From the crest there is a view to the ocean, three miles distant, shrouded in fog created by the convergence of desert heat and the icy Benguela Current.
The Arabian developed in a desert climate and was prized by the nomadic Bedouin people, often being brought inside the family tent for shelter and protection from theft.
The southern frontier of the desert was far to the north of where it is now, while semiarid grassland and shallow freshwater lakes covered much of what are now arid plains.
"It will be an unknown location in the open desert," he said, adding that a burial was needed because decomposition of the body had reached the point where the "corpse cannot last any longer".
Falling birth rates are also indicators of better educated and more autonomous women, which is one reason why sub-Saharan Africa's birthrate remains stubbornly high.
Anyway, it's this fossilized pollen along with the aquifers and the rock paintings, these three things are all evidence that the Sahara was once much greener than it is today.
During the test, a helicopter lifted the CST-100 crew capsule to 9,400 feet above the desert floor in Nevada, about a hundred miles north of Las Vegas.