Tenerian culture

The Tenerian culture is a prehistoric industry that existed between the 5th millennium BC and mid-3rd millennium BC in the Sahara Desert. This spans the Neolithic Subpluvial and later dessication, during the middle Holocene.

Reygasse first used the term Tenerian in 1934 with subsequent scholars producing a clearer definition. The Missions Berliet to the Air Mountains in northern Niger produced the clearest definition prior to J. Desmond Clarke's expedition in early 1970, the results of which were published in November 2008.

Human remains from this culture were first found in the Air Mountains (Aïr Massif) and later, in 2000, at the archaeological site of Gobero, located in Niger in the Ténéré Desert.

Discovery

Gobero was discovered in 2000 during an expedition (led by Paul Sereno) searching for dinosaur remains. Two distinct cultures were discovered at the site: the early Holocene Kiffian culture and the middle Holocene Tenerian culture. The Kiffians were a prehistoric people who preceded the Tenerians and vanished approximately 8000 years ago, when the desert became very dry. The desert stayed dry until about 4600 BC when the rains returned, and the earliest evidence of the Tenerians appears. Some 200 skeletons have been discovered at Gobero.

Culture

The desert region was lush at the time and the Tenerians were cattle-herders, fishermen, and hunters. The graves show that the Tenerians were a spiritual people, as they were buried with artifacts such as jewelry made of hippo tusks and clay pots. The most interesting find is a triple burial, dated to 5300 years ago, of an adult female and two children, estimated through their teeth as being five and eight years old, hugging each other. Pollen residue indicates they were buried on a bed of flowers. The three are assumed to have died within 24 hours of each other, but as their skeletons hold no apparent trauma (they did not die violently) and they have been buried so elaborately - unlikely if they had died of a plague - the cause of their deaths is a mystery.

Decline

Approximately 4500 years ago the region became dry again, and the Tenerians vanished, possibly following the animals elsewhere.

References

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