Tichit or Tichitt ( ber, Ticit, ar, تيشيت) is a partly abandoned village at the foot of the
Tagant Plateau
The Tagant Plateau is located in eastern Mauritania, forming a stony part of the Sahara Desert. The Tagant Region, a national administrative division, is named after the plateau.
Geography
Some towns are located at the foot of the Tagant Plateau ...
in central southern
Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
that is known for its
vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
. The main agriculture in Tichit is
date
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
** Group dating
*Play date, a ...
farming, and the village is also home to a small
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
.
Tichitt Airport
Tichitt Airport is an airport serving the town of Tichit in Mauritania. Runway boundaries are marked in white on dark rock or dirt; are otherwise difficult to discern.
See also
*
*
*Transport in Mauritania
Citizens of Mauritania have various tr ...
has two unpaved runways designated in a barren area southeast of the village.
Archaeological significance
This region includes a long sandstone cliff formation that defines the northern limit of the Hodh depression, near the former lake of
Aoukar
Aoukar or Erg Aoukar () is a geological depression area of south eastern Mauritania. It is located between Kiffa and Néma, south of the Tagant Plateau.
The Aoukar basin is a dry natural region of sand dunes and salt pans fringed by escarpmen ...
.
The medieval trading settlement at Tichit is now a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
.
The
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
site of
Dhar Tichitt
Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site located in the southwestern region of the Sahara Desert, in Mauritania. It is one of several settlement locations along the sandstone cliffs in the area. Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, Dhar Néma, and ...
in this area was settled by agropastoral communities around 2000 BC. Their settlements were generally situated on the cliffs and included stone building. These are the oldest surviving archaeological settlements in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
and the oldest of all stone base settlements south of the Sahara. They are thought to have been built by the
Soninke people
The Soninke people are a West African Mande-speaking ethnic group found in Mali, Fouta Djallon, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia. They speak the Soninke language, also called the Serakhulle or Azer language, which ...
and were possibly the precursor of the
Ghana empire
The Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadou ( ar, غانا) or Awkar, was a West African empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali that existed from c. 300 until 1100. The Empire was founded by the Soninke people, a ...
.
[.] The area was abandoned around 500 BC probably because of the onset of more arid conditions. Hundreds of rock art images have been discovered, depicting various animals and hunting scenes. Archaeologists including P.J. Munson, Augustin F.C. Holl, and S. Amblard have found some evidence that
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets a ...
was farmed seasonally as early as 2000 BC.
Climate
Notes
References
*.
*.
*.
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
Communes of Mauritania
World Heritage Sites in Mauritania
Prehistoric Africa
Archaeological sites in Mauritania