Tichitt tradition
The Tichitt tradition, or Tichitt culture, was created by proto-Mande peoples, namely the ancestors of the Soninke people. In 4000 BCE, the start of sophisticated social structure developed among herders amid the Pastoral Period of the Sahara. Saharan pastoral culture was intricate. By 1800 BCE, Saharan pastoral culture expanded throughout the Saharan and Sahelian regions. The initial stages of sophisticated social structure among Saharan herders served as the segue for the development of sophisticated hierarchies found in African settlements, such as Dhar Tichitt. After migrating from the Central Sahara, proto-Mande peoples established their civilization in the Tichitt region of the Western Sahara. The Tichitt Tradition of eastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE to 200 BCE.
Tichitt culture, at Dhar Néma, Dhar Tagant, Dhar Tichitt, and Dhar Walata, included a four-tiered hierarchical social structure, farming of cereals, metallurgy, numerous funerary tombs, and a rock art tradition. At Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata, pearl millet may have also been independently domesticated amid the Neolithic. Dhar Tichitt, which includes Dakhlet el Atrouss, may have served as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of the Tichitt Tradition, and the Malian Lakes Region, which includes Tondidarou, may have served as a second regional center of the Tichitt Tradition. The settlements of Dhar Tichitt consisted of multiple stone-walled compounds containing houses and granaries/"storage facilities", sometimes with street layouts. Additionally, around some settlements, larger stone common "circumvallation walls" were built, suggesting that "special purpose groups" cooperated as a result of decisions "enforced for the benefit of the community as a whole." The urban Tichitt Tradition may have been the earliest large-scale, complexly organized society in West Africa, and an early civilization of the Sahara, which may have served as the segue for state formation in West Africa. Consequently, state-based urbanism in the Middle Niger and the Ghana Empire developed between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.
Climate and Geography
The Dhars, or cliffs, are located in the southeastern and central-southern regions of Mauritania. The cliffs span 800 kilometers. The Dhars of Mauritania are located north of the Senegal River. The Dhars of Mauritania are located between the Hodh Depression and Tagant Plateau. Dhar Néma and Dhar Tichitt are major escarpments in Mauritania. From east to west, Dhar Néma, Dhar Walata, Dhar Tichitt, and Dhar Tagant form a semicircular shape around the Hodh/Aoukar Depression, which, prior to 4000 BCE, was an area with lakes of considerable size, and, after 1000 BCE, was an area that had become increasingly dried. During the emergence of the Tichitt Tradition, it was an oasis area.After 4500 BP, the Malian Lakes Region, around Lake Fati, underwent aridification; thereafter, Megalake Timbuktu, which at its height reached depths of 264 meters in 3900 BP, developed from the inputs of the Middle Niger riverine system. In the region, humidity reached its highest point in the first half of the 4th millennium BP, and reached its second highest point in the second half of the 4th millennium BP. More than one thousand stone villages were constructed, which spans 800 kilometers from the Niger Bend to the region northward of Taoudenni Basin, as well as spanning 600,000 km2 from the border of Mali and Mauritania to the region west of Tagant. In the Malian Lakes Region, which is located in northwestern Inland Niger Delta region of the Niger River, near Lake Faguibine and the Faguibine Depression, and north of Méma, these drystone constructed stone-walled settlement sites may be connected with the Tichitt Tradition of Mauritania.
