A million-year record of fire in sub-Saharan Africa
Article Abstract:
Around one-third of the world's CO2 emissions generated by humans is accounted for by biomass burning and it is assumed that fire will continue to be a potent force for environmental change, on a regional basis. However, little is known about the pre-historic effects of anthropogenic burning. A new study examines a million-year record of oxidation-resistant elemental carbon quantities from marine sediments off sub-Saharan Africa. It is shown that fire incidence in the region was minimal until some 400,000 years ago when intense periods of vegetation fires occurred, coinciding with interglacial to glacial periods.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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Megaliths and Neolithic astronomy in southern Egypt
Article Abstract:
The Late Pleistocene age desert of southern Egypt was as inhospitable as it is today, but seasonal rain between about 10,000 and 5,000 years ago allowed nomads to move in with their cattle. A new study shows that these nomads were able to establish a more permanent way of life. An intriguing discovery is their stone circles and megalithic alignments which appear to suggest a symbolic geometry combining death, water and the Sun. A return to arid conditions may have forced an exodus of well-organized nomadic groups and contributed towards cultural complexity in Upper Egypt.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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Saharan exploitation of plants 8,000 years BP
Article Abstract:
Sorghum and millet were cultivated in the savannah of Africa 8,000 years ago. Excavation of a domestic site near the Egyptian-Sudanese border found seeds from the early Holocene period. The presence of the domesticated plants, radiocarbon dated as 8,000 years old, indicates that the savannah extended 800-700 kilometers farther north into Egypt than it does now. Sorghum and millet were cultivated much earlier than thought, and their use as food developed independently of the use of wheat and barley by Levantine peoples.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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