Editing History of Libya (section)

==Prehistoric and Berber Libya==
{{main|Prehistoric North Africa}}
[[File:Tadrart Acacus 1.jpg|thumb|left|Prehistoric Libyan rock paintings in Tadrart Acacus reveal a Sahara once lush in vegetation and wildlife.]]
Tens of thousands of years ago, the [[Sahara]] Desert, which now covers roughly 90% of Libya, was lush with green vegetation. It was home to lakes, forests, diverse wildlife and a temperate [[Mediterranean]] climate. Archaeological evidence indicates that the coastal plain was inhabited by [[Neolithic]] peoples from as early as 8000 BCE. These peoples were perhaps drawn by the climate, which enabled their culture to grow, subsisting on the [[animal husbandry|domestication]] of cattle and the cultivation of crops.<ref>Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, (1987), [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ly0013) "Early History of Libya"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120922002708/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ly0013) |date=22 September 2012 }}, ''U.S. Library of Congress''. Retrieved 11 July 2006.</ref>

Egyptian inscriptions from the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] are the oldest available documentation of the Berber people. The inscriptions record Berber tribes raiding the Nile Delta.<ref>{{Cite book|last=St. John|first=Ronald Bruce|url=|title=Libya : From Colony to Revolution|publisher=Oneworld Publications|others=Nathan St. John|year=2017|isbn=978-1-78607-240-5|edition=3|location=London, England|oclc=988848424}}</ref> [[Rock art|Rock paintings]] at [[Wadi Mathendous]] and the mountainous region of [[Acacus Mountains|Jebel Acacus]] are the best sources of information about prehistoric Libya, and the [[pastoralism|pastoralist]] culture that settled there. The paintings reveal that the [[Neolithic Subpluvial|Libyan Sahara contained rivers]], grassy plateaus and an abundance of wildlife such as giraffes, elephants and crocodiles.<ref>[[Roland Oliver|Oliver, Roland]] (1999), ''The African Experience: From Olduvai Gorge to the 21st Century'' (Series: History of Civilization), London: [[Weidenfeld & Nicolson|Phoenix Press]], revised edition, pg 39.</ref>

The onset of the [[Piora Oscillation]]'s intense [[aridification]] resulted in the "green Sahara" rapidly transforming into the [[Sahara Desert]]. Dispersal in Africa from the Atlantic coast to the [[Siwa Oasis]] in Egypt seems to have followed, due to climatic changes which caused increasing [[desertification]].

The African ancestors of the [[Berber people]] are assumed to have spread into the area by the [[Late Bronze Age]]. The earliest known name of such a tribe is that of the [[Garamantes]], who were based in [[Germa]], southern Libya. The Garamantes were a Saharan people of Berber origin who used an elaborate underground irrigation system; they were probably present as tribal people in the Fezzan by about 1000 BCE, and were a local power in the Sahara between 500 BCE and 500 CE. By the time of contact with the [[Phoenicia]]ns, the first of the Semitic civilizations to arrive in Libya from the East, the Lebu, Garamantes, Berbers and other tribes that lived in the Sahara were already well established.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}