A Medieval Boom in the North-west Sahara: Evolving Oasis Landscapes in the Wadi Draa, Morocco (c.700–1500 AD)

Modern scholarship on the medieval Sahara has focused on a handful of famous entrepôt sites that have their origins in the 8th century or later, and as a result we still understand very poorly the nature and extent of Saharan oasis settlement and agriculture in the golden age of Saharan trade. This article presents the first securely dated chronology for oasis development in the north-west Sahara based on three seasons of archaeological survey and a comprehensive radiocarbon dating programme in the Wadi Draa, Morocco. The Draa Valley contains some of the largest, most populous and most productive oases in the Sahara, as well as serving as an important travel corridor for trading caravans coming from West Africa to access the Atlas passes and reach Marrakech. Focusing on evidence from a large zone of abandoned oases on the Kasr Bounou Plain, this article demonstrates that while oasis agriculture and settlement was taking place between the 4th–8th centuries—well before the Muslim conquest of Morocco—there was a significant increase in settlement and agricultural exploitation from the 9th century. This phenomenon is marked by the appearance of substantial mudbrick settlements, along with irrigation and field systems, and is coterminous with the development of the medieval trading entrepôt of Sijilmasa. A settlement boom and significant investment in irrigated oasis agriculture occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries, contemporary with Almoravid and Almohad rule of the Draa, followed by a retraction and abandonment of much of the oasis by the 16th century. The new evidence from the Draa challenges the long-held belief that sedentarization and irrigated oasis agriculture were unique to the medieval period in the north-west Sahara

New Light on the Silent Millennia: Mediterranean Africa, ca. 4000–900 BC

AbstractThe so-called neolithization process (ca. 6000/5500–4000 BC) in Mediterranean Africa and the Sahara has been increasingly researched in recent years. In contrast, relatively little is known, especially in Mediterranean Africa, of the period between the beginnings of irreversible climatic deterioration in the Sahara, around 4000–3500 BC, and the onset of Iron Age to broadly Classical times. Why, with the exception of the Nile Delta, is our knowledge of the period between the fourth millennium BC and the threshold of the first Iron Age Phoenician and Greek colonies so limited? To what extent can this information gap be attributed to aridification in the Mediterranean zone, or is it rather a product of the failure to look for the right kinds of materials and sites, and of their relative visibility? In order to answer these questions, this paper focuses specifically on Mediterranean Africa (with the exception of Egypt) from about 4000 BC to ca. 900 BC. It is mainly based on the data made available on MedAfriCarbon, a spatially linked, publicly accessible database and web app comprising the 14C chronometric evidence from Mediterranean Africa from 12,000 to 600 cal. BC, with details of associated cultural and economic information. Analysis of these data shows that most of Mediterranean Africa beyond the Nile was occupied to different extents throughout the 3000-year period covered in this article and that, with a few important exceptions, the robust and resilient nature of local, mainly pastoral, ways of life militated against a shift towards a fully agricultural economy.</jats:p

Integrated multi scale archaeological analysis in Béni Mellal-Khenifra District (Morocco). The case of the fortress of Ighram Aousser

The fortress of Ighram Aousser is located in Morocco, 10 km W of M’rirt and 120 km S of Meknés, on the so-called mines route. The lack of an organic and complete documentation and a concrete need to acquire new data about unexplored areas have required a multi-methodological research including the analysis of historical sources, archaeological surveys, topographic investigations, laser scanner modelling and geophysical prospections. All data were stored in a Geographic Information System, which allowed spatial analyses and the creation of thematic maps. The integrated geoarchaeological approach has led to a new archaeological map providing an updated view of the rich archaeological heritage in that territory. The article also offers a complete account of the valorization processes, the international promotion of the site and its long-lasting mining tradition

Long-term history in a Moroccan Oasis zone: the middle draa project 2015

This article describes the research questions and presents the initial ams dates of the Middle Draa Project (southern Morocco), a collaborative field survey project between the University of Leicester and the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (insap) of Morocco. Starting from a very low baseline of past archaeological research in this pre-desert valley, the overall objective of the project is to establish the extent, character and chronology of the rich archaeology of the Wadi Draa. The results presented here detail a hitherto unknown phase of major occupation in the Draa in the 4th-6th centuries ad evidenced by complex hilltop settlements and extensive cairn cemeteries (an initial typology is presented). A second medieval phase comprised major urban centres that are contemporary with the Almoravid and Almohad periods of Moroccan history. Alongside these urban centres, there are the remains of substantial mudbrick oasis settlements and irrigation and field-systems of a contemporary date. A key contribution of this paper concerns the construction of an outline chronology based upon initial analysis of the ceramics collected, but crucially supplemented and supported by a major program of ams dating. The remote sensing and field survey data collected by the project enable us to develop some hypotheses concerning the long-term history of this important oasis valley