Now, thousands of years ago, the Sahara desert was a green valley with rivers, lakes, flowers, various animals, and people who had different DNA. They weren’t visitors from another planet or some unknown separate species. In fact, they were quite normal, but their genetic code changed scientists’ understanding of how human civilization developed. It sounds a little confusing, but let’s start at the beginning. Among the endless dunes of the Sahara, there is a small rock shelter where wanderers can hide from the scorching sun. This place is called Takarkori. Recently, it became famous because scientists found two mummies there who lived about 7,000 years ago. At that time, in China, people were learning to domesticate pigs. In Egypt, paintings with geometric patterns appeared. Almost everywhere in the world, people were developing agriculture. But, what was happening in the Sahara?
Scientists analyzed fragments of DNA from the mummies, along with other artifacts found in the cave. They discovered that the bodies belonged to female pastoralists. They lived during a time when the famous desert was known as the green Sahara because of its humid climate and abundant vegetation. Those mummies belonged to a group of people of unknown origin. Their DNA did not contain the genes typically found in populations that lived in that region. In fact, their genome did not resemble any other known genetic lineage. Surely, there must have been relatives of these people living in other regions. A similar genetic code was found in the remains of hunter-gatherers in the Taforalt cave located in Morocco. The DNA of the people from these two caves was equally distant from the DNA of people who lived in the southern part of the Sahara.
Since their DNA was not similar to other genomes in the region, this tribe must have lived quite separately. They probably did not accept strangers and did not move from place to place. They simply didn’t need to since the Green Sahara had everything necessary for life, a good climate, water, and food. These Takarkori people lived within their own community as if they were separate from everyone else. But then, how did they learn about animal husbandry? Today, breeding bulls, goats, and other animals seems completely natural, but in the distant past, it was a real breakthrough. Farming and cattle breeding technologies developed around the world during má´€ss migrations. Imagine a small indigenous group living in the Green Sahara. Suddenly, thousands of outsiders who know agricultural techniques arrive from other regions.
They take over the land, drive some locals away, allow others to stay, impose their own rules, and begin cultivating the soil. Their settlement grows and then they migrate to another area where they spread their technologies again. That’s how progress developed in the past. At least, that is what scientists thought. Of course, during these migrations, different people mixed with each other, which introduced great diversity into the genetic code. But in the case of the Takarkori tribe, there was no diversity. They were not attacked and large-scale migrations did not affect them in any way. So, the question arises, how did they know about cattle breeding? This is what surprised researchers. We were convinced that agriculture spread exclusively because of large-scale migrations. The discovered mummies showed scientists that people simply exchanged knowledge and culture.
Perhaps a traveler came to the Takarkori settlement, showed them how to breed animals, and left. No genetic mixing occurred, which is why they retained a distinct and separate genetic code. It’s also possible that someone from Takarkori traveled elsewhere and returned with new knowledge about herding. No one conquered anyone. No one imposed their knowledge or rules. In other words, they did what modern people do. They shared experience and knowledge. This small detail in the genome of the two mummies shows that the ancient world may not have been as cruel and harsh as we once imagined. In a sense, the genetic material inside those mummies tells the story of how the technological and cultural development of humankind has changed over time. But there’s also the reverse situation, when the development and progress of human civilization shape our genome. What? It sounds strange.
Do microwave ovens affect our DNA or something like that? No, it’s much bigger than that. Our DNA was changed by fire. If you look at us through the eyes of nature, we are very strange creatures because of our weird relationship with one of the most dangerous elements in the world. But what’s so strange about it? Well, just look at nature. Did you see how people in thrillers about wildlife scare away wolves and bears with fire? It’s because it really may work, since many animals are afraid of fire and stay away from it. Some lizards learn how to survive wildfires by hiding in already burned bushes, places where the fire will not return. Evolution has made nearly all living creatures avoid fire, but not humans. We’re the only species on the planet that does not run from fire, but uses it.
No other animals live under a constant risk of burns. Evolution was not prepared for this and had to rapidly adjust our genes to match our behavior. The technology of controlling fire is one of the oldest in the world. We used it to keep warm in cold climates, cook food, produce metal and ceramic objects, build homes, and conquer territories. We put H๏τ food into our mouths and drink H๏τ tea. We’re the only creatures on the planet that voluntarily put a potentially dangerous source of heat into our mouths. And this has been happening for thousands of years. Fire is still an essential tool. And all this time, we’ve been getting burned. No other species on Earth experiences anything close to the number of fire-related damages that humans do. And it’s not just about our past.
