Rosa Rubicondior: Refuting Creationism - People Of the Green Sahara

Refuting Creationism

People Of The Green Sahara
No Flood Noticed

View of the Takarkori rock shelter in Southern Libya.

View from the Takarkori rock shelter in Southern Libya.

First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered

According to literal interpretations of biblical creationism, the first two humans were created approximately 6,000 years ago without any ancestors. Subsequently, around 4,000 years ago, the Earth was supposedly submerged by a global flood. According to this narrative, all present-day humans descended from the eight survivors who endured a year-long voyage in a large vessel accompanied by two (or, in some accounts, seven) individuals of each animal species. After the flood receded, these survivors are said to have repopulated a barren and sterile world in which all previously existing life had been destroyed.

In contrast, scientific evidence indicates that more than 7,000 years ago, human populations inhabited a Sahara region that was markedly different from today's desert. At the time, a wetter climate supported forests, grasslands, lakes, and rivers. These Saharan people were only distantly related to other non-African populations, as they had diverged from East and South African Homo sapiens around the same period—approximately 50,000 years ago—that modern non-African populations migrated out of Africa into Eurasia. Subsequently, the Saharan population remained largely isolated from both sub-Saharan African and Eurasian populations.

The critical distinction between these two accounts lies in their evidence base. Creationism relies solely on written narratives from a text of uncertain historical authenticity, whereas science relies upon verifiable, physical evidence, in this case DNA extracted from two mummified Saharan individuals discovered in Algeria.

This fundamental difference exemplifies the contrast between religion and science: religion typically relies on tradition, superstition, and narratives lacking empirical support, whereas science is grounded in observable evidence and logical deduction.

The evidence for the existence and origin of this Saharan population comes from the work of researchers at the Dept. of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. It's significance is that it argues against the green Sahara being one of the migration routes for modern humans out of Africa and a return migration back into Africa because the Saharan population were genetically distinct and have a very low level of Neanderthal DNA unlike the western Eurasian Homo sapiens.

The findings of the group are published open access in Nature. The research is described in a Max Planck Institute News release:

What information do you have on the greening of the Saharah between 14,000 and 5,000 years ago, and how it came to an end?

The Sahara underwent a significant environmental transformation known as the African Humid Period (AHP), which lasted approximately from 14,500 to 5,000 years ago. Here's an overview of this event:

Greening of the Sahara (African Humid Period):

Timeframe: The greening began around 14,500 years ago, with a peak occurring between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago.
Climate Conditions:

Increased rainfall driven primarily by shifts in the Earth's orbit (the Milankovitch cycles) altered monsoon patterns, directing moisture northward from the tropics.
The Sahara became a fertile landscape characterised by grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes, and diverse wildlife, including large mammals such as elephants, giraffes, and hippos.

Human Habitation:

Human populations thrived, establishing permanent and semi-permanent settlements.
Archaeological evidence indicates that the region supported hunter-gatherer and later pastoralist societies. Cave paintings and engravings from this period, found in areas such as Tassili n'Ajjer (Algeria) and Jebel Uweinat (Libya/Sudan/Egypt), depict wildlife, cattle, and human activities, documenting this vibrant ecosystem.

Decline and End of the Green Sahara:

Timing: Gradual drying began around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, culminating roughly 5,000 years ago.
Causes:

Primarily due to gradual changes in Earth's orbital parameters, specifically the axial precession and tilt. These changes reduced solar radiation over North Africa, weakening the monsoon system and decreasing rainfall.
This climatic shift caused ecosystems to retreat southward, turning previously fertile areas into arid desert landscapes.

Consequences for Human Populations:

Declining resources forced populations to migrate, adapt by shifting to pastoral nomadism, or move towards river valleys such as the Nile, contributing to the rise of more centralised societies in Egypt and adjacent regions.
Archaeological records and palaeoenvironmental data demonstrate a clear migration pattern coinciding with the gradual desertification of the Sahara.

Scientific Evidence:

Palaeoclimatic Indicators: Sediment cores from ancient lakes (e.g., Lake Chad and Lake Yoa), pollen analysis, and isotopic records show fluctuations in moisture and vegetation over thousands of years.
Geological and Archaeological Evidence: Rock art, stone tools, human remains, and faunal remains corroborate these environmental and societal shifts.
In summary, the greening of the Sahara was a climatically driven period of fertility, eventually terminated by natural orbital changes. This transformation significantly influenced human migration and settlement patterns across North Africa and beyond.

