Green Sahara, the enigma of a lost paradise

For a long time, the Sahara was considered an unchanging expanse of sand and rock. But in the 1950s, a researcher from the Musée de l'Homme uncovered hundreds of thousands of rock paintings in southern Algeria. These prehistoric masterpieces reveal an unsuspected past. Before it was a desert, the Sahara was a verdant Eldorado where lions and ostriches were hunted and complex cultural societies developed. What do we know about these peoples of the green Sahara? What was their environment like? How did their paradise become the desert we know today?

This vast investigation sheds light on the metamorphosis of the Sahara. Using the latest investigative technologies, scientists are uncovering new evidence buried in the sand, submerged at the bottom of the ocean or engraved in stone. Little by little, they are unlocking the last secrets of the Green Sahara and revealing the history of this lost paradise.