Even today, we interact with burning gas stoves, red-H๏τ car radiators, and boiling water in kettles and saucepans. What about risky equipment in factories? The danger has not disappeared. Surely every person has had a small accident with something extremely H๏τ. I know I have. As a result, through evolution, we developed a unique genome unlike that of any other living being. When we touch something H๏τ, and our body begins to heal the damaged part, it feels like a natural ability. But this healing depends on specific genetic mechanisms. Without them, even a small accident could cause serious problems. The development of these genetic adaptations was a complex and lengthy process, since changes in DNA do not happen quickly. While humanity was adapting to fire, intense natural selection was taking place. Some scientists even suggest that we are descendants of those who recovered from burns more quickly than others.
Of course, mammals also have adaptations related to fire. Scientists studying primate DNA discovered a set of 94 genes that activate in response to burns. So, what makes us different? In humans, some of these genes evolved much faster and became far more effective at healing and fighting bacteria. So, does it turn out that we have a superpower we never realized we had? Yes, but there’s bad news. The same immune response that allows us to heal quickly from burns can also cause serious problems. How is that possible? Well, instead of using examples with real people, let us imagine a mannequin with the same fire-related adaptations as a human. When the mannequin receives a small burn, say from a H๏τ radiator under a car hood, its immune system quickly triggers inflammation, during which immune cells neutralize the damage. It is an aggressive healing strategy, but it works.
However, if the mannequin gets a large area burn, that same defense becomes dangerous. The immune system uses the same tactic for major burns as it does for minor ones, creating má´€ssive inflammation that can be life-threatening. Why is that? Because evolution developed protection against small incidents around a campfire, but not against má´€ssive fires. Interestingly, how do scientists explain our craving for extreme sports and adrenaline? What does our DNA say about this? Well, it’s a whole new story. The Sahara Desert is like a Mad Max movie, scorching heat, endless dunes, and an overall barren wasteland. Place where no one could live, right? Well, forget all you know about it, because 5,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush paradise of grá´€sslands, lakes, and rivers, and the home of a ghost civilization that vanished without a trace.
Our tale begins in the 1930s, when a Hungarian explorer stumbled upon a cave in the middle of the Sahara. Inside, he found something bizarre, ancient rock paintings of people swimming in a lake surrounded by giraffes, hippos, and crocodiles. At the time, everybody shrugged it off as some symbolic depiction of of afterlife, because really, who would imagine a lake in the Sahara? Well, fast forward some 70 years later when a group of archaeologists made a discovery that flipped the script. In a rock shelter in Libya, they unearthed 15 mummies along with baskets, ceramic pots, and other everyday items. This may look like prehistoric junk to most people, but to archaeologists, ooh, it was like uncovering a key piece of evidence. Those people weren’t just pá´€ssing through. They lived here. You see, those weren’t just any mummies.
They were some of the oldest naturally mummified humans ever found, dating back over 7,000 years. Take that, Egypt. Two of them still had readable DNA preserved thanks to a rare natural mummification process, almost a miracle considering the Sahara’s climate’s ability to turn everything into, well, beef jerky. Scientists struggled to understand where those mummies came from for a while because the mitochondrial DNA they recovered was not helpful at all. But, thanks to scientific progress, they eventually managed to do a full genome analysis that revealed some weird secrets. Those people belonged to a human lineage that was completely unknown, and they lived isolated from the rest of humanity for thousands of years. For decades, researchers á´€ssumed that the place where they lived, the green Sahara, was like a prehistoric highway, a lush corridor that humans and animals used to migrate between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean.
But, the mummies demolished that theory like a hippo sitting on a sandcastle. Their DNA showed zero genetic mixing with sub-Saharan and Eurasian migrants, keeping their genes pure for 7,000 years. Their closest genetic relatives weren’t their neighbors living right below the famous desert, but some ancient hunter-gatherers from Morocco, and even some guys that lived in the Czech Republic when it wasn’t even a country yet, 50,000 years ago. We’re not out of the woods yet because those mummies also carried some teeny tiny traces of Neanderthal DNA, just 10% of the amount found in modern Eurasians. Now, if you paid attention in school, then you know that Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia, and early humans only mixed with them after migrating out of Africa. But, those Green Sahara folks never left Africa. So, how did they get Neanderthal genes?
The leading theory is that their ancestors mingled with Neanderthals in North Africa 50,000 years ago before settling in the Sahara and cutting off contact with the outside world. Archaeologists also found cattle bones and tools made of stone and wood at that rock shelter, proving that those people led a thriving pastoral lifestyle. This discovery made scientists scratch their heads for a while because, you see, animal domestication was not developed in Africa. So, how did they learn it if they never mingled with anyone? Did they have ancient YouTube tutorials? Hmm, probably not. The researchers believe they must have traded knowledge with neighboring groups, but just knowledge, no saliva. It’s almost too hard to believe that no outsiders mixed with them.
After all, who wouldn’t want to live in a thriving civilization in the middle of a green paradise, drinking milk, eating meat, and even using animal blood as a protein source? Ooh, yummy. They didn’t have to hunt for every meal thanks to their livestock, and the abundant water made life pretty sweet. And yet, they never married outsiders. Why? Maybe it was a cultural choice to never date outside their own group, or maybe the landscape itself kept them isolated. This is where scientists place their bets. They believe that the dense forests and rivers that existed in the Green Sahara acted like nature’s no sign, creating a geographical barrier that isolates animals, plants, and whole societies. This isolation is the reason why their genes were so unique. These guys weren’t swapping spit with anyone else. But this genetic time capsule almost didn’t survive.
For most of the last ice age, the Sahara was even harsher than today, a true ᴅᴇᴀᴅ zone where humans couldn’t survive. 70,000 years ago, even the toughest people disappeared, retreating to the Nile Valley and the Mediterranean coast. Why? Because Earth was a climate bully. Má´€ssive glaciers stole all the moisture, weakening monsoons until rain clouds barely reached North Africa. Then came the knockout punches. Armadas of icebergs flooded the North Atlantic, triggering devastating droughts each time. This was the Sahara’s ultimate keep out era. Now, you’re probably wondering how in the world the Sahara turned green after all this, and then went back to being a desert again. Well, it all started 15,000 years ago. I wasn’t around then.
When Earth was shaking off the last ice age, our planet’s axis was a bit wobbly, and because of that, the northern hemisphere got closer to the sun, getting extra sunlight and heat. This eternal summer turned North Africa into a giant moisture magnet, pulling water from the Atlantic and making it all rain down on the Sahara. The result of this ridiculous amount of rain was a lush savanna, complete with lakes the size of small countries. But the African humid period was not just a one-time miracle. The truth is, this eternal on and off switch between green and desert happened to the Sahara more than 230 times since the desert was born. During one of these events, the Sahara even expanded, getting bigger than it is today. So, when the green Sahara showed up, you can bet it brought the ultimate ecosystem glow up.
This wasn’t just a light dusting of grá´€ss. We’re talking full makeover. The transformation was so complete, it even reshaped animal populations. Cheetahs suddenly struggled with the new prey dynamics, while rodents like the multi-mammate mouse thrived in the suddenly abundant grá´€sslands. But, don’t pack your prehistoric swim trunks just yet. This paradise had teeth. The Sahara was an ecological maze of crocodile-infested rivers, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and big cats lurking in the tall grá´€ss. Crossing it would have been like playing a real-life game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. This is probably why more groups didn’t settle permanently. The Sahara’s climate cycled between wet and dry every 20,000 years. Hardly a stable zip code. For most ancient people, it was smarter to treat the green Sahara like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Grab resources and leave before the desert returned.
Still, this green Sahara period lasted for 10,000 years, giving our mystery shepherds plenty of time to thrive. But, around 5,000 years ago, Earth’s axis shifted again. The rains moved away, and the Sahara dried up faster than a puddle in July. As the desert returned, the shepherds from the green Sahara had no choice but to pack up their livestock and leave. Some researchers believe they migrated toward the Nile, laying the groundwork for ancient Egypt. So, I guess their legacy lives on. Besides, their pure lineage may be extinct by now, but some faint genes of the mummies can still be found in the people that live in North Africa today. But, the introvert mummies were not the only ones using the green Sahara as an Airbnb. They actually had neighbors just around the corner, in a lakeside village in Niger, to be exact.
