Rainfall patterns in the Sahara during the 6,000-year ‘Green Sahara’ period have been pinpointed by analyzing marine sediments. From 5,000 to 11,000 years ago, what is now the Sahara Desert had ten times the rainfall it does today and was home to hunter-gatherers who lived in the region’s savannahs and wooded grasslands. The new research is the first to compile a continuous record of the region’s rainfall going 25,000 years into the past.