BBC Focus - 03.2020

DISCOVERIES

An investigationintothe animalremains

in the SaharaDeserthas revealedthat

humanslivingthere10,000years

ago wereeatingfish for theirsupper.

Researchersfromthe NaturalHistory

Museumin Belgiumand the Sapienza

Universityof Romeexcavateda totalof

17,551bones,includingthoseof fish,

toadsor frogs,crocodilesand birds.

Archaeologistshavepreviouslyfound

evidencethatfor muchof the early

Holocene(around10,200to 8,000years

ago)the TadrartAcacusmountainsin

the SaharanDesertweremorehumid

thantheyare today.“It is hardto say

howmuchwaterwasthere,”saidProf

Savinodi Lernia,the leadauthorof the

studyalongwithProfWimVan Neer.

“Duringthe earlyHolocenetherewere

permanentwaterbodieswithplentyof

fish,but thingschangedaround5,900

yearsago,withthe onsetof presentdesert

conditions.”

Humanswereknownto havesettled

in the regionduringthe earlyHolocene,

as archaeologists have found stone

structuresand fireplacesin the area.

Theteamfocusedon excavatingpartsof

the Takarkorirockshelter,one of many

sheltersin the TadrartAcacusmountains,

to identifyand dateanimalremainsthere.

Almost80 per centof the remainsfound

werefish,two-thirdsof whichwere

membersof theClariidaegenusof catfish.

Theotherswereof the genusTilapia.

Thestudyfoundthatthe consumptionof

fish decreasedovertime,as the humans

startedto concentrateon huntingand

livestock.Yet the catfishdeclinewasless

significantthanTilapia, as the catfishcan

live in warm,shallowwaters.

Accordingto the authors,this study

revealscrucialinformationaboutthe

dramaticclimatechangesthatled to the

formationof the largesthot desertin

the world.“Takarkorirockshelterhas

onceagainprovedto be a real treasure

for Africanarchaeologyand beyond:a

fundamentalplaceto reconstructthe

complexdynamicsbetweenancient

humangroupsand theirenvironment in

a changing climate,” they said.

Humans living

in the Sahara

Desert 10,000

years ago ate

fish for supper

ANTHROPOLOGY

ALAMY, GET T Y IMAGES, SAVINO DI LERNIA

DuringtheHolocene,the

TadrartAcacusmountains

intheSaharaDesert

werehumidwithmany

permanent water bodies

Fish remains from the Takarkori rock shelter