Morocco’s prehistoric artists

Modern Moroccan artists are well-known within their country and beyond its frontiers. But how many people know that Morocco’s artistic tradition goes back to prehistoric times, back 5,000 years?

The oldest known artistic representations in Morocco are the work of cattle-herders who pastured their animals in the far south. At that time, about 3. 000 B.C., the present-day desert was less inhospitable and its savanna landscape could support herds of cattle and numerous wild animals.
The prehistoric artists engraved their pictures on the rock in many parts of Morocco, especially in the south but also in the High Atlas mountains. The rock engraving sites are generally near water or mountain passes. unlike the cave art of France and Spain, these engravings are in the open air clearly visible. The artistic’s first tools were of stone, later, metal chisels were used.

The favourite subject of the southern herders was their cattle. Wild animals were shown , since hunting still played an important part in the economy. The large hartebeeste antelope was frequently depicted, archaeologic excavations have confirmed its important as a food resource. Man himself was occasionally represented: behind a rhinoceros attempting to sever a tendon, face to face with a lion or trampled by an elephant. A few rare pictures indicate the clothes he wore. Particularly attractive engravings capture the movements of the wild animals, – generally antelopes or gazelles – as they leap, browse or raise their heads attentively. Legs, tails and horns are exaggeratedly prolonged, giving an impression of fantasy and delicacy.

In the High Atlas mountains although the artists continued to engrave cattle, metal weapons became important: daggers and halberds more or less faithful copies of real bronze age weapons found in Spain and dated to about 1,700 B.C. They are thus younger than the southern Moroccan engravings of wild animals. Round decorated shields seem to indicate a heraldic system particular to each clan or tribe. Life-size engravings of humans bombarded with arrows or lance-heads may represent important enemies or perhaps the death of a well-loved chief The High Atlas style is robust. Daggers, halberds and shields convey a force which inspires admiration and respect.

Later, in the first millennium B.C., other artists engraved authentic stories on the rock faces: fights between horsemen and foot soldiers or hunting scenes involving leopards and barbary sheep.

Faced with these pictures in stone, left to us by past inhabitants of Morocco, one asks oneself: why were they done ? We shall probably never be sure of the answer and it is likely that the reasons changed throughout the ages. However, Art for Art’s sake can be excluded, as can doodling by idle shepherds. While prehistoric art clearly had a function, it is certain that the artist himself had no personal message to convey. He inevitably formed part of a group, and it was the needs of the group which determined his subject.
Many theories have been. advanced to explain prehistoric art. Hunting magic was for long in favour, by which the drawn animal was bewitched and became an easy prey. This theory was followed by that of a ‘fertility cult ».

The engravings also doubtless had a symbolic charge in addition to their apparent value. The many representations of life-size humans and ovoid and violin-shaped « idole » in the High Atlas express mythologies and beliefs that are beyond our comprehension. Sun cults have been proposed by same researchers where others only see round shields … In contrast, the first millennium battle and hunting scenes seem to be a clear-cut way of commemorating important moments in the group’s history.

Whatever that may be, Morocco’s ancient populations had authentic artists. Working in a difficult material, stone, they managed to express the desires, hopes and fears of their time. To stand today in front of a picture made some thousands of years age is a moving experience.