RT journal article
T1 The Urban Biography of a Mauritanian City: Microstratigraphic Analysis of the Eastern Quarter of Tamuda (Morocco)
A1 Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Mario
A1 Bernal Casasola, Darío
A1 Vargas Girón, José Manuel
A1 Moujoud, Tarik
A1 Díaz Rodríguez, José Juan
A2 HistoriaGeografía y Filosofía
K1 Mauritanian towns
K1 Micromorphology
K1 Microstratigraphy
K1 Urban biography
K1 μ-XRF
AB The lack of vertical stratigraphic sondages and open area excavations constitutes a challenge to understanding Mauritanian urbanism. This makes the characterization of the spatio-temporal evolution of Mauritanian towns a difficult task. Systematic excavations carried out in Tamuda by several research teams in the twentieth century provided vertical and horizontal views of Mauritanian urbanism. Our study offers, for the first time, a high-resolution geoarchaeological analysis of Tamuda’s urban sequence (third through first century BC). The microfacies analysis, by means of micromorphology and µ-XRF of Spaces E18 and E20 of the Eastern Quarter revealed a complex interaction of deposits and site formation processes that resulted from changes in everyday urban life. In this respect, the overlap of different construction phases and the alternation of episodes of active use and abandonment is highly significant. This study examines the functional characterization of urban spaces, including the identification of midden activities, a roasting pit, and a milling site (possibly) linked to fish flour production. These activities leave traces on beaten floors and occupation surfaces, and several features indicate abandonment periods between short-term occupations. The result is a complex urban biography of this Mauritanian town, in which human occupation was not constant over time.
PB Springer
SN 0263-0338
YR 2022
FD 2022-12-30
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/29385
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/29385
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 09-may-2026