ABSTRACT
Zab, its left bank is dotted with green zones of the oasis settlements of western Zab.
1.3 The history: Ancient and Medieval archaeological richness
If we take into consideration both the ancient history and the different archaeological studies of the region, we notice an alignment between the organization of the settlements and the borders of
1 THE ZIBAN: DIVERSIFIED RESOURCES
1.1 The territory: Situation and natural resources
The Ziban (plural of Zab) is a sub-presaharian region situated at the north-eastern limit of the Algerian Sahara; an enormous territory separated from the north (tell) by the Atlas Saharan mountain range, 300 km south of the Mediterranean coast. It holds an important hydrographic position capturing the waters at the foot of mounts Zab and Aurès. Numerous rivers and springs, shooting out from the mountains and descending the valleys, run through the gently sloping lands of the Zab giving rise to oasis and the establishment of human settlements with their own dwellings and cultivated area. Because of their perennial nature, these hydrographic resources have guaranteed the permanency of occupation and urbanization in the region as well as its diachronic transformations (Trousset 1986) (Fig. 1).
