Amazing stuff!
"Archaeological fieldwork in Morocco has discovered the earliest previously unknown farming society from a poorly understood period of northwest African prehistory.
This study ... reveals for the first time the importance of the Maghreb (northwest Africa) in the emergence of complex societies in the wider Mediterranean. ...
While the region's importance during the Paleolithic, Iron Age and Islamic periods is well known, there is a significant gap in knowledge of the archaeology of the Maghreb between c. 4000 and 1000 BC, a period of dynamic change across much of the Mediterranean. ...
These results reveal that the site was the largest agricultural complex from this period in Africa outside of the Nile region. All the evidence points to the presence of a large-scale farming settlement—similar in size to Early Bronze Age Troy.
These results reveal that the site was the largest agricultural complex from this period in Africa outside of the Nile region. All the evidence points to the presence of a large-scale farming settlement—similar in size to Early Bronze Age Troy.
The team recovered unprecedented domesticated plant and animal remains, pottery and lithics, all dating to the Final Neolithic period. Excavation also revealed extensive evidence for deep storage pits.
Importantly, contemporaneous sites with similar pits have been found on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar in Iberia, where finds of ivory and ostrich eggs have long pointed to African connections. This suggests that the Maghreb was instrumental in wider western Mediterranean developments during the fourth millennium BC. ..."
Importantly, contemporaneous sites with similar pits have been found on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar in Iberia, where finds of ivory and ostrich eggs have long pointed to African connections. This suggests that the Maghreb was instrumental in wider western Mediterranean developments during the fourth millennium BC. ..."
From the abstract:
"The Maghreb (north-west Africa) played an important role during the Palaeolithic and later in connecting the western Mediterranean from the Phoenician to Islamic periods. Yet, knowledge of its later prehistory is limited, particularly between c. 4000 and 1000 BC. Here, the authors present the first results of investigations at Oued Beht, Morocco, revealing a hitherto unknown farming society dated to c. 3400–2900 BC. This is currently the earliest and largest agricultural complex in Africa beyond the Nile corridor. Pottery and lithics, together with numerous pits, point to a community that brings the Maghreb into dialogue with contemporaneous wider western Mediterranean developments."
Previously unknown Neolithic society in Morocco discovered (original news release) "Multi-disciplinary archaeological survey at the site of Oued Beht, Morocco, reveals a previously unknown 3400–2900 BC farming society, shedding new light on North Africa’s role in Mediterranean prehistory."
Figure 6. Section profile from trench 2 showing pit 222, stratigraphic units and associated radiocarbon dates
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