First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered

An international team has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. By analyzing the DNA of two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals excavated in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, the team showed that they belonged to a long-isolated and now extinct North African human lineage.