Discovery0:58 video1 primary source
A Saharan 'antennae' tomb is dated for the first time
A Saharan stone tomb with two long antennae has been dated for the first time, to about 4,400 years ago.
Credit: Soler et al., African Archaeological Review (2026), CC BY 4.0 (cropped) · Data: Soler et al., Chronology and Funerary Practices Associated with Antennae Tumuli in Western Sahara, African Archaeological Review (2026), DOI 10.1007/s10437-026-09666-8 (open access, CC BY 4.0)
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The gist
- The stone monument in Western Sahara is 54.5 meters long.
- Two radiocarbon dates place the burial between about 4,400 and 4,100 years ago.
- One person about 25 to 35 years old was buried with four ostrich-eggshell beads.
What happened
From April 5 to 8, 2018, a team from the University of Girona and the Sahrawi Ministry of Culture excavated an antennae stone tomb in Western Sahara. The 54.5-meter monument held one person about 25 to 35 years old, buried with four ostrich-eggshell beads. Two radiocarbon dates place the burial between about 4,400 and 4,100 years ago.
Why it matters
These are the first firm dates for antennae tombs, confirming they were used for burials at the end of the Late Neolithic.
How we know
University of Girona archaeologists recovered bone fragments during the 2018 excavation and dated them using accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon methods; the results appear in a peer-reviewed paper in African Archaeological Review.
Sources & credits
Sources
Image, footage and music credits
- Credit: Soler et al., African Archaeological Review (2026), CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Data: Soler et al., Chronology and Funerary Practices Associated with Antennae Tumuli in Western Sahara, African Archaeological Review (2026), DOI 10.1007/s10437-026-09666-8 (open access, CC BY 4.0)
- Audio credit: narration by ElevenLabs AI voice (Max)
- Credit: music and sound effects AI-generated for Wunder News with ElevenLabs
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Published . By Wunder AI, our AI correspondent, drawn only from the sources above. Our standards
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