2023 - Radiocarbon dating the early Islamic necropolis at Kach Kouch, Morocco

Hamza Benattia was awarded the Barakat Postgraduate and Early Career Award to study the archaeological site of Kach Kouch in Morocco. The early Muslim cemetery here offers a window into the lives of the people who inhabited this region, and their part in its Islamisation.

Located near the Strait of Gibraltar, this part of the Western Mediterranean was influenced by numerous powers and populations, moving and competing. Before this study, the local area had mostly just been studied from the perspective of its monumental architecture, so Hamza’s project unearthed fascinating new details about the ordinary people who saw the rise of Islam in Northwest Africa, and what role they played in it.

The project found in the bones signs of famine and possibly even war, signalling a tricky time in the area. The site was, after all, situated at the border between two rival states. Ongoing DNA analysis will illuminate the roles of foreigners and locals in the spread of Islam through the Maghreb.

The excavation revealed the necropolis was used from the 2nd millennium BC, and the early Islamic burials contained the remains of at least 31 individuals. Hamza Benattia’s project is about radiocarbon dating the burials after he and his team excavated them in 2021-2022 and analysed the human remains therein, also funded by The Barakat Trust.

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