African cuisine encompasses within its fold several nations, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan. The roots of North African cuisine can be traced back to the ancient empires of North Africa, particularly in Egypt, where many of the country's dishes and culinary traditions date back to antiquity. Over several centuries traders, travelers, invaders, migrants and immigrants all have influenced the cuisine of North Africa. The Phoenicians of the 1st century brought sausages, while the Carthaginians introduced wheat and its by-product, semolina. The Berbers adapted semolina into couscous, one of the main staple foods. Olives and olive oil were introduced before
Dish structure used for the first time in 1967 by Stauffer and by Wentworth. Comprehensive studies are due to Lowe and LoPiccolo in 1974 and Lowe in 1975. The subhorizontal dish structure consists of two parts, the dish itself and the [sediment] contained within the dish plus the region stretching up to the bounding surface of the overlying dish(or dishes) above. The bounding surface of the dish can take on variable shapes, from substantially flat to bowl-like and to strongly concave up. The bounding surfaces are thin, (and usually) dark(er) laminae; they are richer in clay, silt or organic material than the