Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history
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ATLAS, TIZOURGANE, MOROCCO - 2023/02/20: Fortified village with the Atlas Mountains in the background. (Photo by Jorge Fernández/LightRocket via Getty Images)
April 6, 2025
By The Conversation
A new archaeological discovery at Kach Kouch in Morocco challenges the long-held belief that the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was an empty land before the arrival of the Phoenicians from the Middle East in around 800 BCE. It reveals a much richer and more complex history than previously thought.
Everything found at the site indicates that during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago, stable agricultural settlements already existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean.
This was at the same time as societies such as the Mycenaean flourished in the eastern Mediterranean.
Our discovery, led by a team of young researchers from Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology, expands our knowledge of the recent prehistory of north Africa. It also redefines our understanding of the connections between the Maghreb and the rest of the Mediterranean in ancient times.
How the discovery was made in Morocco
Kach Kouch was first identified in 1988 and first excavated in 1992. At the time, researchers believed the site had been inhabited between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. This was based on the Phoenician pottery that was found.
More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/morocco-bronze-age-settlement/