Scientists sequenced first whole genomes from 7,000-year-old Sahara mummies. Inhabitants formed previously unknown genetically isolated North African lineage persisting tens of thousands of years. Population likely arrived with out-of-Africa migration over 50,000 years ago. Extreme genetic isolation unlike Europe's mixing. Sahara not a migration corridor between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. Pastoralism adopted through cultural diffusion not population replacement. No evidence of inbreeding signals moderate population size. Ancestry traces to Pleistocene legacy. Pottery shows cultural networks but genetic isolation. Distinct from Near Eastern farming migrants.