Desert fish
More than 10,000 years ago, there was water in the Sahara
An investigation into the animal remains in the Sahara Desert has revealed that humans living there 10,000 years ago were eating fish for their supper. Researchers from the Natural History Museum in Belgium and the Sapienza University of Rome excavated a total of 17,551 bones, including those of fish, toads or frogs, crocodiles and birds.
Archaeologists have previously found evidence that for much of the early Holocene (around 10,200 to 8,000 years ago) the Tadrart Acacus mountains in the Saharan Desert were more humid than they are today. “It is hard to say how much water was there,” said Prof Savino di Lernia, the lead author of the study along with Prof Wim Van Neer. “During the early Holocene there were permanent water bodies with plenty of fish, but things changed around 5,900 years ago, with the onset of present desert conditions.”
Humans were known to have settled in the region during the early Holocene, as archaeologists have found stone structures and fireplaces in the area. The team focused on excavating parts of the Takarkori rock shelter, one of many shelters in the Tadrart Acacus mountains, to identify and date animal remains there. Almost 80 per cent of the remains found were fish, two-thirds of which were members of the Clariidae genus of catfish. The others were of the genus Tilapia.
The study found that the consumption of fish decreased over time, as the humans started to concentrate on hunting and livestock. Yet the catfish decline was less significant than Tilapia, as the catfish can live in warm, shallow waters.
According to the authors, this study reveals crucial information about the dramatic climate changes that led to the formation of the largest hot desert in the world. “Takarkori rock shelter has once again proved to be a real treasure for African archaeology and beyond: a fundamental place to reconstruct the complex dynamics between ancient human groups and their environment in a changing climate,” they said.