KACH KOUCH, MOROCCO—According to a statement released by the University of Barcelona, research led by the university’s Hamza Benattia Melgarejo has identified the first Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb, an area encompassing most of northwestern Africa. Although many Bronze Age sites have been identified in Europe, there has been little evidence of human occupation of this territory at that time despite its geographic proximity. The region has been characterized as an “empty" land prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians around 800 b.c. However, recent excavations at the site of Kach Kouch, which is located around six miles inland from the Strait of Gibraltar, has challenged this viewpoint. Archaeologists uncovered evidence of occupation of the site dating as far back as 2200 b.c. Between 1300 and 900 b.c., the area was home to a stable agricultural community who built wood and mudbrick buildings, farmed crops such as barley and wheat, and raised sheep, goats, and cattle. This proves that people had adopted a sedentary lifestyle in the Maghreb prior to the Phoenicians' arrival. “Kach Kouch is one of the first well-documented examples of continuous settlement in the Maghreb and tells a very different story from the one that has existed for a long time," Benattia says. "It shows the history of dynamic local communities that were far from isolated. The excavations at this site are another step towards correcting these historical biases and reveal that the Maghreb was an active participant in the social, cultural and economic networks of the Mediterranean.” Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about a Neolithic farming community in the Maghreb, go to "Around the World: Morocco."
