Dhar Tichitt

An area of south-central Mauritania (Africa) on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert with evidence of local beginnings of cereal cultivation in the 2nd millennium BC in the form of plant impressions on pottery. Wild sorghum and bulrush millet are indigenous to the area. At the time, there were extensive lakes at Dhar Tichitt for fishing and by c 1500 BC the inhabitants had domestic cattle and goats. By the 4th century BC, bulrush millet clearly formed the staple diet of the inhabitants of the area.

Located in south-central Mauritania on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the Dhar Tichitt sites provide a clear, dated picture of the local beginings of cereal cultivation. Wild sorghum and bulrush millet are indigenous to the area. Around 2000 be there were extensive lakes at Dhar Tichitt, supporting a population which relied for its livelihood on collecting, hunting and fishing. By cl500 be the inhabitants had obtained domestic cattle and goats. Desiccation resulted in marked shrinkage of the lakes at the close of the 2nd millennium, by which time a number of species of wild grass, still used in the southern Sahara in times of famine, were being collected. Shortly after 1000 be, in the so-called Chebka phase, bulrush millet of a clearly domesticated type was the cereal most frequently represented. Villages at this time were no longer situated beside the lakes but in defensive positions on the adjacent escarpment; they were also larger than their predecessors. Increases both in population and perhaps also in competition for control of resources may be indicated. By the 4th century be bulrush millet clearly formed the staple diet of the inhabitants of the area.