16 · TREASURE · 2nd–1st millennia BCE

Tichitt walls

Domestic architecture and enclosures at Dhar Tichitt

These stone-built villages practised farming and herding before the medieval kingdom of Ghana.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Visual proposal for Domestic architecture and enclosures at Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Tichitt–Walata and the Gorbi Valley, Mauritania — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Stone walls and the distribution of settlements document large-scale, settled farming and herding communities.

These populations participated in networks and developed responses to increasing aridity before medieval Ghana. Limitation: the evidence does not identify the Soninke language, a lineage or the state of Ghana.

Evidence and interpretation

ARQ. Stone walls and the distribution of settlements document large-scale, settled farming and herding communities. What this does not establish: the Soninke language, a lineage or the state of Ghana.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: II–I millennia BCE
Location: Dhar Tichitt–Walata and the Gorbi Valley, Mauritania
Material: archaeological landscape in situ
Context: In situ; this is not a portable object. Custody: the state and relevant heritage authority of Mauritania; local communities connected to the landscape.
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Dossier axis: settlement
Research record: MANDE · EVI-02
Documentary coverage: 1 museum source, heritage, primary corpus or research for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

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THE CURRENT OBJECT

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II–I millennia BCE

Tichitt walls

Mande Worlds

An archaeological landscape with a long history, not an individual object.

Current record

Stone19 dated objects

1 / 19In the centre: Swanscombe handaxe

Also connected, without a comparable date (9)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A White Wall on the DanubeCeltic worlds · 6th century BCE
CemeteryIndus civilisation · ca. 2600–1900 BCE
Engraved stonePrehistory · Before ≈39,000 cal BP
Four gardens and waterAchaemenid Persia · 6th century BCE
Kumbi SalehMande Worlds · medieval occupation; prominent phases between the 11th and 13th centuries
Soma stonesVedic and later Indian worlds · Rigvedic strata; later ritual tradition
The quarry remained visibleGojoseon and early Korea · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE
The Thracian HorsemanThracians · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE
Writing with gapsGaramantes · Diverse chronologies

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Architecture

Current object, without a comparable date: Tichitt walls.

Before Pre-Inca Cultures · Kotosh-Mito Tradition, c. 2200–1500 BCE; the enclosure is usually situated around 1800 BCE. · Pre-Inca cultures
Ishtar Gate · 7th–6th centuries BCE · work of Nebuchadnezzar II · Sumer
Heads on the wall · c. 800–300 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Torreáguila fountain spout · 101–125 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Zimbabwe birds · main period of Great Zimbabwe, c. 12th–15th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A White Wall on the Danube · 6th century BCE · Celtic worlds
Cemetery · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Dia’s strata · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE · Mande Worlds
Four gardens and water · 6th century BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Jenne-jeno contexts · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE · Mande Worlds
Kumbi Saleh · medieval occupation; prominent phases between the 11th and 13th centuries · Mande Worlds
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Lothal · ca. 2400–1600 BCE · Indus civilisation
Rice on stilts · Especially 1st–3rd centuries CE · Yayoi Japan
Rome learns in terracotta · End of the sixth century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The altar cord · Approximate composition and transmission c. 800–500 BCE, with revisions · Vedic and later Indian worlds
The quarry remained visible · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea

Agriculture

Current object, without a comparable date: Tichitt walls.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Storage

Current object, without a comparable date: Tichitt walls.

Pithos · c. 1450–1375 BCE · Greek worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Liédena Flask · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry · Etruscans and Rome
Oil in a calabash · ca. 1947 · Batwa / Twa histories
Rice on stilts · Especially 1st–3rd centuries CE · Yayoi Japan

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Living and storing within the enclosure

The enclosures studied at Akhreijit contained between two and nine dwelling units. Dry-stone walls delimited sets with hearths and storage areas; some shared walls and formed groupings traversed by narrow streets and plazas. Augustin Holl interprets this distribution as indicative of compound households, capable of coordinating agricultural, pastoral and artisanal tasks that coincided in the calendar. The architecture documents proximity and work organisation; identifying each group exactly as an extended family or polygamous remains a social hypothesis, not an automatic reading of the plan.

Research · Comptes Rendus Géoscience · Augustin F. C. Holl, Coping with uncertainty: Neolithic life in the Dhar Tichitt-Walata, Mauritania (2009)Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

REGIONAL AREA

Dhar Tichitt–Walata and the Gorbi Valley, MauritaniaLinguistic, commercial and political spheres of West Africa; does not equate to a continuous imperial border. The marker indicates the indicative centre of the sphere, not a border or an exact point.

Sources and references

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Tichitt walls

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Tichitt walls

Swanscombe handaxe

Engraved ochre from Blombos

Before the San

Before the name San

Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe

Grinding stone from Çakmaktepe

Warka Mask

Cylinder seal

Uruk Vase

Narmer Palette

Worshiper of Tell Asmar

Statue of Ebih-Il

Weights

Lamassu of Khorsabad

Ashurbanipal Hunt

Heads on the wall

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar

The statue was the urn

The inscription of Pistiros

A closer look

Living and storing within the enclosure

Location and territory

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?