Remains of cemetery found in Sahara

[Judi Lynn]

Remains of cemetery found in Sahara
Thursday, August 14, 2008 | 9:23 PM

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - August 14, 2008 -- A tiny woman and two children were laid to rest on a bed of flowers 5,000 years ago in what is now the barren Sahara Desert.

The slender arms of the youngsters were still extended to the woman in perpetual embrace when researchers discovered their skeletons in a remarkable cemetery that is providing clues to two civilizations who lived there, a thousand years apart, when the region was moist and green.

Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago and colleagues were searching for the remains of dinosaurs in the African country of Niger when they came across the startling find, detailed at a news conference Thursday at the National Geographic Society.
"Part of discovery is finding things that you least expect," he said. "When you come across something like that in the middle of the desert it sends a tingle down your spine."

Some 200 graves of humans were found during fieldwork at the site in 2005 and 2006, as well as remains of animals, large fish and crocodiles.
"Everywhere you turned, there were bones belonging to animals that don't live in the desert," said Sereno. "I realized we were in the green Sahara."

More:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/technology&id=6328763

[pscot]

1. I just watched a report on the News Hour

They showed a picture of that burial, and two adult male skulls. The area was apparently settled more than once, with prolonged droughts separating wetter eras when human settlement occured. The skulls represent radically different physical types which migrated to the region at different times. Wonderful find. Who were they, and where did they come from?