Rock sites: The immense reservoir of the Oriental region
The geographical distribution of rock art sites in Morocco reflects the ecological and landscape evolution of prehistoric and protohistoric human settlements, point out experts Aouraghe and Lemjidi. In the Haut-Atlas and northern Anti-Atlas, rock art sites are inherent to medium- and high-altitude pastures.
In the southern Anti-Atlas and throughout Morocco’s arid zone, rock art has developed along ancient watercourses and the topographical corridors that intersect with them. Oriental rock art also reflects styles of expression (engravings and paintings) that allow a certain typology and associations with the modes of production of the communities that produced them.
Even if rock art styles are not a sufficient tool for identifying ethno-geographical boundaries, they are landmarks that enable a certain arrangement, over time, of different canons, tastes and fashions, from a cultural point of view.
The iconography of the rock art sites in the Figuig-Ich region is both rich and diverse. It can be divided into three main groups: Zoomorphs, Anthropomorphs, signs/symbols, and rock inscriptions. Carnivores are very present, represented above all by lions associated with bovines and anthropomorphs.
It is an iconography that characterized the natural environment of each period experienced by human groups in the Oriental region.
In the Figuig mountains, the majority of zoomorphic figures are represented by domestic cattle. Cattle herds must have been a favorite subject for the agro-pastoral engravers of the Eastern High Atlas.
Domesticated bovines are a subfamily of the bovidae. Cattle are very well represented in the rock art of the Figuig region, especially in the style of the bovid herders. The figures are in the form of cows and oxen of widely varying sizes and postures, familiar with anthropomorphs, in line herds or threatened by wild beasts.
The Oriental region is of scientific interest on several levels, but in terms of rock art archaeology, this region is essential to understanding the North African rock art movement since the appearance of rock art in the area. The communities living in this region have played an active part in the development of archaeological cultures throughout the ages.
Ali KHARROUBI
