Late Holocene sedimentary forcing and human settlements in the Jerf el Oustani - Ras el Sass region (Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania)

Late Holocene morphodynamics in the littoral zone of the Iwik Peninsula area (Banc d'Arguin — Mauritania)

“…It must be borne in mind that a major result of the work confirmed the stability of the sea level during the whole period of the littoral zone construction, as previously stated to the north in the Jerf el Oustani area (Barusseau et al, 2007) and more recently taken up by Proske et al (2008). Morphological and sedimentological study of the Iwik-Aouatil coastal plain architecture reveals two distinct types of sandy units.…”

“…Links between human occupation and changing environments have been demonstrated at countless sites (Giresse et al, 1993;Brooks et al, 2003;Berger et al, 2005;Brooks, 2006;Kuper and Kröpelin, 2006;Vernet, 2007;Barusseau et al, 2007). It can be assumed that climate changes taking place during the second half of the Holocene (Gasse, 2000;Street-Perrott et al, 2000;Lancaster et al, 2002;Brooks et al, 2003;Haslett and Smart, 2006;Lezine et al, 2007) led to these joint variations in environment and human occupation.…”

“…Former studies concentrated on the Jerf el Oustani region (Barusseau et al, 2007) showed that relative sea-level changes were negligible during the whole Late Holocene, simplifying interpretation of results by cancelling an important potential driving factor. The main process involved in coastal changes was demonstrated to be sediment input generating the formation of sedimentary spits, tombolos, beach ridges and backshore berms.…”

“…Shell-midden dating can give a proxy of the age of the underlying formations insofar as the Neolithic populations settled very rapidly after the sand barrier formation (Barusseau et al, 2007). The following points sum up the results obtained from these data.…”

“…Some outcrops were isolated from the main Tafaritian body and represent former islands (cf. the Jerf el Oustani region, 60 km northward; Barusseau et al, 2007). Two wide estuaries opened into the initial bay forming a compound mouth with small scattered islands (Fig.…”