Wadi Baht: Discovery of Africa's oldest 4,000-year-old defensive fence

A Moroccan-International research team led by archaeological researcher Youssef Boukabout revealed the discovery of the oldest large-scale defense fortification system in North Africa outside the Nile Basin, at the site of Wadi Baht in the Khamisat region. The system consists of a trench and an earthen wall whose construction dates back between 3,500 and 4,000 years, that is, to the Bronze Age, before they were later supported by a stone wall during the Middle Ages. Details of the discovery The excavations showed that the earth wall was about 6 meters high, and that it was erected to protect the most vulnerable side risk from the site, which has a total area of about 9 to 12 hectares. The research team also found, within an excavation area not exceeding 25 square meters, about 1,900 pottery pieces, in addition to polished stone axes within previously untampered archaeological layers, which indicates organized collective engineering works. Radiocarbon dating of one of the discovered tombs has also shown that it dates back to the thirteenth century AD. Twenty years of field research by Youssef Boukbout, professor at the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage Rabat, in the Wadi Baht area since 2005. The 2022 excavation campaign revealed the remains of human stability dating back to the late fourth millennium and the beginning of the third millennium BC, while the results of the new study were based on the work of the third field season of the project, which was completed between October 30 and November 17, 2023, with the participation of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge and the Italian National Research Council. The results of the study were published on September 7, 2026 in the journal "Libyan Studies". published by the British Institute for Libyan and North African Studies in collaboration with Cambridge University Press. These results come after previous studies had described the site of Wadi Baht as the largest and oldest documented agricultural compound in Africa outside the Nile Valley. The new discovery adds a defensive and military dimension to the researchers' knowledge of this site. Researchers believe that the discovery confirms the pivotal role played by ancient societies in the Maghreb within the networks of exchange and interaction in the Mediterranean region during the Bronze Age, and opens the door to further research on the history of early human settlement in North Africa.