Tichitt cultural tradition
Between 4th millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE, pastoralists occupied the western region of the Sahara. The pastoralist culture included social stratification, as evidenced by lavish items found in tumuli. In the Hodh Depression area of southern Mauritania, from early 2nd millennium to late 1st millennium BCE, the pastoralist culture developed into various forms of pre-state urbanism. By 2000 BCE, as aridification followed the Holocene Climate Optimum, the pastoralists had become agropastoralists and had established the Tichitt tradition in the Mauritanian settlement areas of Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, and Dhar Néma, based on a hierarchical economy composed of pastoralism, agriculture, and stonemasonry. In the Sahelian region of West Africa, the corded roulette ceramics of the Tichitt Tradition developed and persisted among dry stonewalled architecture in Mauritania between 1900 BCE and 400 BCE. Within these settled areas with stone walls, which vary in scale from, there were walled agricultural land used for livestock or gardening as well as land with granaries and tumuli.As areas where the Tichitt cultural tradition were present, Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata were occupied more frequently than Dhar Néma. The eastern and central areas of Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, which were primarily peopled between 2200/2000 BCE and 1200/1000 BCE and contained some areas with boundary walls, served as the primary areas of settlement for the Dhars of Mauritania. The fundamental unit of the Mauritanian Dhars was the extended family or polygamous family. Based on the presence of an abundant amount of enclosed areas that may have been used to pen cattle and hundreds of tumuli, intergenerational ownership of property, via cattle wealth, may have been part of the Tichitt culture. Planned, level streets spanned several hundred kilometers among the 400 drystone-constructed villages, hamlets, and towns. Primary entry points of residences with access ramps and watchtowers were also present. Households used various tools. At Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, stone pillars, stone slabs, and stone blocks, which approximate to several hundred in total, are frequently arranged and aligned in three rows of three; these erected stones may have served as stilts for granaries. There were also gardens and fields located within a walled enclosure ranging between nine and fourteen hectares. At Dhar Nema, there are also stilted granaries, pottery, and tools used for milling. At Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, copper was also used. Tichitt culture may have also made cultural contributions to Garamantian culture, which was then subsequently reconstrued and innovated by Garamantes as these contributions were incorporated into Garamantian culture.
The people of Tichitt culture crafted in workshops as well as farmed and penned livestock, fished, and hunted. A primary feature of the Tichitt culture is the shepherding of livestock and the cultivation of pearl millet. Various kinds of local food sources were eaten by the people of the Tichitt culture.
Dhar Tichitt
At Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata, the people of the Tichitt Tradition were considerably mobile each season; they practiced animal husbandry, fished, and, by at least 3600 BP, domesticated and farmed pearl millet. However, farming of crops may have been a feature of the Tichitt cultural tradition as early as 3rd millennium BCE in Dhar Tichitt. The origin of pearl millet at Dhar Tichitt may date to 3500 BCE. At Dhar Tichitt, domesticated pearl millet imprints in pottery have been dated between 1900 BCE and 1500 BCE. Based on the hundreds of tumuli present in Dhar Tichitt, compared to a dozen tumuli present in Dhar Walata, it is likely that Dhar Tichitt was the primary center of religion for the people of Tichitt culture.At Dhar Tichit, Dakhlet el Atrouss I, which is the largest archaeological site of the Tichitt Tradition and is 80 hectares in scale, serves as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of Tichitt culture; it features nearly 600 settlement compounds, agropastoralism, a large enclosure for cattle, and monumental architecture as an aspect of its funerary culture, such as hundreds of tumuli nearby. Along with Akrejit, it also features foundations for granaries.
Rock Art
Engraved and painted Pastoral rock art relating to the agropastoralists of Dhar Tichitt, characterized by dark patina and developed using hammerstones only or hammerstones used with a lithic or metal implement, were composed of various rock artforms that date to the Late Stone Age. Dating was confirmed by bones from a hippopotamus and a few white rhinoceros. A notable attribute of the Dhar Tichitt rock art is the large depiction of a bull, which, due to its value in agropastoral life as a form of wealth, may have had symbolic and/or religious significance for the agropastoralists of Dhar Tichitt. The painted Pastoral rock art of Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria and engraved Pastoral rock art of Niger bear resemblance with the engraved cattle portrayed in the Dhar Tichitt rock art in Akreijit. The engraved cattle pastoral rock art of Dhar Tichitt, which are displayed in enclosed areas that may have been used to pen cattle, is supportive evidence for cattle bearing ritualistic significance for the people of Dhar Tichitt.File:Char rupestre du village v.157 à longue plate-forme.jpg|thumb|200px|Rock art depicting cart, with long platform, framed by two wheels