We know that the Sahara was once a green paradise full of people through rural paintings and millennia-old stone monuments they have left us. But who were these people? Where did they come from and where did they go when the fertile land they lived in became desert? Until now, there are hardly any answers to these questions.
Research in this area is still quite young. Although some of these enigmatic stone monuments were discovered in the first half of the 20th century and have been examined by various scientists since then, it was only new possibilities, such as high-resolution satellite images, that opened the view to the immense extent of these legacies.
If you want to know more, I recommend the articles of Yves Gauthier.
Researchgate.net | Academia.edu
There are about seven to eight distinctly different monument types in the Sahara.
Except of the circular tombs, which also occur in a similar form in large areas of North Africa and the Near East, most of these bizarre structures are concentrated in regions that can be relatively clearly defined. The structures with antenna-like lateral extensions, the so-called "croissants" and the "V-antennas" have the largest distribution area.
In addition to the clearly distinguishable main forms, there are a few structures that combine features of various other monuments. They could be transitional forms that developed over the centuries, or cultural variants of different peoples or groups.
The entire Sahara is littered with remains of prehistoric structures that were largely unknown before satellite imagery became widely available.
Tens of thousands of prehistoric structures can be found in the Tassili and Ahaggar region.
Up close, the number of sites becomes even clearer.
Open Kites
Recently, ancient game traps have also been discovered in the Sahara, as they are already known from the Middle East. These kite-like traps were used for hunting and thus form a subject of their own. They are related to the other monuments found, which are mostly tombs, only insofar as both may have been created by the same people.
Datings
Although the first monuments in the Sahara were discovered about a hundred years ago, only relatively few dates are available. These have yielded ages starting at around 5,000 BC and extending into the early Middle Ages. I do not know
Provisional chronology:
Approximate Periods. Due to the few dates, changes are still possible here.
