The discovery expands what's known about the human development of this region of northwestern Mediterranean Africa, known as the Maghreb, particularly about the adoption of agriculture.
But the new research shows that the gap resulted from a lack of scientific knowledge about the region. ("Maghreb" is Arabic for "the West" and refers to Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.) For instance, only recently did ancient DNA research reveal that hunter-gatherers from Europe may have voyaged across the Mediterranean to the Maghreb around 8,500 years ago.
The Oued Beht archaeological site surrounded by defensive structures, with the modern Moroccan village of Aït Siberne in the background. (Image credit: A. Garcia-Molsosa and T. Wilkinson, Oued Beht Archaeological Project)
Lucarini is the first author of the new research, which describes the latest discoveries at Oued Beht in Morocco, in a river valley about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the capital, Rabat.
The study, published Sept. 7 in the journal Libyan Studies, describes the discovery of an ancient defensive system of ditches and ramparts at Oued Beht by archaeologists from Italy, Morocco and England.
The defenses imply the settlement was worth defending, and the archaeologists suggested it was an early farming hub with livestock, cultivated crops and large storage facilities. Their discoveries at the site include dozens of bell-shaped pits that the team thinks were used to store grain.
The region is an ancient river valley that connected inland areas with the Atlantic Ocean. (Image credit: A. Garcia-Molsosa and T. Wilkinson, Oued Beht Archaeological Project)
The number of pits indicate that the site's storage capacity was much larger than the needs of the people living there. "These facilities may have served a much wider community, perhaps drawing on a whole surrounding territory," he said.
Links between North Africa and Europe
The discoveries at Oued Beht are important for the reconstruction of prehistory in this part of the world, representatives from Italy's National Research Council said in a statement.
The recent archaeological discoveries in Morocco reflect finds from prehistoric Iberia, on the northern side of the Strait of Gibraltar: "There, African ivory and ostrich eggshell have long pointed to contacts with North Africa, and now we are beginning to see the African side of that relationship," Lucarini told Live Science.
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The discoveries at Oued Beht are important because they demonstrate the complexities and capabilities of early North African peoples, said Iman Nagy, a northeast African landscape archaeologist at UCLA who was not involved in the study.
"Oued Beht is especially interesting because it challenges us to reconsider the Maghreb's place in Mediterranean prehistory," Nagy told Live Science in an email. "Discoveries like this challenge diffusionist models that assume substantial architecture or social complexity must have arrived from elsewhere."
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