SC - Honeycomb (confectionary) - question to the list

[Lee-Gwen Booth]

Not all of the Sahara was a grassland in Roman times.  IIRC, Herodotus and
Pliny both described North Africa as a grassland, but the changes were
becoming apparent by Pliny's time.  Geologically, the Sahara was a series of
shallow lakes at the end of the Ice Age, which dried up and became
grassland.  The people who would become the Berbers moved into the region
south of the Atlas Mountains about 3000 BCE.  Overgrazing by the tribal
herds is believed to have created the inital desert.  By the 1st Century CE,
bad farming practices, overgrazing, and climate changes combined to hasten
the advance of the desert.  The changes probably became very pronounced
during the 1st Century, because the camel is believed to have been
introduced into North Africa then to meet the changing conditions.

About 30 years ago there was some archeological excavation on Roman ruins
well within the Sahara.  Apparently the Romans had an extensive wall similar
to Hadrian's wall across the southern boundry of their domain to control
trade access to the Empire.  I've forgotten most of the details, but there
was a book published on the subject, which I have been trying to find for a
couple of years.  The subject originally attracted my attention, because the
discoveries were far south of what had previously been considered the limits
of the Roman Empire.

Bear


> Okay, but I understood your earlier message to say all of the Sahara
> was grassland in Antiquity. North Africa, at least as far south as
> the Romans would have gotten still leaves a lot of the Sahara 
> untouched.
> 
> If all of the Sahara had been grasslands, and that good a breadbasket
> I imagine the Romans would have gone much further south if they hadn't
> been stopped by something such as the desert. While I haven't studied
> it, I get the impression they didn't penetrate Africa that 
> far. Certainly
> not as far as they did to the north.
> 
> -- 
> Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra