A shoutout to the amazing team behind this work, from field archaeology in Libya to genome work in Leipzig & Florence. So grateful to @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social, my supervisor @hringbauer.bsky.social and my talented colleague @arevsumer.bsky.social — and to @roccoro.bsky.social for crucial input!

We also found that this ancient North African ancestry no longer exists in pure form, but it persists as an admixed component in present-day North Africans and some Sahel populations, especially among the Fulani. (8/n)

These results support a cultural spread of pastoralism into the Central Sahara rather than one involving large-scale migration. Herders adopted livestock and techniques without significant movement of people. (7/n)

One of the key findings: Takarkori individuals had 10x less Neanderthal ancestry than Levantine farmers, but still more than present-day sub-Saharan Africans. This implies limited gene flow from out-of-Africa sources, possibly via the Levant. (6/n)

Contrary to earlier ideas, we found no genetic evidence of major gene flow between sub-Saharan and North African groups during the Green Sahara. The desert didn’t act as a genetic bridge, but more of a barrier, even during its greenest phase. (5/n)

We found these women represented a deeply isolated North African lineage, which is closely related to 15,000-year-old foragers from Taforalt Cave (Morocco), suggesting population continuity in North Africa across climate shifts. (4/n)

We analyzed DNA from two naturally mummified women buried in a rock shelter in southwestern Libya called Takarkori. The DNA preservation in the Sahara is extremely rare, but we made it work with targeted SNP capture of modern archaeogenetics methods, including variant enrichment. (3/n)

During the African Humid Period (~14,500–5,000 years ago), the Sahara was green and full of lakes, rivers, and life. It supported foragers and early herders and until now, we had no ancient autosomal DNA from this region. (2/n)