The Sahara 7,000 years ago. Lakes, rivers, and people.
NMR| N° d'inventaire | 14159 |
| Format | 16 x 24 |
| Détails | 24 p., numerous color illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2009 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782711856725 |
The Sahara was not always a desert. Situated between the temperate regions and the humid tropics of Africa, during the Quaternary period it experienced alternating periods of cooling, where aridity increased, and periods of climate warming, where abundant rainfall encouraged the formation of lakes and rivers and the development of vegetation cover.
Prehistoric sites bear witness to this contrasting history which culminates in the Neolithic period, when settlement was densest, between 9,000 and 4,000 years before today.
The Tilemsi Valley in Mali, now dry, represents an exceptional territory for the study of this unexpected Prehistory: a wide variety of ceramics and stone tools, ornaments (including magnificent carnelian beads) and remains of villages have been found there, reflecting an economic, agricultural and social organization.
This work presents in a clear and concise manner the traces left by man at the end of Prehistory in a Sahara that was then welcoming, before the inexorable return of the desert.
The Sahara was not always a desert. Situated between the temperate regions and the humid tropics of Africa, during the Quaternary period it experienced alternating periods of cooling, where aridity increased, and periods of climate warming, where abundant rainfall encouraged the formation of lakes and rivers and the development of vegetation cover.
Prehistoric sites bear witness to this contrasting history which culminates in the Neolithic period, when settlement was densest, between 9,000 and 4,000 years before today.
The Tilemsi Valley in Mali, now dry, represents an exceptional territory for the study of this unexpected Prehistory: a wide variety of ceramics and stone tools, ornaments (including magnificent carnelian beads) and remains of villages have been found there, reflecting an economic, agricultural and social organization.
This work presents in a clear and concise manner the traces left by man at the end of Prehistory in a Sahara that was then welcoming, before the inexorable return of the desert.