Pulls up a stool..

It was a lush forest at one time, with plentiful flowing rivers , and teaming with amazing animal life. But alas the land was sold to the treachorous logging companies leaving nothing behind but sawdust. and a few outcrops of vegitation.

But serously, the sahara desert has been spreading miles for a number of years. i expect the same is happening in egypt, and it was once(hundreds of thou year) quite habitable. i dont really know how they expand, havnt really looked into it much.

This could be anserwed by five mins on google.


Forgot to ask: directed at the OP where is that picture on your avatar from? i have seen it somewhere else but i cannot get any info on it.

[edit on 9-6-2008 by monkeybus]

I have an interesting question for you all. Have you ever seen the Great Sand Dunes National Park seated at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado? Anybody care to explain how that got there?

Originally posted by 12.21.12
I have an interesting question for you all. Have you ever seen the Great Sand Dunes National Park seated at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado? Anybody care to explain how that got there?

In the very beginning? Well some very ancient granite mountains were eroded away by rain and wind. The eroded material(sand) flowed downstream to the shallow sea that was what was to become the rocky mountains.
There the collected sands were transformed into sandstones after many millenia. These sandstones were then exposed as the rocky mts uplifted, and they were eroded away into sand once again and some of it is blown by winds into areas were it will collect to form dunes.
In the case of those dunes inparticular the sediments collected in a lake that has since dried up, and then the winds took care of the rest.

During the last ice Age north africa was much different that it now, much cooler and wetter.
What turned it into a desert, with a change in climate and the advent of the domestication of sheep and goats.

simple answers to thses questions:

number one: no egypt has only been a desert for around 12,000 years

number two: that 'nuclear explosion' was infact discoverd to be a comet impact.

numbe 3: the medatreian was once all land

Byrd makes some great points.

Just a few things I will add. First of all the makeup, kohl (black) was used as an eyeliner by both men and women. They wore this to reflect the sun, as well as to keep bugs and infection out of their eyes.

They also ground up malachite (green) to wear as an eyeshadow, as it was a naturally occuring antibiotic.

As far as I know (and I may be incorrect on this), Lapis Lazuli was not worn as makeup, but rather as jewelry. Lapis was not native to Egypt. They had to trade for this, so it was very valued.

The colors blue and green symbolize resurection and rebirth, black symbolized the fertility (of the soil) in the Nile river valley.

Another thing about the pyramids. Many pyramids had deep trenches within them (which some people mistake for "traps"). These were actually "drains" to catch water from the floods.

The Egyptians relied on the Nile river valley to flood every year, which would ensure a bountiful harvest season. Floods and earthquakes were very common.

And no...camels are not native to Egypt.

As far as I know, the sand has always been there. Of course the areas closer to the Nile, would have been much more green, but the outlying areas were desert.