THE SACRIFICIAL LANDSCAPE OF THE AIT ATTA NOMADS BETWEEN THE JEBEL SARHRO REGION
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 24/03/2021

Since 2017, a new ethnoarchaeological project has been documenting one of the last families from the Ait Atta tribe, alternating between a winter camp in the Jbel Sarhro region near the desert and rich summer pastures to the north in the central High Atlas. The area used by these nomads between the two mountain ranges not only forms a “natural” basis for a pastoral lifestyle, but also contains different elements of a “sacred” or ritual landscape. The nomads’ everyday lives include fulfilling their Muslim duty of saying their prayers five times a day at specific times facing in the direction of Mecca. The ritual landscape also includes burial places (e.g. Islamic cemeteries) where the dead are laid to rest. Important clues which may point to even earlier practices can be found in the vicinity of the summer camp and especially on the “holy” mountain, Jbel Azourki (3700 m a.s.l.). The mountain has numerous natural caves, one of which is located to the east of the summit and remains full of snow and ice, even in the summer months. Once a year, the nomads still hold a sacrificial feast near this cave, ritually slaughtering various domestic animals. Fi-nally, numerous rock-art sites dating back several centuries are located at the foot of the mountain. They can perhaps be seenas visible evidence of earlier agreements between the Ait Atta and local settled tribes to regulate agricultural and pastoral use (Agdal system). The nomads spend the winter months in the mountains of the Jbel Sarhro region some 350 kilometres south-east of Marrakech. This desert-like region boasts another holy mountain, Jbel Amlal, which also shapes the pastoral, sacrificial landscape of the Ait Atta nomads.


Author(s): Reitmaier, Thomas (Archaeological Service of the Canton of Grisons; University of Zurich, Institute for Archaeolo-gy) - Sichert, Benjamin (Integrative Prähistorische und Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, University of Basel)