erik simpson wrote:
Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage.
Abstract
Although it is one of the most arid regions today, the Sahara Desert was
a green savannah during the African Humid Period (AHP) between 14,500
and 5,000 years before present, with water bodies promoting human occupation and the spread of pastoralism in the middle Holocene epoch1.
DNA rarely preserves well in this region, limiting knowledge of the Sahara’s genetic history and demographic past. Here we report ancient genomic data from the Central Sahara, obtained from two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals buried in the
Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya. The majority of Takarkori individuals’ ancestry stems from a previously unknown North African
genetic lineage that diverged from sub-Saharan African lineages around
the same time as present-day humans outside Africa and remained isolated throughout most of its existence. Both Takarkori individuals are closely related to ancestry first documented in 15,000-year-old foragers from Taforalt Cave, Morocco2, associated with the Iberomaurusian lithic
industry and predating the AHP. Takarkori and Iberomaurusian-associated individuals are equally distantly related to sub-Saharan lineages,
suggesting limited gene flow from sub-Saharan to Northern Africa during
the AHP. In contrast to Taforalt individuals, who have half the
Neanderthal admixture of non-Africans, Takarkori shows ten times less Neanderthal ancestry than Levantine farmers, yet significantly more than contemporary sub-Saharan genomes. Our findings suggest that pastoralism spread through cultural diffusion into a deeply divergent, isolated
North African lineage that had probably been widespread in Northern
Africa during the late Pleistocene epoch.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08793-7 (Open access)
Thanks. Good catch.
"During this period of increased humidity,
the region transformed into a ‘Green Sahara’
with savanna-like landscapes, varying tree
cover, permanent lakes and extensive river
systems (Fig. 1). Evidence from ancient lake
deposits, pollen samples and archaeological
artifacts confirm human presence, hunting,
herding and resource gathering in the
currently arid desert region."
Hopefully more will be found.
"This pattern suggests that the Takarkori
individuals have received a small amount of
ancestry from OoA groups. However, the
estimation of admixture dating of this OoA
ancestry with DATES based on linkage
disequilibrium (Supplementary
Figs. 2.26.1–2.26.3) indicated very ancient
admixture events with substantial
uncertainty."
Intriguing.
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