Chapter 1, Page 13

Did you know that the Sahara used to be verdant? And inhabited by now dead cultures? It’s weird to think about life flourishing in a what is now such an inhabitable place…

See you Thurs.

25 Comments

  • Ana

    is that foreshadowing I smell?

    • shingworks

      Probably just skeletons

  • JJ

    Someone should whack someone’s head.

    Saharan rock art is splendid, btw.

  • Lorenzo

    whoa did you draw those skelintons? or is it a photo?

    • shingworks

      That is a photo, I just punched it up a little. It is a real set of skeletons that was unearthed by Paul Sereno in 2000, here‘s more info.

      • Meran

        VERY cool. Thank you. I just read the article.

  • River

    …Did Mike just smile?

    • Vert

      That sound just now was his face cracking,

  • They’re not gonna let her get over the bug thing

  • Michael isnt big on archeology, eh.

    Or possibly, looking at skeletons and talking about death while in a high suicidal mood isn’t his cup of tea, and he’s trying to sarcasm it off.

  • DukeBG

    That hissing is external or was that Mike warming up his “witty joke”?

  • Glenn-o-matic

    “The English Patient” used this earlier culture, unfortunately mostly in the background, but true and fascinating.
    Still, she’s a bit creepier now than she was before this page!

    • Glenn-o-matic

      (I thought it was going to be giant crickets) but ancient human culture is OK. The message of life’s briefness (and the evidence of feelings that lasted much longer) might sustain her in this quest to provide new food sources.

  • Spencer Greenwood

    Hey. Um, thanks for giving a shit. I think the last three or four pages have said a lot about you. What you do is wonderful, and the way you do it is commendable. Please don’t stop.

  • This is amazing.
    Really, thank you for coming back.
    And yeah, verdant Sahara is amazing. Even today, there’s enough evidence to show that the Sahara desert had once a grassland ecosystem and was much wetter place than it is today. And that is sooo cool.

    • Ryan Schneider

      Go back even further and it was a mangrove delta to the Tethys.

  • aves

    Wow that is so cool! I read up on the cultures and this burial and found out that this grave was likely adorned with flowers (pollen evidence). How they were laid with hands entwined and with flowers is just so touching. I usually think of stone age cultures as savage and brutal, but here is evidence of how caring and gentle these people were.

    • shingworks

      I know… I first read about it in NGM probably a decade ago, and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.

  • grenli

    Bex’ desktop is lovely. I even like the cute little guitar pick folders. So adorable.

  • ItThing

    What is the significance of her being Yoruba? Yoruba live near the coast, not the Sahara… or is she just contrasting Yoruba from the rest of Nigeria the way someone might say “I’m from the UK but I’m Scottish”?

    • shingworks

      No significance other than that she’s proud of her heritage and probably afraid he’s going to lump her under a generic “African” label. She’s from Lagos, not anywhere near Niger or the desert or anything.

    • Tubs

      Yeah, it’s basically like the last thing you said. There are different tribes in Nigeria, so a person’s not just Nigerian, they’re Igbo, or Yoruba, or Hausa, and so on. Each one has its own language, though the main language of Nigeria is English.

      ref: I’m a Nigerian American.

  • Shanunu

    When I saw hee name, I KNEW she was Nigerian. As a Nigerian myself, I doubt that she would actually make the distinction of being Yoruba to someone, though. Trust me, no one goes home and looks up what you meant. And in her case they might find a religion, instead…

    • Shanunu

      Rather, I doubt I would make the distinction of being Igbo to people.

    • shingworks

      Oh, interesting! Thanks very much, I may correct that when I do my final edits… I had read during my research that some Nigerians don’t feel a strong attachment to the somewhat arbitrary country as opposed to their actual cultural heritage, but I also read some opposing viewpoints… Either way, input from actual Nigerian trumps my reasearch XD thanks very much and I may go ahead and fix that later :)

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