Those people thrived for 5,000 years and left behind the oldest Sahara desert cemetery, including a man buried in a turtle shell, a grinning Halloween man with filed teeth, and a heartbreaking family embrace frozen in time, victims of the very waters that sustained them. Eventually, those people disappeared, too, just like it happened to our antisocial friends. This proves that this desert outsmarts everyone with a landscape that gives paradise with one hand and takes it away with the other. This coffin seems to defy logic. No visible openings, no way in or out, and yet, inside lies Lady Sherit Ah, a mysterious woman from ancient Egypt, perfectly preserved even after 3,000 years. How did she get there? It was the third intermediate period in Egypt, a time between great dynasties. Pharaohs wore the blue crowns. Priests and thieves were almost as powerful as kings.
Markets were filled with the cries of merchants selling dates, papyrus, and precious perfumes. Lady Sherit Ah was in her late 30s or early 40s, old age by Egyptian standards of that time. Like other Egyptians at the time, she ate meals of bread, lentils, and fish. By that age, her teeth were already badly worn down, yellowish with enamel eroded, because food in ancient Egypt often had grains of sand in it. But, she wasn’t just a regular woman. When she pá´€ssed away for unknown reasons, her burial was lavish. Locals wrapped her body in expensive linen and adorned with artificial eyes to replace her real ones. That would help her see in the afterlife. And that’s exactly how we found her 3,000 years later, in a beautifully decorated sarcophagus.
It was made of cartonnage, which is kind of like paper mache, made by a layering linen and papyrus with adhesive. These coffins were wildly strong, lasting for thousands of years, all thanks to Egypt’s super dry climate. But most importantly, Egyptians only used it for the elite. So she was someone very important to the locals, though we might never know why. But there was only one huge problem with her mummy. How did they even put her in the coffin? No matter how much researchers looked, there were simply no entry points. The only visible gap was a tiny slit near her feet. But that’s not nearly large enough to place her entire body inside. This mystery puzzled them for decades, until they finally learned the truth only recently. They studied those mummies at the Field Museum in Chicago using new technology, CT scans.
It’s basically like taking thousands of x-rays and piecing them together to create detailed 3D images. That’s how we can learn more about the bodies without disturbing them. And it turns out the ancient Egyptians were unbelievably clever. They didn’t construct the cartonnage around Shenet Oz’s body, which would be a common and easy thing to do. Instead, embalmers created the coffin first. Then they softened this coffin with moisture to make it flexible. After that, they carefully molded it around her wrapped body. They did cut a slit along the back of the coffin to do that, but then they laced it up like a corset. So it seemed like there were no openings. Finally, they secured a wooden panel at her feet to keep everything in place. That’s where the tiny slit came from.
Usually, the insides were removed and put in jars, symbolically guarded by the four sons of Horus. Egyptians believed that the deceased would need all that stuff once they got into the afterlife. They also thought it would help preserve the body for ages, which as we can see, worked amazingly well. Thanks to their beliefs, we now have mummies as time capsules. Each son of Horus was supposed to protect each of the specific body parts. The human-headed Imsety for the liver, the baboon-headed Hapy for the lungs, the jackal-headed Duamutef for the stomach, and the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef for the intestines. It’s crazy how much effort the embalmers put into their job, especially in Lady Chen it Ah. They wanted to make sure her body remains untouched and the sarcophagus would be perfect for her. You can’t help but wonder, who was she if she mattered so much?
The ancient Egyptians literally viewed the afterlife as modern retirement planning. You’re not just pá´€ssing away, you got to prepare yourself for it. Prepare the body, eyes to see, and so on. And the richer or more important you were, the better your afterlife would be. But Chen it Ah wasn’t the only fascinating mummy they studied. They also decided to scan Harwa, an Egyptian man who lived around the same time. Judging by the mummy, he also had a high social status. His mummy revealed no signs of hard labor and his teeth were well kept, which means he enjoyed some high-quality food without tons of sand in it. Some fellows got lucky both in life and after it. But there were many mysterious mummies throughout history. One of them is Xin Zhui, also known as Lady Dai. The story of her began in 1968.
Some workers near Changsha, China were digging an air raid shelter for a hospital. But suddenly, they accidentally uncovered an ancient burial site. They came down there and stumbled upon something incredible. Three tombs belonging to a noblewoman, her husband, and a young man believed to be their son. She was a noblewoman from ancient China, and she had a fascinating backstory. She lived over 2,000 years ago during the Western Han Dynasty. She was married to Li Cang, a guy who served as Chancellor to the Changsha Kingdom, a high-ranking official. At first, it looks like Lady Dai lived a life of luxury and privilege. She had private musicians to play at her parties and for her personal enjoyment. She probably played the guqin, an instrument that back in the day people á´€ssociated with intellect and elegance. And she certainly ate like an empress.
