Archaeologists uncover ancient 'farming society' in Morocco

Findings at the 5,000-year-old site include domesticated plant and animal remains, as well as pottery

Aerial photograph of the Oued Beht ridge and river, highlighted in colour. Photo: Toby Wilkinson / University of Cambridge

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a farming society in Morocco more than 5,000 years ago, plugging a gap in knowledge about ancient Africa.

The settlement at the site of Oued Beht, which researchers say existed between 3,400 BC and 2,900 BC, suggests the Maghreb was instrumental in the shaping of the western Mediterranean during the New Stone Age, or Neolithic, period.

The region’s importance in the Palaeolithic period, roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BC; the Iron Age, 1,200 BC to 550 BC; and Islamic period, from 622 to 1,258, was already well established. But the role played by its southern, African shores, west of Egypt, in the period has, until now, been less understood.

Archaeologists say the evidence at Oued Beht points to the presence of a large-scale farming settlement – similar in size to Early Bronze Age Troy. Findings included domesticated plant and animal remains and pottery, all dating from the Final Neolithic period (4500 to 3200 BC).

Excavation also revealed extensive evidence of deep storage pits, similar to those found on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar in Iberia, where items such as ivory and ostrich egg have long pointed to African connections.

The study, published in Antiquity, said: “Pottery for food preparation, consumption and storage, some of it elaborately decorated, were in use alongside a chipped stone tool industry and the large-scale provision of grinding stones and polished stone axes/adzes, at least some of which were made on site. Food from a typically Mediterranean Neolithic suite of domestic animals and crops was processed and consumed, and, in the case of the latter, possibly stored in bulk.”

Archaeologists in Morocco reveal major Stone Age discovery – in pictures

The discovery, the researchers say, plugs a significant gap in information about the region, which borders the Sahara Desert, with the shortest maritime crossing between Africa and Europe.

“For over 30 years I have been convinced that Mediterranean archaeology has been missing something fundamental in later prehistoric north Africa,” said Cyprian Broodbank, professor of archaeology at Cambridge University. “Now, at last, we know that was right, and we can begin to think in new ways that acknowledge the dynamic contribution of Africans to the emergence and interactions of early Mediterranean societies.”

The discoveries show that the absence of information was due not to any lack of major prehistoric activity, but to the relative lack of investigation, and publishing, he said. The site at Oued Beht confirms the central role of the Maghreb in the emergence of both Mediterranean and wider African societies, say researchers.

The researchers wrote: “It is crucial to consider Oued Beht within a wider co-evolving and connective framework embracing peoples both sides of the Mediterranean-Atlantic gateway during the later fourth and third millennia BC – and, for all the likelihood of movement in both directions, to recognise it as a distinctively African-based community that contributed substantially to the shaping of that social world.”