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First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered
A new study reveals a long-isolated North African human lineage in the Central Sahara during the African humid period more than 7,000 years ago

To the point

DNA analysis from two naturally mummified individuals from Libya: More than 7,000 years ago, during the so-called African Humid Period (Green Sahara), a long isolated human lineage existed in North Africa.
Limited gene flow: The genomes do not carry sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that, contrary to previous interpretations, the Green Sahara was not a migration corridor between Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. The spread of migratory herding in the Green Sahara probably occurred through cultural exchange.
Neandertal genetic traces: The ancient individuals had significantly less Neandertal DNA compared to people outside Africa, indicating a largely isolated North African population.

The study provides critical new insights into the African Humid Period, a time between 14,500 and 5,000 years ago when the Sahara Desert was a green savanna, rich in water bodies that facilitated human habitation and the spread of pastoralism. Later aridification turned this region into the world's largest desert. Due to the extreme aridity of the region today, DNA preservation is poor, making this pioneering ancient DNA study all the more significant.

Genomic analyses reveal that the ancestry of the Takarkori rock shelter individuals primarily derives from a North African lineage that diverged from sub-Saharan African populations at about the same time as the modern human lineages that spread outside of Africa around 50,000 years ago. The newly described lineage remained isolated, revealing deep genetic continuity in North Africa during the late Ice Age. While this lineage no longer exists in unadmixed form, this ancestry is still a central genetic component of present-day North African people, highlighting their unique heritage.

North Africa remained genetically isolated

View of the Takarkori rock shelter in Southern Libya.

© Archaeological Mission in the Sahara,
Sapienza University of Rome.

Furthermore, these individuals share close genetic ties with 15,000-year-old foragers that lived during the Ice Age in Taforalt Cave, Morocco, associated with the Iberomaurusian lithic industry that predates the African Humid Period. Notably, both groups are equally distant from sub-Saharan African lineages, indicating that despite the Sahara's greening, gene flow between sub-Saharan and North African populations remained limited during the African Humid Period, contrary to previous suggestions.

The study also sheds light on Neandertal ancestry, showing that the Takarkori individuals have ten-fold less Neandertal DNA than people outside Africa, but more than contemporary sub-Saharan Africans.

Our findings suggest that while early North African populations were largely isolated, they received traces of Neandertal DNA due to gene flow from outside Africa.

Johannes Krause, co-senior author
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Leipzig, Germany.

The spread of pastoralism in the Green Sahara

7,000-year-old natural mummy found at the Takarkori rock shelter (Individual H1) in Southern Libya.

© Archaeological Mission in the Sahara,
Sapienza University of Rome

Our research challenges previous assumptions about North African population history and highlights the existence of a deeply rooted and long-isolated genetic lineage. This discovery reveals how pastoralism spread across the Green Sahara, likely through cultural exchange rather than large-scale migration.

Nada Salem, first author
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Leipzig, Germany.

The study highlights the importance of ancient DNA for reconstructing human history in regions like Central Northern Africa, providing independent support to archaeological hypotheses. By shedding light on the Sahara's deep past, we aim to increase our knowledge of human migrations, adaptations, and cultural evolution in this key region.

Savino di Lernia, co-senior author
Department of Ancient World Studies
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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.

Main
Following the last glacial period, a climatic transformation in the Sahara desert led to the AHP, which peaked around 11,000 to 5,000 years ago^3,4. 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 systems⁵ (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^1,6,7. However, despite this rich history, much about the genetic history of the human population of the Green Sahara remains unclear due to limited DNA preservation under the current climatic conditions. Ancient DNA data from northwestern Africa points to a stable and isolated genetic population from at least 15,000 to 7,500 years ago^2,8. This stability was disrupted by the arrival of early farming groups from southwestern Europe between 7,500 and 5,700 years ago who marked the beginning of the Neolithic in the Maghreb by introducing farming practices to the local foragers⁹. The earliest herders with their livestock entered Africa probably along the Sinai and the Red Sea routes, after which they rapidly spread into northeastern Africa and reached the Central Sahara around 8,300 years ago¹⁰. By 6,400 years ago, further gene flow occurred with the appearance of ancestry associated with Neolithic groups from the Levant, whose archaeological signatures are visible in the Eastern Sahara^9,11,12. A previous study¹3 analysed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from individuals recovered from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of southwestern Libya—the same individuals examined in this study—providing the first ancient DNA from pastoralists of the Green Sahara. However, non-recombining and therefore effectively single genetic loci like mtDNA have much less statistical power to reveal population dynamics than genome-wide autosomal data. Their origins and whether the arrival of pastoralism into the Green Sahara was linked to the movement of peoples from the Levant or rather cultural diffusion remain a matter of debate^10,14.
Fig. 1: Chronology of the ecozones and subsistence strategies in the broader Sahara region.