Fine meats, delicacies, and all things like that. Even her wardrobe was full of some exquisite silk. Not even mentioning the tons of cosmetics. But all this wealth came at a cost. The more she aged, the worse her health became. She got a full pack, a heart condition, diabetes, high pressure, and liver issues. It also looks like her back was driving her crazy, probably making it hard for her to even move. Finally, as a cherry on top, she developed gallstones. All this packed together eventually led to a heart attack that took her life around the age of 50. There was one haunting detail. Scientists found over 130 melon seeds in her stomach and intestines. Most likely, she ate watermelon just hours before she pá´€ssed away, which means it was probably during summer when the fruit was ripe.
She enjoyed a sweet, simple treat before her life was cut short. The excavation began in 1972, and this wasn’t easy at all. Over 1,500 local students had to help. And Lady Dai was the most mysterious one. She was buried in four rectangular pine boxes, one inside the other, like a Matryoshka doll, all wrapped in 20 layers of silk, and all that sealed with lots of charcoal and white clay. The coffins were painted beautifully as well, adorned with protective deities, mythical animals, and clouds, which symbolized the heavens. There were drawings of divine creatures and Mount Kunlun. The myth said that on this mountain, people reach eternal happiness. All this told us a lot about the Han Dynasty, their beliefs about afterlife, art, daily lives, and their remarkable craftsmanship. And then, researchers finally got to the body. It was astonishing.
Soft skin, joints that could still bend, and in general, she was almost intact. She even kept her hair, eyelashes, fingerprints, and even traces of blood. It’s like she literally pá´€ssed away only a few weeks ago. Ancient people used a very clever technique to preserve her. It looks like embalmers put her into some weird mysterious acidic liquid. This liquid prevented bacteria from growing. Unfortunately, it also gave rashes to all the scientists that touched Lady Dai. And this rash lasted for 3 months. And you know what they buried together with her? Over 1,400 artifacts, mostly personal stuff like silk clothes, cosmetics, and musical instruments. Even food, grains, meats, wine, and pastries. There were also 162 carved wooden figurines of various servants and musicians. It’s possible that they were either just there to service her even in the afterlife, or maybe, based on her actual servants.
We all grew up believing that Stonehenge is the world’s most ancient observatory, but now it has some serious compeтιтion for the тιтle. Nabta Playa was built more than 2,000 mi away in southern Egypt and thousands of years before Stonehenge and even the pyramids of Giza. In 1973, a Bedouin guide stumbled upon a strange group of huge stone formations while crossing the Sahara desert. He led American archaeologist Fred Wendorf to the site located about 60 mi from the Nile. Wendorf’s friend and colleague claims the team found the stones while stopping for a bathroom break in the desert. Either way, what they found changed history. At first, Wendorf thought the stone structures were just natural formations, but then it hit him. This area was once a lake, meaning no natural rocks should even be there.
He kept coming back to the site for decades, and by the early 1990s, his team finally uncovered a circle of stones that seemed to line up with the stars in a way no one could explain. After seven long years of trying to crack the mystery of the site, Wendorf reached out to an expert in archaeoastronomy. They study how ancient people used the stars. One evening, while the expert sat in the cool desert sand staring at the stones, he realized that they formed a pattern radiating outward from a má´€ssive burial mound. One by one, as they dug into the sediment, the buried megaliths started lining up like spokes on a wheel. The team had already used radiocarbon dating to test samples from fire hearths and tamarisk wood roofing found inside the stone circle. Nabta Playa had dozens of standing stones, all a few feet tall.
Some of them lined up exactly with the sunrise on special days, and others matched up with bright stars in the sky. Inside the big circle, there were six special stones that may have been used for rituals or marking important times of the year. Around them, 29 standing stones might have worked like a simple calendar to help people know when it was time for something important, like the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. When the sun rose in just the right spot, it was a sign that the rainy season was coming. The stone circle once aligned with the brightest stars in the northern sky, Arcturus, Sirius, and Alpha Centauri. Some stones even pointed to the constellation Orion. By tracing Arcturus’s movement across the sky, they figured out that it matched perfectly with the circle around 4800 BCE.
