An international team of archaeologists from Morocco, Spain, Italy and England has found the remains of an unknown farming community in northern Morocco. As analysis of artifacts shows, people lived in this area more than 5 thousand years ago. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Antiquity.
Archaeologists have long assumed that North Africa during this period consisted mainly of hunter-gatherers and nomads. Although settled agricultural societies existed in the rest of the Mediterranean, North Africa has been overlooked as an archaeological source.
Scientists say this discovery may be the oldest site of its kind ever discovered in Africa outside the Nile Valley.
While exploring the Oued Bekht site, the team uncovered thousands of stone axes and painted pottery shards. The findings show that at least hundreds of people lived here. They occupied an area comparable to ancient Troy.
Radiocarbon dating indicates that the society at Oued Bekht lived around 3400-2900 BC. The groups living there had a diverse genetic background, including Saharan pastoralists, people from the Iberian Peninsula and the Middle East.
Ancient farmers grew barley, wheat, peas, olives and pistachios, as well as sheep, goats, pigs and cattle.
Scholars believe that this community also produced goods for trade with the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Earlier archaeologists to create Dozens of seals of the rulers of the Hittite kingdom.
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Source: Gazeta
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