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The Tenerian culture is a prehistoric industry, or domain, that existed between the 5th millennium BCE and mid-3rd millennium BCE in the Sahara Desert. This spans the Neolithic Subpluvial and later desiccation, during the middle Holocene.
French archaeologist Maurice Reygasse first used the term Tenerian in 1934 with subsequent scholars producing a clearer definition. The Missions Berliet to the Aïr Mountains (Aïr Massif) in northern Niger produced the clearest definition prior to J. Desmond Clark's expedition to Adrar Bous in early 1970, the results of which were published in November 2008.
Human remains belonging to the Tenerian culture were first found at Adrar Bous in the Aïr Mountains. Other Tenerian specimens were also discovered at Gobero, located in Niger in the Ténéré desert. This region was lush at the time, and Tenerians were specialized cattle herders who also occasionally fished and hunted.
The Tenerians were considerably shorter in height and less robust than the earlier peoples associated with Kiffian culture. Craniometric analysis also indicates that they were osteologically distinct. The Kiffian skulls are akin to those of the Late Pleistocene , early Holocene Capsian culture, and mid-Holocene Mechta-Afalou groups, whereas the Tenerian crania are more like those of Mediterranean groups.
Graves show that the Tenerians observed spiritual traditions, as they were buried with artifacts such as jewelry made of hippo and clay pots. The most interesting find is a triple burial of an adult female and two children, dated to 5300 years ago. The fossil has been estimated through their teeth as being five and eight years old, hugging each other. Pollen residue indicates they were buried on a bed of flowers. The three are assumed to have died within 24 hours of each other, but as their skeletons hold no apparent trauma (they did not die violently) and they have been buried so elaborately—which would be unlikely if they had died of a Epidemic disease—the cause of their deaths is a mystery.
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