Mertoutek is a village in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Idlès Idlès (Arabic: إدلس) is a municipality in Tazrouk District, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 4,945, up from 3,791 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 2.7%. Its postal code is 11110 and it ...

, in

Tazrouk District Tazrouk is a districts of Algeria, district in Tamanrasset Province, Tamanrasset provinces of Algeria, Province, Algeria. It was named after its capital, Tazrouk. According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 9,036. Municipalities The di ...

Tamanrasset Province Tamanrasset or Tamanghasset ( ar, ولاية تمنراست ''Wilāya Tamanrāssat'', Berber languages) is the largest province (''wilaya'') in Algeria. It was named after its province seat, Tamanrasset. The province has two national parks, more ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It lies in the northern

Hoggar Mountains The Hoggar Mountains ( ar, جبال هقار, Berber: ''idurar n Ahaggar'') are a highland region in the central Sahara in southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. The mountains cover an area of approximately 550,000 km. Geography This ...

on the eastern side of a ''

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

'', northwest of the town of Idlès and north of

Tamanrasset Tamanrasset (; ar, تامنراست), also known as Tamanghasset or Tamenghest, is an oasis city and capital of Tamanrasset Province in southern Algeria, in the Ahaggar Mountains. It is the chief city of the Algerian Tuareg. It is located an alt ...

Archaeology

During the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

, a group of people resided in Bas Mertoutek, where

rock art In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...

is also found.

Round Head rock art Round Head rock art is the earliest painted, monumental form of Central Saharan rock art, which was largely created from 9500 BP to 7500 BP and ceased being created by 3000 BP. The Round Head Period is preceded by the Kel Essuf Period and fol ...

has not been found at Bas Mertoutek thus far. Among the many antennae stone structures in the region, there are antennae stone structures in Mertoutek. Djef Amane, which is near the village of Mertoutek, also has antennae stone structures, and Tan Ainesnis has a few bazinas. Opposite antennae stone structures are located in Mertoutek Djef Amane. At the center of one of the large stone structures, which has two opposite antennae stone structures, there is a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

; the tumulus has rock slabs that contain human remains. Tan Ainesnis is a prehistoric archaeological site, which is surrounded by funerary stone structures and rock art, and is near Wadi Mertoutek. Periodically, water pours down from the mountaintops and forms an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

at Mertoutek. There is also a basin at Mertoutek. At Tan Ainesnis, there is Bovidian rock art, which includes a red-colored

oxen An ox ( : oxen, ), also known as a bullock (in BrE British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer spec ...

and two engraved oxen facing one another; the oxen on the left had

Tifinagh Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: or , ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuare ...

nearby. One of the earliest

Libyco-Berber The Libyco-Berber alphabet or the Libyc alphabet (modern Berber name: ''Agemmay Alibu-Maziɣ'') is an abjad writing system that was used during the first millennium BC by various Berber peoples of North Africa and the Canary Islands, to write an ...

inscriptions in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

are found in

Wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

Mertoutek, near or within a

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

, which may be the depiction of a

bovid The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the ...

, and may be associated with a pastoral community during a period of pastoralism.

References

Neighbouring towns and cities

Populated places in Tamanrasset Province Prehistoric Africa Stone Age Africa History of North Africa History of the Sahara {{Tamanrasset-geo-stub