These nine papers, from a colloquium at the XIVth UISPP Congress held in Liege in 2001, examine the different ways in which hunter-gatherers and pastoralists adapted to the Saharan environment and climate; how they procured and used tools, their food resources and their homes from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. In addition to archaeological evidence, the contributors focus on the symbolism of rock art in order to reconstruct the relationship of the Sahara's first people with their harsh and often unrewarding landscape. Five papers in English; four in French.