Geographically situated between Libya to the east, Algeria to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Throughout its recorded history, the physical features and environment of the land of Tunisia have remained fairly constant, although during ancient times more abundant forests grew in the north, [2] and earlier in prehistory the Sahara to the south was not an arid desert.
The weather is temperate in the north, which enjoys a Mediterranean climate with mild rainy winters and hot dry summers, the terrain being wooded and fertile. The Medjerda river valley Wadi Majardah, northeast of Tunis is currently valuable farmland. Along the eastern coast the central plains enjoy a moderate climate with less rainfall but significant precipitation in the form of heavy dews; these coastlands are currently used for orchards and grazing.
Near the mountainous Algerian border rises Jebel ech Chambi , the highest point in the country at meters. In the near south, a belt of salt lakes running east—west cuts across the country. Further south lies the Sahara desert, including the sand dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental. Stone age tools dating from the Middle Stone Age around , years ago found near Kelibia are the earliest evidence of human activity in the region. Saharan rock art , consisting of inscriptions and paintings that show design patterns as well as figures of animals and of humans, are attributed to the Berbers and also to black Africans from the south.
Dating these outdoor art works has proven difficult and unsatisfactory. Among the animals depicted, alone or in staged scenes, are large-horned buffalo the extinct bubalus antiquus , elephants, donkeys, colts, rams, herds of cattle, a lion and lioness with three cubs, leopards or cheetahs, hogs, jackals, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippopotamus, a hunting dog, and various antelope.
Human hunters may wear animal masks and carry their weapons. Herders are shown with elaborate head ornamentation; a few other human figures are shown dancing, while others are driving chariots or riding camels. By five thousand years ago, a neolithic culture was evolving among the sedentary proto-Berbers of the Maghrib in northwest Africa, characterized by the practice of agriculture and animal domestication, as well as the making of pottery and finely chipped stone arrowheads.
