Dhar Néma

From early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6041474
AutoresKevin C Macdonald (University College London, autor correspondente), Robert Vernet (University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya), Marcos Martinón-Torres (0000-0003-2124-2837, University College London), D Q Fuller (0000-0002-4859-080X, University College London)
Ano2009
Volume44
Fascículo1
Páginas3-48
Data de publicação2009-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAzania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00671990902811330
OpenAlexW2063135225
IdiomaSO
Citações recebidas41
Referências citadas29

Dhar Néma, easternmost of the Tichitt escarpment chain, was neglected by archaeologists throughout the twentieth century. However, since 2000, two separate archaeological teams have conducted survey and test excavation work in the region. This article presents the final research results of one of these teams. Two sites in particular are closely examined: the settlement mound of Djiganyai with stratified intermittent occupation between c. 2000 and 800 cal. BC, and the multi-component site of Bou Khzama II, featuring structural elements, inhumations, and large scale iron-smelting remains. It is argued that Dhar Néma, although an ecologically favourable zone, was politically peripheral to the central Tichitt-Walata polity and comparatively sparsely settled. A period of relative regional abandonment, or widespread shifts in settlement, between 1400 and 1100 cal. BC is also noted. Regardless, a range of Pre-Tichitt and Tichitt Tradition settlements are documented for the region, including evidence for millet agriculture equivalent in age to that of the Dhar Tichitt region. It is suggested that the origins of Tichitt agriculture must now be sought in the third millennium BC. Concerning more recent periods, putative new data for first millennium BC iron metallurgy in the Dhar Néma region are presented and their technical aspects analysed. Finally, a revised hypothesis for the role of incoming Berber populations in the denouement of the Tichitt Tradition is considered, with cultural syncretism rather than replacement advocated

Archaeology · Excavation · Geography · Human settlement · Iron Age · Pastoralism · Period (music · Polity · Prehistory · Settlement (finance · African Studies and Ethnography · African Studies and Geopolitics · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Law