial episodes at higher latitudes) human occupation of the Sahara was scarce or absent, and these periods are represented by gaps in the archaeological record. During humid periods, generally coinciding with warmer, interglacial conditions in Europe, Asia and North America, the Sahara supported a significant human population, which exploited lakes, rivers and the abundant fauna a fauna. The most recent such humid episode occurred from approximately 10,000 to 5000 years before present (BP - measured in years before 1950), during the early-middle Holocene (the Holocene is the period dating from the end of the last ice age some 12,000 to 10,000 BP). Human populations moved into the central Saharan regions from sub-Saharan Africa with the intensification and northward expansion of the African monsoon some 10,000 years ago. These populations practiced hunting and gathering, and in some locations were relatively sedentary as long as food sources remained abundant meaning they did not have to roam far for their livelihoods. As conditions became drier after about 8000 BP (following an abrupt climate change associated with cooling and aridity recorded across much of the globe), cattle herding spread throughout the Sahara. The origins of cattle herding in Africa appear to have been in the eastern Sahara, although some researchers have suggested independent domestication of cattle in the central Sahara.