Tichitt, Mauritania In Southern, Mauritania lies what has been referred to as the cradle of West African civilisation - the ancient society of Tichitt. As early as 2600 BCE, the escarpment from Dhar Tagant to Dhar Nema was the backdrop for the movement of nomadic herders away from the drying Sahara and downwards into more humid areas. This Neolithic transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture witnessed the domestic cultivation of pearl millet and the smelting of iron for tools. Agropastoral communities began to settle all along the sandstone cliffs; the shift from nomadic to settled lifestyle was further evinced by the construction of dry-stone masonry houses along the plateaus in as many as 500 concentrated compounds. Between 1600 BCE and 1000 BCE, Tichitt’s population expanded significantly. Each Neolithic family compound formed a unit of a wider, sophisticated village arrangement of narrow corridors and open squares. Compounds were defined by a stone wall which bounded a few connected dwellings, granaries and a central hearth – perhaps for an enlarged family group, with the size of each compound suggestive of some level of societal hierarchy. Larger defensive walls constructed around the perimeter of some villages point to resource conflict between the communities. In dryer weather, the settlements dispersed downwards following the lakes in smaller, temporary encampments. During wetter seasons, the communities migrated higher, allaying pressure on the land through the occupation of the cliff top. The cumulative extent of the Tichitt settlements surpassed many other medieval urban centres which have been linked to the Ghana and Mali empires. The Tichitt tradition was the beginning of many markings of West African civilisation: cereal cultivation, societal organisation, and refined architectural forms. Eventually, the Tichitt tradition evolved into inland Niger delta civilisations and the Ghana Empire (Wagadu) by 300 AD, the transition remaining recognisable through language and archaeology. #africanurbanhistory #westafricanurbanism #mauritania #africantypology #africanresearch #adjayeafrica #adjayeafricaarchitecture #africanknowledgesystems