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A wetter climate in eastern Sudan 2,000 years ago?

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Abstract

Within the past 15 years accurate radiocarbon dating and plant microfossil analysis of tropical lake sediments in Africa and elsewhere have revealed that the early Holocene (11–7 kyr) was generally wetter than today throughout the tropics1–4, in contrast to last glacial maximum (18±2 kyr), which was cool, dry and windy5,6. Desiccation beginning ∼4.5 kyr ago forced Neolithic herders to abandon previously habitable Old World deserts7–9. Less well known is the climate of proto-historic times (∼2 kyr ago), when iron-smelting became important in Africa10. Here we present the first evidence that the Red Sea Hills were somewhat wetter at this time and suggest that this was also true of much of northern Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences and Quaternary Research Unit, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales, 2113, Australia

    R. Mawson & M. A. J. Williams

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  1. R. Mawson
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  2. M. A. J. Williams
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Mawson, R., Williams, M. A wetter climate in eastern Sudan 2,000 years ago?. Nature 309, 49–51 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/309049a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/309049a0

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