Eastern Rif: In pursuit of our ancestors' footsteps

Just a stone's throw from the majestic mountains of the Rif, a team of Moroccan and German archaeologists get down to work in archaeological sites.

Nador (northeast) - Just a stone's throw from the majestic mountains of the Rif, a team of Moroccan and German archaeologists get down to work in archaeological sites.

   They prospect and excavate here and there in search of traces of civilizations hitherto unknown in Morocco and the rest of the Maghreb.

   Over 250 prehistoric and protohistoric sites have been identified, including a dozen searched only by this team, led by Dr. Abdessalam Mikdad of the Moroccan Institute of Archeology and Heritage Sciences (INSAP) and Dr. Johannes Moser of the German Archaeological Institute.

   Armed with tools for each type of excavation (shovels, tooth-brushes...), the two professors as well as young researchers excavate, analyse and study the traces of the past.

   Understanding ancient societies by interpreting traces of the past is their primary objective.

   According to these scientists, Paleolithic and Neolithic groups left remains in certain sites to "teach us about their lifestyle, their culinary customs, their social organization and the work dispatching adopted by these little-studied populations in Morocco and the Maghreb in general."

   Animal bones, perforated shells, stone tools and more recently ceramics, reveal that these populations have developed a lifestyle of their own.

   In the Hassi Ouenzga site (south-west of Nador), traces of many civilizations have been found in the stratigraphic units defined by these scientists. Everything is numbered, drawn, photographed and studied.

   The earliest human occupation of this site dates back to 9,000 years ago, a Moroccan archaeologist told MAP, after the discovery on the site of the oldest trace of ceramic in Morocco.

   Since 1994, archaeological researches continue in different sites in the Eastern Rif to confirm the acquired results and reveal other secrets of history.

   The goal is to better understand the nature of relations between prehistoric populations in the region with their contemporaries in the northern shore of the Mediterranean and the Sahara.

MAP

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