Archaeologists in Morocco have discovered the remains of a 5,000-year-old farming society, the oldest site of its kind ever discovered in Africa outside the Nile Valley. Thousands of stone ax heads and painted pottery shards found on the site suggest a previously unknown society of hundreds of people — comparable to the size of Bronze Age Troy — who might have lived together, farmed the land, and traded with other societies across the Mediterranean.
The archaeological site of Oued Beht in northern Morocco was uncovered by French colonists in the 1930s. After the site had been overlooked for 90 years, Moroccan archaeologist Youssef Bokbot had a hunch that it may have important finds waiting just under the surface and contacted other experts to collaborate on the excavation.
