Ancient site · Settlement
Dhar Tichitt
Also known as Dakhlet el Atrouss
A line of sandstone cliffs in southeastern Mauritania with hundreds of stone-walled villages built by herders and farmers when the area was savanna. The settlements have drystone compounds with houses and granaries, linked by streets, and some, such as Dakhlet el Atrouss, were very large.
Its people kept cattle, sheep and goats, hunted, fished, and grew bulrush (pearl) millet. Dhar Tichitt is one of the oldest known village societies in West Africa and may have been a regional centre.
- Dates
- c. 2000–300 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 18.45° N, 9.41° W
How we know
No writing existed; the villages are dated by radiocarbon on charcoal and millet impressions in pottery.
Nearby sites
- Djenné-Djenno c. 250 BCE – 1400 CE
- Ounjougou oldest pottery c. 9400 BCE
- Atlantis (legend) Plato (c. 360 BCE) set it c. 9600 BCE
- Gobero c. 7700–6200 and 5200–2500 BCE
- Tassili n'Ajjer rock art c. 10,000 BCE (debated) to the early centuries CE
- Taruga c. 600–200 BCE (iron smelting c. 4th–3rd century BCE)
Related
- Tichitt tradition archaeological culture
- The world in 2000 BCE: Cities of Bronze chapter