Tichit

Dhar Tichitt is a series of Neolithic archaeological sites along sandstone cliffs in the southwestern Sahara of Mauritania, representing the oldest known stone-built settlements in West Africa. Agropastoral communities settled the cliffs from around 2000 BC to 500 BC, herding cattle, sheep, and goats while cultivating bulrush millet, making it one of the earliest centres of African agriculture. About 500 settlements dotted the former savannah, with Dakhlet el Atrouss I spanning 80 hectares as the main regional centre containing nearly 600 compounds. The medieval trading town of Tichit at the foot of the Tagant Plateau is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The settlements were abandoned around 500 BC as the Sahara became increasingly arid.