UNDP's mitigation strategy in Africa

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Cultural Heritage in the Sahara II
Archaeology Conflict in Western Sahara
Nick Brooks Tyndall Centre for Climate Change
Research University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4
7TJ. Email nick.brooks_at_uea.ac.uk Web
http//www.cru.uea.ac.uk/e118/welcome.htm
Western Sahara Project
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Geographical Political Context

• Former Spanish colony (Spanish Sahara) comprising
  regions of Saguia el-Hamra Rio dOro
• Spanish decolonisation 1974/75
• Moroccan/Mauritanian invasion 1975
• Subsequent Mauritanian withdrawal
• Claimed by Morocco Polisario1 (Sahrawi)
  independence movement
• Currenty partitioned into areas controlled by
  Morocco Polisario by Moroccan wall or Berm
• UN Observer force (MINURSO)
• Since 1991 ceasefire, tasked with organising
  referendum on self-determination monitoring
  ceasefire, recently organising family visits
  across
• Negotiations continue but prospects of settlement
  remote
• Return to conflict possible

Image from MINURSO website 1Popular Front for
the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra Rio dOro
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Moroccan fortifications on the Berm, Northern
Sector
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Geographical Political Context

• Estimated 165,000 Sahrawi in refugee camps,
  Tindouf, Algeria
• Polisario government based in camps
• Control exercised over Free Zone
• Regular movement between camps Free Zone, e.g.
  when rain pasture
• Self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
  recognised by a number of governments, with full
  diplomatic status in 13 countries, mostly in
  Africa
• Bitter propaganda war

Image from MINURSO website
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Barriers to research

• Access - particularly before 1991
• Travel to field - via Algeria or Mauritania
• Funding - funding bodies wary of politics
• Export of materials for analysis
• Lack of formal institutions for cooperation
• Long-term prospects - risk of conflict
• Lack of travel advice e.g. from FCO
• Risks - unexploded ordnance, landmines
• Lack of knowledge of Western Sahara as a region
  in its own right
• Sahara as an empty space

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Research context The Western Sahara Project

• Project work in Polisario-controlled areas
• Travel to field via Algeria and Mauritania

• Timeline
• Initiated by Margaret Raffin Nick Brooks
• First field season in 2002
• Jo Clarke Codirector with Nick Brooks since 2006
• 5 seasons of reconnaissance environmental
  survey
• 3 seasons of excavation detailed survey in
  study area near Tifariti

• Aims
• To record sites contribute to general
  understanding or archaeology
• To examine human-environment interactions over
  the Holocene (past 10,000 years), specifically
  during the Middle Holocence Saharan desiccation

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Previous/other work

• Some works published in Spanish colonial period,
  prior to 1975
• E.g. Almagro Basch, 1945-46, 1946

• More recent current work
• Spanish teams (Girona, Bilbao, Granada)
• Little published
• Published work focuses on rock art
• No excavations, no environmental dating
• Recent intensification of research

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Still a very poorly known region
Archaeological sites containing cattle remains,
early to middle Holocene
Image courtesy of Hélène Jousse
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Archaeological background context
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Extraordinarily rich archaeological record

• Huge diversity of funerary monuments
• Greater than other Saharan regions, possibly
  greatest in Africa
• Many geographic/astronomical alignments
• Abundant rock paintings engravings
• Occupation sites lithics, ceramics
• Potential information on migration, prehistoric
  livelihoods, adaptation, cultural evolution, etc
• Many sites have great aesthetic qualities,
  monumental landscapes
• Monuments closely related to landscapes
• Huge repository of World Heritage

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Tifariti study area
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Tifariti study area

• Section of Wadi Tifariti 4.5 sq km
• 408 archaeological sites
• 15 different monument types
• At least 20 types in wider area
• Greater variety than N. Niger, Acacus (Libya),
  other regions
• Likely many more in W. Sahara

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2005 excavations, Wadi Tifariti
2005 excavations, Wadi Tifariti
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Tumulus with annex standing stones, SE
alignment, Tifariti
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Stone ring, Tifariti
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Corbeille monument, Tifariti, E alignment
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Goulet or enclosure monument, Tifariti
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Giant goulet with E-W alignment, Tifariti
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Stepped monument, Wadi Erni
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Large humid climate fauna
Conical tumulus near Zoug
Photos from Wadi Mathandoush, Fezzan, Libya
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Tumulus field near Zoug
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Bazina monument near Zoug
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Crescent monument, near Lajuad
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V-type monument, near Bir Lahmar
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Tumulus field, near Zoug
Platform monuments, Lajuad
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Archaeology Conflict
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Construction at Rekeiz Lemgassem
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Graffiti at Polisario shelter, Rekeiz Lemgassem
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Post-conflict graffiti at Rekeiz Lemgassem
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All the Homeland or Martydom, Lajuad
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Graves of Polisario fighters, near Wadi Ternit
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Polisario habitation, near Tifariti
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Painting inside boulder habitation
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Reworked monument, Wadi Ternit
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Some general observations

• Conflict associated with some direct damage
• However, little wanton destruction
• Sahrawi (Polisario) fighters use landscape in
  ways that echo use by prehistoric people
  (monuments, rock art)
• Military personnel must be aware of many
  archaeological sites
• Pragmatic approach to these sites
• Since end of conflict, many sites (mostly rock
  art) have been seriously damaged, by foreign
  visitors, UN peacekeepers, local people (for the
  most part not by Polisario military, apparently)
• Despite limited damage to certain sites, conflict
  has served to protect much Western Saharas
  heritage by isolating it

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Relevance of archaeology to people conflict

• Significant support for archaeological work from
  Polisario
• So far, no attempts at directing research or
  interpretation
• Principle benefits appear to be
• Publicity
• Normalisation of SADRs relations with outside
  world via foreign institutions
• Demonstration of presence in management of
  territory

• Other considerations
• Links between modern and prehistoric population
  groups - likely tenuous
• Role of archaeology and cultural heritage in
  national identity
• Similarities in modern prehistoric livelihoods
  - pastoralism, mobility
• Demonstration of ability to care for heritage
  (c.f. Morocco)
• Engagement of UN for World Heritage sites