The Middle Draa Project (Morocco): results from the survey and trial excavations 2015–18

Abstract

The Middle Draa Project (2015–18) is a pioneering survey of the archaeology of a c.200 km long valley at the northern edge of the Moroccan Sahara. Combining mapping from satellite imagery, field survey and trial excavation, the project has established a new baseline for the region's archaeological heritage. This paper concentrates on the main results in relation to the Protohistoric (Iron Age) phase, when the first steps towards sedentarisation and oasis agriculture appear to have been taken.

Medieval Boom in the North-west Sahara

“…However, the evidence presented here of sedentary communities engaged in cereal agriculture, grain processing and defensive storage during the 4th-8th centuries indicates the need to revisit these assumptions. As demonstrated, dozens of Late Iron Age hilltop settlements are found throughout the Draa Valley presenting evidence for sedentary settlement, cereal agriculture and metallurgy by the 4th century at the latest, though probably earlier in the northern palmeries, where there was a more reliable water supply and nearby copper resources (Mattingly et al 2019;Bokbot et al forthcoming). A similar pattern is clear on the Tafilalt plain, where many large protohistoric cemeteries and hillforts as well as fire-pits dated by radiocarbon analysis to the 6th-8th centuries suggest the possibility of earlier sedentary life and agriculture before the foundation of Sijilmasa in the 8th century (Bokbot 2019;Capel and Fili 2018;Messier and Miller 2015, 69-71).…”

“…Between 2015-2018, the MDP identified more than 250 sites that are of certain or likely medieval date as well as more than 50 sites of Iron Age date through a combination of remote sensing and in-field visits (for first reports, see Mattingly et al 2017;Mattingly et al 2019;Bokbot et al forthcoming). The wadi was divided into subzones, designated by three-letter codes abbreviated from local toponyms and sites located were numbered in separate sequences within each sector.…”

“…In particular, archaeobotanical assemblages are known from only two sites south of the Atlas: Igiliz and Sijilmasa, with those of the latter being unpublished (Ruas 2018). Our previous work in the Draa has already challenged the model of medieval origins for oases and provided irrefutable evidence for sedentary settlement and cereal agriculture by the 4th century AD (Mattingly et al 2019;Bokbot et al forthcoming). We argue in this article that there are strong indicators of a medieval boom in the oases of the Draa contemporary with the attested Almoravid and Almohad peak in Saharan trade.…”

Horses and Habitations: Iron Age Rock Art from Fortified Hilltop Settlements in the Wadi Draa, Morocco

“…The MDP completed an initial exploratory phase of survey work between 2015-2018 (for first reports, see Mattingly et al 2017bMattingly et al , 2019. The middle section of the Wadi Draa is a perennial river flowing north-west to south-east into the northern Sahara and drawing on water catchments in both the Anti-Atlas and the High Atlas ranges.…”

“…Hitherto the NAIA archaeology of the valley had been little explored, with the exception of some pioneering studies of a few rock art sites (see below). The new results from diachronic survey allow us to set the rock art sites in a larger contextual framework and reveal the NAIA period as a time of great change, with increased sedentarisation and the first stages of oasis formation (Mattingly et al 2018(Mattingly et al , 2019Sterry et al 2020).…”