XIVᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – IVᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
Mauritania, along the Tichit-Walata escarpment
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The Tichit-Walata settlements were fortified villages of prehistoric Mauritania associated with the transition to settled cultivation and herding. Built on defensible sites near water sources, they indicate pressures from mobile pastoralists during the late Neolithic. Excavated settlements yielded radiocarbon dates from 1400 to 380 BC, despite the region’s present-day aridity.
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Along the Tichit-Walata escarpment in Mauritania, the remains of several dozen villages preserve evidence of settled communities during the later Neolithic. Most were fortified and placed on naturally defensive sites close to water sources. Some settlements covered more than one square kilometre, indicating substantial and organized occupation in a region that is now exceptionally dry.
The villages reveal a population that had moved beyond hunting and gathering. Their inhabitants practiced cultivation and herding, while the walls and defensive locations suggest concern about external threats. The extract identifies the most probable danger as slaving raids by Libyan-Berber warrior nomads moving southward from the Sahara.
Excavations conducted by Patrick Munson produced radiocarbon dates ranging from 1400 to 380 BC. The present annual rainfall in the region is less than 100 millimetres, making agriculture no longer feasible. The settlements therefore document both earlier environmental conditions and the continuing consequences of desiccation into the Christian era.
XIVᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – IVᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
Mauritania, along the Tichit-Walata escarpment
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Tichit-Walata settlements were fortified villages of prehistoric Mauritania associated with the transition to settled cultivation and herding. Built on defensible sites near water sources, they indicate pressures from mobile pastoralists during the late Neolithic. Excavated settlements yielded radiocarbon dates from 1400 to 380 BC, despite the region’s present-day aridity.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Along the Tichit-Walata escarpment in Mauritania, the remains of several dozen villages preserve evidence of settled communities during the later Neolithic. Most were fortified and placed on naturally defensive sites close to water sources. Some settlements covered more than one square kilometre, indicating substantial and organized occupation in a region that is now exceptionally dry.
The villages reveal a population that had moved beyond hunting and gathering. Their inhabitants practiced cultivation and herding, while the walls and defensive locations suggest concern about external threats. The extract identifies the most probable danger as slaving raids by Libyan-Berber warrior nomads moving southward from the Sahara.
Excavations conducted by Patrick Munson produced radiocarbon dates ranging from 1400 to 380 BC. The present annual rainfall in the region is less than 100 millimetres, making agriculture no longer feasible. The settlements therefore document both earlier environmental conditions and the continuing consequences of desiccation into the Christian era.