Sahara Yields Ancient Cemetery

Find shows desert was once lush, green, populated

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 15, 2008 2:13 PM CDT

(Newser) – Explorers hunting for dinosaur bones have found a Stone Age cemetery deep in the Sahara desert, National Geographic reports. The team of paleontologists discovered bones from two separate ancient human cultures that lived in the region as long as 10,000 years ago, when monsoon rains turned parts of the desert lush and green.

Experts say the find in a forbidding corner of the desert will shed new light on the cultures of the people who dwelt in the so-called "Green Sahara" thousands of years ago. One find has been dubbed the "Stone Age embrace"—a woman and two children buried on a bed of flowers, arms outstretched toward each other.

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This photo provided by the National Geographic Society shows a triple burial containing a woman and two children, their limbs entwined, discovered at the Gobero site. (AP Photo)

This photo provided by the National Geographic Society shows the skeletons and artifacts of a burial in what is now the Sahara. (AP Photo)

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This is a landmark burial. There's nothing like it in prehistory. - Paleontologist and explorer Paul Sereno

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Sahara Yields Ancient Cemetery