#oldest

From “X-Men” in The X-Men #1, September 1963. Stan Lee script, Jack Kirby pencils, Paul Reinman inks, Sam Rosen letters.

Dr Mire at Somaliland’s Dhambalin, a 5,000-year-old rock art site her team discovered in 2007

Dr. Sada Mire is a Somali archaeologist, art historian, science communicator, and presenter. She fled Somalia as a refugee, becoming a Swedish citizen, and holds a Ph.D. from University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, where she is serving as Associate Professor of Heritage Studies.

Sada was born in Somalia but spent her early years in Sweden, having traveled there with her family during the Somali Civil War. She traveled to the UK to study for a BA in History of Art/Archaeology of Africa (SOAS, 2005) and subsequently for a Masters (2006) and doctorate (2009) from University College London. After a period as a visiting professor at Leiden University, Sada founded and now runs the Horn Heritage Foundation, an archaeological and heritage research and practice NGO, with offices in Hargeisa, Somaliland and The Hague, The Netherlands. 

In 2021, with her book Divine Fertility, she became the first archaeologist of non-European descent to win the SAfA Book Prize. Mire’s other honors include being selected by the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts for their 30 Global Writers and Thinkers for 2017-2027 and the New Scientist magazine list of the Most Inspiring Women in Science of All Time.

She is the founding director of the Horn Heritage Foundation and its Digital Museum, working on research and conservation of heritage across the Horn of Africa.

She is single-handedly pushing forward the recognition and protection of cultural heritage in Somalia and Somaliland, with active research in the region and an incredible campaign for public awareness at a global scale.

Youngest.