The enigmatic Tichitt civilization has remained relatively unheralded in world archaeology despite its place as one of sub-Saharan Africa's earliest complex societies.

It is perhaps best known as an early case study for cereal domestication in the Sahel. In 1976 Patrick Munson published evidence based on preserved grain impressions in pottery temper which appeared to show the incipient domestication of millet (Pennisetum glaucum) around 1100 bce.

Subsequent work has demonstrated that domestic millet was in fact already present in this region before that date, and that its domestication may have already taken place in regions to the north or east (see below). More remarkable are the Tichitt tradition's complex of large, proto-urban dry­stone masonry settlements, associated with burial monuments, which show a particular concentration along the Tichitt and Walata escarpments, but which exist further to the south in the Tagant and Nema escarpment ranges. The spatial distribution and layout of these settlements have drawn the attention of a host of scholars since the initial work of Munson.1 Here we will explore the economic evidence for the Tichitt tradition, the nature of its social complexity, and the implications of its ultimate expansion further to the southeast into the margins of the middle Niger (Figure 19.1).

More on the topic The enigmatic Tichitt civilization has remained relatively unheralded in world archaeology despite its place as one of sub-Saharan Africa's earliest complex societies.:

1. The enigmatic Tichitt civilization has remained relatively unheralded in world archaeology despite its place as one of sub-Saharan Africa's earliest complex societies.
2. Barker Graeme, Goucher Candice (ed.). The Cambridge World History. Volume 2. A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE-500 CE. Cambridge University Press,2015. — 668 p., 2015