Kach Kouch Archaeological Project

15/05/2025

اكتشاف غير مسبوق في شبه جزيرة طنجة!

أعلن علماء آثار عن اكتشاف ثلاث مقابر قديمة، منها دفن حجري يعود إلى حوالي 4000 عام مضت، كما اكتشف الفريق عدة مخابئ صخرية مزينة بفنون صخرية وأحجار قائمة ربما كانت تُستخد...

15/05/2025

Péninsule de Tanger : un 'carrefour spirituel et rituel' datant de la préhistoire

Située à la jonction du détroit de Gibraltar, la péninsule de Tanger apparaît désormais comme un centre majeur des échanges spirituels et culturels dès la

13/05/2025

I'am pleased to announce the publication of a new paper on the ritual and funerary landscape of northwestern Africa. This publication represents the culmination of several years of research, including fieldwork, data analysis and writing.
Perhaps its most significant contribution is the presentation of the first radiocarbon date for a Northwest African cist, placing it in the Early Bronze Age c. 2100–1900 BC, therefore contemporaneous with cist burials on the Iberian Peninsula and the earliest occupation phase at Kach Kouch.
Read the full article here:

The Tangier Peninsula, located on the northwestern African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, occupies a unique geostrategic position that has operated since the Late Stone Age as a connecting gateway between Europe and Africa, as well as the inner Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This paper explores h...

20/04/2025

مجلة الثقافة والفنون روابطثقافات وشعوب : المغرب ماقبل التاريخ، مهد الإنسان الأول. المغرب... اكتشافات تغيّر كل ما نعرفه عن أصل الإنسان. هل يمكن أن نعيد رسم خ...

31/03/2025

The Maghreb has long been absent from studies on the recent prehistory of the Mediterranean. The new findings change that.

08/03/2025

Kach Kouch was featured on the Spanish news today!

21/02/2025

Antiquity publishes new study of prehistoric evidence found at Kach Kouch, Morocco, indicating the area contained a farming settlement.

19/02/2025

Des chercheurs ont découvert près de Tétouan le plus ancien village préhistorique du Maroc, Kach Kouch, occupé entre 2200 et 600 av. J.-C. Les fouilles révèl...

17/02/2025

New research on prehistoric Mediterranean Africa at Kach Kouch, Morocco

What do the structures, agricultural practices, and material finds from Kach Kouch reveal about local Bronze Age communities? Led by archaeologist Hamza Benattia Melgarejo from the University of Barcelona and an international team—including experts from INSAP in Rabat—this study documents the first known Bronze Age settlement in North Africa (outside Egypt) that predates Phoenician arrival.

🔍 What did we uncover?
• Three Occupation Phases:
KK1 (2200–2000 cal BC): Evidence of early, sporadic activity.
KK2 (1300–900 cal BC): A vibrant, sedentary farming community with circular wattle-and-daub habitations, storage pits, and extensive trade links. A radiocarbon-dated bronze fragment (1110–920 cal BC) marks the earliest presence of metallurgy in the Magreb.
KK3 (8th–7th centuries BC): The emergence of hybrid architectural techniques—combining indigenous construction with Phoenician influences, seen in stone-plinth foundations—alongside new iron objects and ceramics.

🔬 How did we study it?
We integrated radiocarbon dating, archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses, and detailed material culture studies to reconstruct this dynamic Bronze Age narrative.

💡 Why does it matter?
These findings overturn the colonial narrative that North Africa was a “terra nullius” before the Phoenicians. Instead, they reveal a region populated by innovative, organized communities engaged in far-reaching Mediterranean and Atlantic exchanges. Hamza Benattia emphasizes that this work allows North Africa to reclaim its transformative and revisionist role in Mediterranean history.

📖 Read the full article here 👉
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10

💭 How do you think these innovative building techniques and agricultural practices shaped social identities in ancient societies?

17/02/2025

NEW Archaeological excavations at Kach Kouch, Morocco, uncover over a millennium of occupation evidence from later prehistory, disproving assumptions that the Maghreb was marginal in comparison to its contemporary Mediterranean neighbours.

An Antiquity deep dive 🤿

The Bronze Age (c. 2200–800 BC) to Early Iron Age (c. 800–550 BC) is well-known for the flourishing societies of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. However, the Maghreb in north-west Africa has often been seen as an ‘empty land’ before Phoenician arrival around 800 BC.

To fill this gap in our knowledge, researchers excavated at the site of Kach Kouch, Morocco. The site is positioned near to the Strait of Gibraltar, which would have made it a gateway between Europe and Africa, as well as the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

"Kach Kouch is the first evidence of Bronze Age settled occupation in the north-west Maghreb, and arguably anywhere in Mediterranean Africa west of Egypt," says lead author Hamza Benattia from the University of Barcelona. "Our excavations revealed three occupation phases".

The first phase dates from 2200-2000 BC. Finds from this period are sparse, but it suggests that initial occupation of Kach Kouch was contemporaneous with the Copper/Bronze Age transition in Iberia.

The second phase dates from 1300–900 BC. During this period, Kach Kouch was home to a stable farming community with a flourishing agricultural economy. This is the first definitive evidence of settled life predating the Phoenicians on the Maghreb's Mediterranean coast.

The third phase, from 800-600 BC, saw the introduction of eastern Mediterranean cultural innovations. They were combined with local practices to create something new, demonstrating the flexibility and adaptability of Kach Kouch’s inhabitants.

"This fusion of local and foreign practices illustrates how the community actively engaged with Mediterranean exchange networks, integrating new influences while retaining their distinct identity", states Benattia.

Overall, the discoveries at Kach Kouch challenge assumptions about the Maghreb's later prehistory, proving that it was by no means marginal in relation to the rest of the Mediterranean.

The region had its own long occupation history and cultural practices, which were not erased through its engagement with the wider Mediterranean. These dynamic local communities were far from isolated, instead being active participants in the Bronze Age Mediterranean world.

Read the original research in Antiquity (£)
Rethinking late prehistoric Mediterranean Africa: architecture, farming and materiality at Kach Kouch, Morocco - Hamza Benattia et al.
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10

ASOR
Mission archéologique de Kach Kouch

17/02/2025

I am thrilled to share the results of our research in northwestern Morocco’s Strait of Gibraltar. This work was made possible thanks to an incredible team of young Moroccan archaeologists from INSAP, whose dedication and hard work demonstrate that the future of archaeology in Morocco is in excellent hands!
Our research sheds light on one of North Africa’s most enigmatic periods, confirming that this land was far from empty before the Phoenician arrival. Instead, it was populated by vibrant, settled farming communities actively engaged in long range exchanges with other regions across the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
For too long, colonialist ideologies have promoted the narrative that local Amazigh populations were mere barbarians, nomads and savages. This research proves the opposite, and it’s only the beginning. North Africa must reclaim its rightful place as a pivotal region in the broader history of the Mediterranean.

Rethinking late prehistoric Mediterranean Africa: architecture, farming and materiality at Kach Kouch, Morocco