UB researcher leads discovery of first Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb

According to the results published in Antiquity, excavations at Kach Kouch, located in northwest Morocco, reveal a human occupation datable to between 2200 and 600 BC. This would show that it would be the earliest site of this chronology in Mediterranean Africa, except for Egypt. 

The international research team, led by Hamza Benattia Melgarejo, PhD student at the UB’s Faculty of Geography and History and member of the UB’s Classical and Protohistoric Archaeology Research Group, has been working on the prehistoric settlement of Kach Kouch, which extends over an area of approximately one hectare near the Lau River. It is located ten kilometres from the present-day coast, near the Strait of Gibraltar, and thirty kilometres southeast of Tétouan. 

Excavations have revealed different phases of occupation. The first, from 2200-2000 BC, is poorly represented but significant. The evidence suggests an initial contemporary occupation in the transition from the Bronze Age to neighbouring Iberia. 

The second phase, 1300-900 BC, is a vibrant period in the history of the settlement. A stable agricultural community was established at Kach Kouch and is the first definitive evidence of sedentary life before the Phoenician presence in the Maghreb. Wooden mud-brick buildings, rock-cut silos and grinding stones reveal a thriving agricultural economy based on crops such as barley and wheat, supplemented by sheep, goats and cattle. 

A third phase, extending from 800 to 600 BC, demonstrates the flexibility and adaptability of the inhabitants of Kach Kouch. During this period, several cultural innovations from the eastern Mediterranean were introduced, such as wheel-thrown pottery, iron tools and new architectural traditions using stone. This mix of local and foreign practices illustrates how the community actively participated in Mediterranean exchange networks.