That means it was the oldest astronomical site ever discovered. And the people of Nabta Playa may have been watching the stars thousands of years before telescopes were even invented. It looks like it had a huge meaning for people living and traveling through the desert. Over 10,000 years ago, the long, cold, and dry ice age that lasted for tens of thousands of years was finally fading away. Northern Africa got má´€ssive monsoons and rains that filled up seasonal lakes. So, parts of the desert turned into short-lived oases. For the nomadic people who roamed this harsh land, these summer rains were everything. Their entire way of life revolved around cattle. When archaeologists opened the central tomb at Nabta Playa, they dug up cattle bones and even a má´€ssive rock carved into the shape of a cow.
The people who built it used the stars to guide them and find hidden watering holes like Nabta Playa, which likely held water for about 4 months a year, starting with the summer monsoons. But, there was no North Star back then. So, instead, they navigated using bright stars and the way the sky seemed to spin in circles above them. When the lakes were full, the standing stones would be partly submerged, and from the western shore, you would see the reflection of the stars on the dark water. Nabta Playa is way less famous than Stonehenge, perhaps because its stones were buried and the famous site in England was open to visitors for thousands of years. Sadly, when Nabta Playa did become famous, some tourists ruined parts of it by moving stones around, which messed up the ancient star alignments.
To protect it, the authorities moved everything to a museum, where people can see the stones and the carved cow statue without damaging them. The Egyptian observatory isn’t the only construction similar to Stonehenge. It has versions that were used for different purposes, from Germany and France to the US and the Andes in northern Peru. This last one is actually one of the oldest big structures ever built in this region. The circular plaza is made of two giant stone walls arranged in a ring. It was likely used for ceremonies and gatherings. Scientists have carbon dated it to be about 4,750 years old, which means it was built before the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. The plaza had two entrances and a special layer of clay, soil, gravel, and charcoal underneath. It was carefully planned and built.
Archaeologists also found ceramic pieces, quartz crystals, and gemstones at the site. So, it was definitely a special place. People visited it for centuries, but at some point, it was sealed off, probably because of changing beliefs and traditions. The most recent discovery was the remains of a large timber circle roughly the same age and with parallels to Stonehenge all the way up in Denmark. This open-air structure was likely part of a special area where prehistoric people from the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age gathered for rituals and ceremonies. The circle was made up of 45 giant wooden posts forming a huge ring about 100 ft wide. The wood is gone now, but scientists believe tall timbers once stood in the holes and created an impressive wood henge.
No one knows exactly what these circles were used for, but archaeologists have found animal bones and food remains at similar sites. So, people probably used to gather there for feasts and rituals. In 2024, scientists found two ancient stone circles from the Neolithic period in Dartmoor National Park in England. Some archaeologists believe they might form a sacred arc. Many of Dartmoor’s stone structures were built in a curved shape on the high ground in the center of the area. A long time ago, Dartmoor was covered in forests, so people may have used a high ground as important markers. One of the newly found circles fits inside this arc, but the other one is outside of it to the north. This could have been an entrance point into the arc.
There’s also a raised bank of earth near the stones, which looks similar to other famous Neolithic sites like the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland and Stonehenge itself. This means the people who built these circles may have visited Stonehenge or been inspired by it. Archaeologists in Oman found ancient stone monuments called trilith, which got the nickname Arabian Stonehenge. They were finished about 2,000 years ago, but no one knows for sure who built them or why. Scientists also found stone hand axes that are incredibly old, between 300,000 and 1. 3 million years old, from the time when the first humans left Africa. At another site in central Oman, archaeologists discovered a Neolithic tomb from around 5,000 to 4,600 BCE. There are two chambers with the bones of dozens of people inside beneath a giant megalithic structure.
Nearby, they also discovered rock carvings that were made by people who lived in the area. And then, there is another Stonehenge look-alike, this time in Saudi Arabia, that was used as an apartment complex thousands of years ago. Archaeologists discovered a total of 345 stone circles by looking at aerial pH๏τos of a lava field. Each circle is between 13 to 26 ft and has at least one large standing stone in the middle. These structures still have remains of stone walls and doorways. Stone circles like Stonehenge are often linked to ceremonies and rituals, but scientists say that many early houses were actually built in round shapes, and rectangular homes only became common much later in history.