Decadal-scale droughts disrupted the African Humid Period in the Sahara

Decadal-scale droughts disrupted the African Humid Period in the Sahara

During the early and mid-Holocene, the Sahara and Sahel experienced a humid phase, the so-called African Humid Period (AHP)1. The AHP started around 14.8 thousand years before present (kyr bp), peaked between 9.0 kyr bp and 6.0 kyr bp and experienced short-lived droughts of as yet poorly constrained age and duration2,3. Here we show that the AHP was punctuated by two droughts of decadal-scale duration, at about 9.3 kyr bp and 8.2 kyr bp, and ano…