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Weekly highlights

Archeology: Discoveries in the Oriental region

of Morocco demystify the Sahara

A RCHAEOLOGICAL and geo-
logical discoveries are multip-
lying in the Moroccan Orien-
tal region. Teacher-researchers from
the Mohammed The First University
of Oujda (UMPO), those from the
National Institute of Archeology and
Heritage Sciences, the Natural Histo-
ry Museum of London, or even other
international universities, have not yet
unveiled all the secrets of this region.
Discoveries do multiply and change,
each time, the old historical dates.
Before it became a vast arid desert, as
it is now, the Sahara was a vast land
covered with green vegetation, with
many forests and rivers. It was also
a habitat for many wild, river, and
marine animals. This has been pro- The discovery of fossils corresponding to different periods also makes it pos-
ven through the discovery of fossils, sible to reconstruct the state of the climate in the region and to improve infor-
mation for the modeling of the future climate
drawings, and inscriptions, made by
many researchers in this region. The discovered) and the white rhinoce- of the predictive climate models in between 57,000 and 100,000 years
recent archaeological excavations ros (Ceratotherium simum ) recently the Maghreb region while specifying old, inferred after the emergence and
carried out by a group of professors discovered in one of the geological that this climate belongs to the Arctic spread of the ancestors of the white
from the School of Sciences of the strata of the Oued El Haye wadi in the region (Palearctic ecozone) and not rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), a
Mohammed The First University of Ain Béni Mathar (province of Jerada). to the African tropical region (Afro- mammal that replaced the oldest rhi-
Oujda, in partnership with Spanish This allowed a team of researchers tropical ecozone), contrary to what is noceros species (Ceratotherium mau-
researchers from the Catalan Institute from the School of Sciences of the published. Also according to the study ritanicum), whose remains have been
of Ancient Ecology and Social Evo- UMPO university and from Spain to conducted in the Arabic language by found in North Africa, dating from
lution of Tarragona (IPHES) and the provide details concerning the emer- the School of Sciences of Oujda, the the so-called Green Desert period.
National Institute of the Museum of gence of the Sahara. The researchers researchers found an increase “In addition to knowing the species of
Natural Sciences of Madrid (MNCN), thus specified the evolution of the in the num- ber of animals animals that lived on earth thousands
carried out within the framework of a climate and the improvement in the Arctic of years ago, thanks to the dating of
scientific cooperation research pro- region of the these fossils, we can also know the
ject, have proven that the Moroc- Maghreb, due state of the surrounding environment
can Oriental region is one of the to the drop in global at a given moment”, said Hassan
richest regions in terms of abun- temperatures and due to Aouragh, researcher in geology and
dance and diversity of fossil mam- the isolation caused by archeology and teacher at the School
mals belonging to the geological the desert. This desert, which of Sciences of Oujda, in a declaration
period of the Quaternary Period. is the largest on the planet, to our newspaper. For him, “conti-
Added to this is a wonderful began to form millions of years nuing to find fossils corresponding to
mix of species. “This taxonomic ago in a process subject to clima- different periods will also allow us to
diversity reflects the abundance tic fluctuations. Also, the geological reconstruct the state of the climate in
and density of vegetation in the strata in which these animal fossils the region and improve information
former Ain Béni Mathar - Gue- were discovered at the Oued El for modeling the future climate”.o
fait basin (Plio-Pleistocene Haye wadi are estimated to be Ali KHARROUBI
basin of Ain Béni Mathar/
Guefait), to meet the needs of these
enormous mammals”, specifies a pu- Verdant desert
blication of the School of Sciences of
the UMPO. Other results of global A few fossil bones and part of the mauritanicum rhino at a time of in- It should be noted that this field re-
scientific value, published in repu- skull of the ancestor of the current creasing influence of the arctic fau- search and fossil discoveries were
table journals, including the “Journal white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium si- na. This happened in one of the two financed by the scientific research
of Historical Biology” of December mum, have made it possible to date wettest climatic periods (between budget of the Mohammed The
16, 2021 which specified that the fairly precisely the period when 85,000 and 80,000 years or between First University and the faculty of
region is full of fossils of animals da- this species replaced the older and 105,000 and 100,000 years), thanks sciences of Oujda, in cooperation
ting from this period such as the pri- also less powerful Ceratotherium to the abundance of vegetation du- with the local population and civil
mitive mountain wild bull (aurochs) mauritanicum. It is surprising how ring these periods. This allows us society. Most of these fossils are
(Bos primigenius), which exceeds 2 C. simum moved from sub-Saha- to know how animals have evolved to be found in the University Mu-
meters in height, (according to the ran Africa to expand northward and in North Africa and to better cali- seum, at the faculty of sciences of
measurements of the bone remains occupy the habitat of the oldest C. brate climate models for the region. Oujda.o
Friday 13 January 2023