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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Potential Interactions between Climate and Prehistoric Populations in Southern Morocco: Insights from Archaeological and Paleoclimatic Evidence

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Southern Morocco contains a rich archaeological record: engraving, painted rocks, and funerary monuments. This pre-historic and proto-historical heritage offers valuable information about the environmental context of pre-historic settlements. However, the Southern Moroccan archaeological record suffers from dating scarcity. And hence, the difficulty in establishing a reliable chronology. Most of the archaeological sites date from 7000 to 1000 years BP and are marked by a transition period from a humid to dry climate during the late Holocene. The relatively drier conditions likely resulted in adopting a new lifestyle characterized by cattle ranching, agriculture, and animal domestication. Holocene's enormous climatic oscillations significantly influenced the development of human settlements in the region. The concentration of archaeological archives confirms the existence of sufficient water supply in an area that is today semi-desertic. Therefore, the sedentarization and the development of well-stylized rock art, in addition to the grouping of funerary monuments or tumuli with complex geometry, mark the wet and rainy periods. Meanwhile, unstable communities and long distances migration are often the features that characterize the long dry periods.