Akreijit: The Neolithic Village in The Middle of The Sahara
Oct 1, 2024 1:17:14 GMT -5
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Post by anansi on Oct 1, 2024 1:17:14 GMT -5
The Sahara has so much to tell us, the following harkens back to the Green or wet phase Sahara, villages, often made of dry stone, there are hundreds of these, most buried under the shifting sands, It was from settlements like these the Soninke civilization of ancient Wagadu aka Ghana was formed they in tern set the stage for further development of later civilizations for hundereds of yrs to come, this wonderful link will give you much visuals.
The Sahara desert as we know it today is an arid and inhospitable territory, not suited for human or animal life.
For how harsh it is, it’s hard to imagine it was ever much different, but in recent times it has been discovered that the Sahara wasn’t a desert at all in the past, but rather a lush green area, full of bodies of water and animals nowadays associated with many countries of Central Africa.
Scientists have discovered that Earth shifts its axis quite regularly, around every 20.000 years, a phenomenon that causes changes in climate, and consequently in everything that depends on that, such as flora and fauna. The Sahara is one of the areas most affected by this change, with a gradual process that affects its biomes deeply.
One of the sparse bodies of water than can be found nowadays in Mauritania. This is Matmata, home to the last crocodiles of the Sahara
lucaonadventure.com/matmata-guelta-the-last-crocodiles-in-the-sahara-desert/
Dhar Tichitt
hat’s how populations found the Dhar Tichitt region, in the South-Central Tagant region of Mauritania, an area with a series of lines of steep sandstone cliffs, standing on average 60m above mainly sandy flats and interdunal depressions.
If we consider the area from Dhar Tichitt to Dhar Oualata, an almost 400km long series of the cited sandstone cliffs, it has been discovered that more than 500 villages were constructed and inhabited during the Neolithic. Nowadays, the most notable of those is Aghrijit, a protected site since 1991, about 30km away from the town of Tichitt.
Before we talk about Akreijit, we need an overview of the situation in Dhar Tichitt during the Neolithic.
Dhar Tichitt in the Neolithic
While the Sahara kept going in its transition of becoming the desert we know today, there were some areas that resisted the climatic change better than others, mostly due to the conformation of the territory. As in all other places on Earth and beyond, the first and most important thing needed for human life is water, and those areas were the ones that were able to maintain a good balance between the contrasting rainy and dry seasons.
Thanks to the archaeological evidence, nowadays we know that the sandy flats between the sandstone cliffs were once the recipient of the bodies of water running through Dhar Tichitt. There were also many lakes and streams found on the plateau and the flats, full of water only during the rainy season.
However, one of the most important factors to the success of life in the Dhar Tichitt was the discovery of bulrush millet, growing in its wild variety in the area, and of wild grains, though used less than the millet.
Life in Dhar Tichitt
The sandstone cliffs of the Dhar Tichitt in South-Central Mauritania were inhabited by Neolithic agropastoral communities for more than one and half millennia during the Late Holocene, from ca. 2300 to. 500 B.C.
There is no real evidence of prior settlements, which points to the influx of people moving from the drying northern Sahara to the more humid south.
As previously stated, this period of the Holocene was characterized by two contrasting seasons, one dry and the other rainy. This drastic difference naturally forced the population to adjust depending on the availability of water, their main need.
The numerous settlements that animated the 44km long Dhar were all constructed on the edges of the cliffs, closely following the hydrographic network. The villages consisted of heavy dry-stone masonry structures suited for life and storage of resources.
The idea is that during the rainy season the people would live in the villages on the plateau, as the valleys of sand were mostly full of water.
A few small surface sites have been found below the cliffs, in the sandy interdunal depressions. These sites are probably grossly underrepresented due to the difficulty of finding them where there is drifting sand.
During the dry season, the water was only available in the deepest points of the valleys below the cliffs, sometimes quite far away from the main villages. That’s why they created these small temporary settlements that were eventually going to be erased by the rainy season. Faced with a predictable dry season water shortage, the Dhars Neolithic people devised a robust strategy to enhance their livelihood; a short-range, pulsatory nomadism.
The practice of semi-nomadism is one of the most tangible reports of life in the Neolithic that we can observe today, as about 10% of the population of Mauritania (ca. 400.000 people) still follow this living style.
The abandonment of Dhar Tichitt
Around the year 500 B.C., a dry spell hit the area, which started to change the climatic pattern the people of Dhar Tichitt had known for almost two millennia. The alternating dry and rainy seasons stopped, and though the Tagant region had been the most resistant one, it was only a matter of time until it completed the desertification.
The abandonment of the whole area was probably gradual with small groups of families moving south and southeast in search of better environments. These populations may have later contributed to the rise of the Ghana Empire, which dominated West Africa until the 13th century A.D.
Ancient Akreijit is a couple of kilometers north of the new village, where the guardian can always be found by asking around.
The structure of Akreijit
The dimensions, shape, and internal structure of the large Neolithic villages of Dhar Tichitt, Walata, and Nema vary considerably; Akreijit is fan-shaped. They nevertheless have essential common characteristics, namely an architecture based on dry stones, a honeycomb arrangement of domestic units, networks of alleys, and public squares.
Located on the edge of the cliff escarpment in Dhar Tichitt, Akreijit has 177 enclosures spread over an area of 15 ha, a series of alleys running north-south and east-west that lead to open spaces in the center-west and northwest.
A typical home in Akreijit
The excavation of one of Akreijit’s enclosures revealed the internal organization of a medium-sized domestic unit. Enclosure 50E is in the northern portion of the village and dates from 550-450 BCE. Oriented east-west, it measures 450 m^2 and has an overall diamond shape. A close examination of the construction reveals interesting facets of its history.
The perfect depiction of the Tagant
The guardian showed us some tombs, gave us a history lesson and brought us around through the ruins and towards the border of the cliff, where he told us we were going to find some cave paintings.
The view from Akreijit is immaculate. Mauritania is all there; the history of the people, the ancient settlement, the imponent Dhars, the boundless desert speckled with trees and salt deposits, and the memory of the changes the Sahara went through.
It’s always special imagining a place for what it was in the past, but in Akreijit it has to be one of the most difficult things to do. This area changed drastically in the past thousands of years, and imagining it for the lush green territory it once was, full of water, animals, and people requires an extremely creative mind.
lucaonadventure.com/akreijit-neolithic-sahara-desert/#a-typical-home-in-akreijit
The Sahara desert as we know it today is an arid and inhospitable territory, not suited for human or animal life.
For how harsh it is, it’s hard to imagine it was ever much different, but in recent times it has been discovered that the Sahara wasn’t a desert at all in the past, but rather a lush green area, full of bodies of water and animals nowadays associated with many countries of Central Africa.
Scientists have discovered that Earth shifts its axis quite regularly, around every 20.000 years, a phenomenon that causes changes in climate, and consequently in everything that depends on that, such as flora and fauna. The Sahara is one of the areas most affected by this change, with a gradual process that affects its biomes deeply.
One of the sparse bodies of water than can be found nowadays in Mauritania. This is Matmata, home to the last crocodiles of the Sahara
lucaonadventure.com/matmata-guelta-the-last-crocodiles-in-the-sahara-desert/
Dhar Tichitt
hat’s how populations found the Dhar Tichitt region, in the South-Central Tagant region of Mauritania, an area with a series of lines of steep sandstone cliffs, standing on average 60m above mainly sandy flats and interdunal depressions.
If we consider the area from Dhar Tichitt to Dhar Oualata, an almost 400km long series of the cited sandstone cliffs, it has been discovered that more than 500 villages were constructed and inhabited during the Neolithic. Nowadays, the most notable of those is Aghrijit, a protected site since 1991, about 30km away from the town of Tichitt.
Before we talk about Akreijit, we need an overview of the situation in Dhar Tichitt during the Neolithic.
Dhar Tichitt in the Neolithic
While the Sahara kept going in its transition of becoming the desert we know today, there were some areas that resisted the climatic change better than others, mostly due to the conformation of the territory. As in all other places on Earth and beyond, the first and most important thing needed for human life is water, and those areas were the ones that were able to maintain a good balance between the contrasting rainy and dry seasons.
