A Curious Combo: Dinosaurs and Early Holocene Humans in the Sahara

 

Paul Sereno - University of Chicago (Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy)

 

Abstract: Remarkable fossils of both Cretaceous and Holocene age are preserved in the barren reaches of Niger's sandy Ténéré Desert. Following clues initially unearthed in the 1960's, recent expeditions have uncovered a veritable menagerie of Cretaceus reptiles as well as the largest early Holocene human site. The latter preserves the burials, toolkits, ornaments and associated wild fauna of hunter-gatherers who lived along the shores of shallow lakes of a once greener central Sahara.