Zirid dynasty
According to Charles Perry, couscous originated among the Berbers of Algeria between the 11th century and 13th century, sometime between the end of the Zirid dynasty and the rise of the Almohad Caliphate. The historian Hady Roger Idris noted that couscous is attested in the Hafsid era, but not in the Zirid era. Food historian Lucie Bolens believes couscous originated several millennia earlier, during the reign of Masinissa in the ancient kingdom called Numidia in present-day Algeria.