Thanks to the archaeological evidence, nowadays we know that the sandy flats between the sandstone cliffs were once the recipient of the bodies of water running through Dhar Tichitt. There were also many lakes and streams found on the plateau and the flats, full of water only during the rainy season.
However, one of the most important factors to the success of life in the Dhar Tichitt was the discovery of bulrush millet, growing in its wild variety in the area, and of wild grains, though used less than the millet.
Life in Dhar Tichitt
The sandstone cliffs of the Dhar Tichitt in South-Central Mauritania were inhabited by Neolithic agropastoral communities for more than one and half millennia during the Late Holocene, from ca. 2300 to. 500 B.C.
There is no real evidence of prior settlements, which points to the influx of people moving from the drying northern Sahara to the more humid south.
As previously stated, this period of the Holocene was characterized by two contrasting seasons, one dry and the other rainy. This drastic difference naturally forced the population to adjust depending on the availability of water, their main need.
The numerous settlements that animated the 44km long Dhar were all constructed on the edges of the cliffs, closely following the hydrographic network. The villages consisted of heavy dry-stone masonry structures suited for life and storage of resources.
The idea is that during the rainy season the people would live in the villages on the plateau, as the valleys of sand were mostly full of water.
A few small surface sites have been found below the cliffs, in the sandy interdunal depressions. These sites are probably grossly underrepresented due to the difficulty of finding them where there is drifting sand.
During the dry season, the water was only available in the deepest points of the valleys below the cliffs, sometimes quite far away from the main villages. That’s why they created these small temporary settlements that were eventually going to be erased by the rainy season. Faced with a predictable dry season water shortage, the Dhars Neolithic people devised a robust strategy to enhance their livelihood; a short-range, pulsatory nomadism.
The practice of semi-nomadism is one of the most tangible reports of life in the Neolithic that we can observe today, as about 10% of the population of Mauritania (ca. 400.000 people) still follow this living style.
The abandonment of Dhar Tichitt
Around the year 500 B.C., a dry spell hit the area, which started to change the climatic pattern the people of Dhar Tichitt had known for almost two millennia. The alternating dry and rainy seasons stopped, and though the Tagant region had been the most resistant one, it was only a matter of time until it completed the desertification.
The abandonment of the whole area was probably gradual with small groups of families moving south and southeast in search of better environments. These populations may have later contributed to the rise of the Ghana Empire, which dominated West Africa until the 13th century A.D.
Ancient Akreijit is a couple of kilometers north of the new village, where the guardian can always be found by asking around.
The structure of Akreijit
The dimensions, shape, and internal structure of the large Neolithic villages of Dhar Tichitt, Walata, and Nema vary considerably; Akreijit is fan-shaped. They nevertheless have essential common characteristics, namely an architecture based on dry stones, a honeycomb arrangement of domestic units, networks of alleys, and public squares.
Located on the edge of the cliff escarpment in Dhar Tichitt, Akreijit has 177 enclosures spread over an area of 15 ha, a series of alleys running north-south and east-west that lead to open spaces in the center-west and northwest.
A typical home in Akreijit
The excavation of one of Akreijit’s enclosures revealed the internal organization of a medium-sized domestic unit. Enclosure 50E is in the northern portion of the village and dates from 550-450 BCE. Oriented east-west, it measures 450 m^2 and has an overall diamond shape. A close examination of the construction reveals interesting facets of its history.
The perfect depiction of the Tagant
The guardian showed us some tombs, gave us a history lesson and brought us around through the ruins and towards the border of the cliff, where he told us we were going to find some cave paintings.
The view from Akreijit is immaculate. Mauritania is all there; the history of the people, the ancient settlement, the imponent Dhars, the boundless desert speckled with trees and salt deposits, and the memory of the changes the Sahara went through.
It’s always special imagining a place for what it was in the past, but in Akreijit it has to be one of the most difficult things to do. This area changed drastically in the past thousands of years, and imagining it for the lush green territory it once was, full of water, animals, and people requires an extremely creative mind.
lucaonadventure.com/akreijit-neolithic-sahara-desert/#a-typical-home-in-akreijit