a, Timeline of climate phases and subsistence strategies during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene in North-East Africa and Central Sahara. The radiocarbon dates for both Takarkori individuals are given by the black diamond and circle. b,c, The distribution of ecozones in Northern Africa in the Green Sahara period during the early Holocene 9,000 years ago (b) and in recent times (1901–1930) (c) using the dynamic vegetation model Carbon Assimilation in the Biosphere (CARAIB). The location of the Takarkori rock shelter site is marked with a black square. The maps are adapted from refs. ²⁰ and ⁶⁰ under a Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0.
Here we present first genome-wide data obtained from the same two approximately 7,000-year-old Saharan herders, recovered from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Central Sahara (Supplementary Figs. 1.2–1.5), a site that has yielded an exceptional wealth of data and material remains^{15,16,17,18,19}. Our findings show that these individuals predominantly carry a previously unknown ancestral North African lineage that lacks the Neanderthal admixture typically found outside Africa and appears to have remained largely isolated, with the notable exception of small traces of Levantine admixture. These results support that pastoralism in the Sahara was established through cultural diffusion¹⁰ rather than significant human gene flow. Furthermore, the Takarkori individuals exhibit a close genetic affinity to Northwestern African foragers but no substantial ties with sub-Saharan African lineages, implying no detectable genetic exchange across the Green Sahara during the AHP from sub-Saharan to northern Africa. For a non-peer-reviewed Arabic summary of the article, see Supplementary Note 3.

Fig. 2: PCA calculated on present-day individuals from Africa, the Near East and Southern Europe, and the geographical locations of these individuals.

a, PCA with projecting key ancient groups from the region (Supplementary Data 3). b, The geographical locations of ancient genomes from Africa and the Near East included in our analysis. ChL, Chalcolithic; EN, Early Neolithic; EpiPalaeo, Epipalaeolithic; IA, Iron Age; IAM, Ifri n’Amr o’Moussa; KEB, Kehf el Baroud; KTG, Kaf Taht el-Ghar; LIA, Late Iron Age; LN, Late Neolithic; MN, Middle Neolithic; OUB, Ifri Ouberrid; Palaeo, Palaeolithic; SKH, Skhirat-Rouazi.

Fig. 3: Shared genetic drift and affinity with Takarkori genomes.

a, Outgroup-f3 statistics f3(Takarkori, X; South Africa 2,000 cal. bp), where X represents ancient groups, mapped at their geographical positions. The colour gradient from blue to green indicates the genetic proximity to Takarkori, with the bluer colours representing closer genetic relationships. The statistics and their associated s.e. values for the top 70 signals are presented in Supplementary Fig. 2.12. b, No group shares extra affinity with Takarkori genomes compared with Taforalt, as measured by f₄ statistics of the form f₄(chimpanzee, X; Takarkori, Taforalt). The error bars represent 3 s.e. Group colours follow the same scheme as in Fig. 2. A more extensive list is presented in Supplementary Fig. 2.19. LSA, Late Stone Age; N, neolithic.

Fig. 4: Neanderthal ancestry and admixture graph.

a, Detectable Neanderthal ancestry in segments longer than 0.05 cM in ancient individuals from Africa and Eurasia, along with present-day sub-Saharan African groups. The error bars represent the minimum and maximum estimates from all iterations. b, The geographical locations of groups included in the analysis. c, Admixture graph modelling of Takarkori’s ancestral relationship with relevant populations.

Salem, N., van de Loosdrecht, M.S., Sümer, A.P. et al.
Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage.
Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7

Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

This analysis contributes to the growing understanding that early Homo sapiens diverged into multiple distinct groups, many of which remained genetically isolated for extended periods. In this instance, a population settled in the Sahara during the African Humid Period, likely originating from an earlier migration into North Africa, and lived there in isolation. This occurred contemporaneously with other human groups migrating from East and South Africa into Eurasia, where they encountered and interbred with Neanderthals.

This emerging picture of modern human origins stands in contrast to the biblical narrative, which suggests that all humans descend from a small group of flood survivors approximately 4,000 years ago. Such scientific discoveries highlight discrepancies between empirical evidence and scriptural accounts, suggesting that the authors of these ancient texts were likely unaware of populations beyond their immediate surroundings.

And more tellingly, these remains wouldn't have been their to analyse if the biblical flood had been a real event.

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