Photo: Exodus From Drying Sahara Gave Rise to Pharaohs, Study Says

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The Great Sand Sea of Egypt in the eastern Sahara once supported savannahs full of wildlife, lush rain forests, and areas so swampy they were uninhabitable.

A human exodus some 5,000 years ago, as the desert turned increasingly arid, prompted settlements along the Nile River that spawned the first ancient Egyptian civilizations ruled by pharaohs, a new study suggests.

Photograph © Science

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