An Unknown Human Genetic Lineage Discovered in the Sahara

The Secret of the Sahara: A Hidden Genetic Legacy from a Time Before the Desert

Between about 14,500 and 5,000 years ago, the vast expanse we now know as the Sahara Desert was a lush, green landscape teeming with water and life. During this “Green Sahara” period, a mysterious and isolated human group thrived there—completely cut off from surrounding populations, as revealed by new genetic research.

Scientists investigating the origins of the region’s ancient inhabitants have now recovered the first complete genomes—detailed genetic blueprints—from the remains of two women buried at Takarkori, a site in southwestern Libya. These skeletons, dating back about 7,000 years, have provided a rare glimpse into a previously unknown chapter of human prehistory.

Takarkori was once home to early human communities, including at least 15 women and children discovered buried within a rocky shelter. These people lived by fishing and by herding sheep and goats—livestock that had already been domesticated elsewhere.

The “Green Sahara” – A Forgotten Eden
(Image Source: YouTube)

Genetic analysis revealed that the Takarkori people belonged to a distinct and until now unrecognized branch of the human family tree. They evolved separately from both sub-Saharan African populations to the south and Eurasian groups to the north for thousands of years.

“Interestingly, the Takarkori people show no significant genetic influence from sub-Saharan Africans or from prehistoric populations of the Near East and Europe,” explained Johannes Krause, a leading archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “This suggests they remained genetically isolated, even though herding—a major cultural innovation—originated outside Africa.”

Artifacts found at Takarkori include tools made from stone, wood, and bone, as well as pottery, woven baskets, and carved figurines—evidence that these ancient people herded already domesticated animals rather than taming them locally.

(Excavation site at Takarkori – Image: YouTube)

The genomes also confirm that the Takarkori group represents a unique and ancient North African lineage that became separated from sub-Saharan populations about 50,000 years ago. Around the same time, other groups of early humans were migrating out of Africa toward the Middle East, Europe, and Asia—becoming the ancestors of all non-African peoples today.

(Skull recovered from the Takarkori excavation – Image: YouTube)

Krause noted that the Takarkori likely preserved a remnant of the genetic diversity once widespread in North Africa between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. “After 20,000 years ago, we see evidence of new groups arriving from the Eastern Mediterranean, followed by migrations from the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily about 8,000 years ago. But for reasons we don’t yet fully understand, the Takarkori remained isolated far longer than expected. Since the Sahara only became habitable again about 15,000 years ago, their true homeland remains uncertain.”

This community seems to have maintained its genetic separation for nearly its entire existence, until a dramatic climate shift changed everything. When the African Humid Period—a warm, wet era—ended around 3,000 BCE, the once-fertile region gradually transformed back into the vast desert we see today.

Unlike other early humans who left Africa and interbred with Neanderthals in Eurasia—leaving genetic traces still detectable in modern non-African DNA—the Takarkori people show minimal signs of such mixing, implying only limited contact with other human groups.

For decades, researchers studied the Takarkori skeletons and artifacts but struggled to extract viable DNA due to the challenging preservation conditions. In 2019, they managed to isolate only mitochondrial DNA, which traces maternal ancestry but offers an incomplete picture.

A breakthrough came when advanced techniques enabled scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig to recover enough DNA from two mummies to sequence their full genomes. This achievement shed light not only on these individuals’ ancestry but also on the genetic history of an entire lost population of the Sahara.