Our findings suggest early North African populations were largely isolated.
CBS NEWS
New research has uncovered a mysterious and isolated human lineage that once thrived in the now-arid Sahara Desert. Scientists studying two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya found that these people belonged to a distinct human group that diverged from other African populations nearly 50,000 years ago.
During the African Humid Period—when the Sahara was lush and green—these early humans practiced pastoralism but remained genetically isolated from neighboring populations. Despite adopting cultural practices likely introduced from outside Africa, such as animal herding, they show little genetic evidence of contact with Eurasians.
The findings suggest that the Sahara, once thought to be a major migration corridor, may have instead hosted isolated populations that exchanged culture without significant interbreeding. The study also found their DNA had less Neanderthal ancestry than non-Africans.