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Prehistoric Desert Town Found In Western Sahara (15,000 Years Old)
Reuters ^ | 8-19-2004 | Reuters

Posted on 08/20/2004 9:10:09 AM PDT by blam

Prehistoric Desert Town Found in Western Sahara

Thu Aug 19, 2004 01:52 PM ET

RABAT (Reuters) - The remains of a prehistoric town believed to date back 15,000 years and belong to an ancient Berber civilization have been discovered in Western Sahara, Moroccan state media said on Thursday. A team of Moroccan scientists stumbled across the sand-covered ruins of the town Arghilas deep in the desert of the Morocco-administered territory.

The remains of a place of worship, houses and a necropolis, as well as columns and rock engravings depicting animals, were found at the site near the town of Aousserd in northeastern Western Sahara.

The isolated area is known to be rich in prehistoric rock engravings but experts said the discovery could be significant if proven that the ruins were of Berber origin as this civilization is believed to date back only some 9,000 years.

"It appears that scientists have come up with the 15,000-years estimate judging by the style of the engravings and the theme of the drawings," Mustapha Ouachi, a Rabat-based Berber historian, told Reuters.

Berbers are the original inhabitants of North Africa before Arabs came to spread Islam in the seventh century.

The population of Western Sahara, seized by Morocco in 1975 when former colonial power Spain pulled out, are mostly of Berber and Arab descent.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 15000; africa; ancienthistory; aousserd; arghilas; berbers; bloodbath; desert; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; old; prehistoric; sahara; saharaforest; thesahara; town; western; westernsahara; years
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1 posted on 08/20/2004 9:10:10 AM PDT by blam
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To: SunkenCiv

GGG Ping.


2 posted on 08/20/2004 9:11:54 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

I wonder how you figure out the name of a 15000 year old town. Does it have "Welcome to Arghilas pop. 1043" on the road into town?


3 posted on 08/20/2004 9:12:48 AM PDT by KellyAdmirer
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To: blam
Wow!

This is huge news. That level of development, at a time when conventional wisdom says even basic agriculture was rare/non-existent, turns everything we "know" about ancient man upside down.
4 posted on 08/20/2004 9:15:41 AM PDT by EternalHope (Boycott everything French forever. Including their vassal nations.)
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To: KellyAdmirer
I wonder how you figure out the name of a 15000 year old town.

I'd just find a water bill. That would have the name on it.

5 posted on 08/20/2004 9:17:22 AM PDT by jtminton (Kerry/Edwards 2004: It's Boring in America again!)
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To: KellyAdmirer
I wonder how you figure out the name of a 15000 year old town.

I'd just find a water bill. That would have the name on it.

6 posted on 08/20/2004 9:17:47 AM PDT by jtminton (Kerry/Edwards 2004: It's Boring in America again!)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: blam
"The latest glaciation ended only 10,000 years ago."

Above from a website on glaciation. Ye Gods---a TOWN from before the end of the last ice age!!!! I wonder what they thought about the "global warming" of the day.

8 posted on 08/20/2004 9:26:37 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel)
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To: blam

The scientists haven't described the location of the holiest structure on the holiest street in the holiest city yet. As soon as the local terrorists establish a base there they will have it located. Or at least it will be established as soon as the media find out where the terrorists are making their stand.


9 posted on 08/20/2004 9:27:17 AM PDT by FreePaul
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To: dead

If people don't live in deserts, then maybe when the town was there, and people were living there...it wasn't a desert.


10 posted on 08/20/2004 9:28:54 AM PDT by stuartcr (Neither - Nor.... in '04)
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To: stuartcr
It wasn't a desert. I believe it's been determined that during the last ice age it was mostly grassy plains and forest.
11 posted on 08/20/2004 9:34:57 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Here, bite down on this.)
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To: KellyAdmirer

> I wonder how you figure out the name of a 15000 year old town.

Ummm... you don't, unless there are stories of such a town being in that area (and then you're still speculating).

If there was text in the town, you might eb able to read it off that... but damn, a written language 15,000 years old... I seriously doubt we'd figure it out.

Now comes the point in the program where people start argueing about the ethnicity of the inhabitants...


12 posted on 08/20/2004 9:39:44 AM PDT by orionblamblam
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To: cripplecreek

I know, but I didn't really understand what dead was trying to say, and it seemed like he wanted attention, so I answered.


13 posted on 08/20/2004 9:44:23 AM PDT by stuartcr (Neither - Nor.... in '04)
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To: stuartcr

He was repeating an old comedy routine. Sam Kinison I believe.


14 posted on 08/20/2004 9:45:28 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Here, bite down on this.)
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To: cripplecreek

OK, thanks.


15 posted on 08/20/2004 9:52:41 AM PDT by stuartcr (Neither - Nor.... in '04)
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To: blam

Out on the coast is a prehistoric seaport dock. It was already old when civilization began in Mesopotamia.


16 posted on 08/20/2004 9:55:07 AM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: blam

The more we look, the older we get.

Great find. WoW! Wonder what else is hidden under the deserts of the world, I've always thought the Gobi desert was a prime candidate for hidden cities. Sahara makes sense, if it was wetter and maybe even, if some of the new researchers claim, this was contemporaneous with ancient, ancient Egypt.


17 posted on 08/20/2004 10:01:12 AM PDT by swarthyguy
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To: blam

They were Berbers? I'm stuned!


18 posted on 08/20/2004 10:03:37 AM PDT by bk1000 ("We will take things away from you for the common good.": -HRC)
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To: bk1000

made a killing in carpets from what ive heard.


19 posted on 08/20/2004 10:22:16 AM PDT by Docbarleypop (Navy Doc)
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To: blam

15,000 years old??? A town??
I could be wrong but isn't it hard to have a town without agriculture?
The first farms discovered so far have been dated to around 9000 yrs old.
This isn't sounding right.


20 posted on 08/20/2004 10:28:55 AM PDT by Adder (Can we bring back stoning again? Please?)
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