Ruins of 16th-Century Jewish Community uncovered in Morocco

Researchers from Morocco, Israel, and France have discovered remnants of a small Jewish community in the mountains of Morocco.

The ruins of the community’s synagogue in the small village of Tamanart – located on the outskirts of the Sahara desert – were found while conducting a preliminary survey of Jewish sites in the area and after talking to locals who remembered their Jewish neighbors who left the area 70 years ago.

The team was able to find traces of ancient buildings, in addition to parts of religious books and amulets, as well as life necessities that were used in the era.

Reports from the site say a small Jewish community lived in the area from the 16th century to the early 19th century.

Recently, researchers from Israel, Morocco and France conducted salvage excavations in the ruined synagogue.

According to member of the research and excavation project David Goeury, “the site was identified during a reconnaissance mission to define the scope of a research program organized back in April 2021, which saw the participation of researchers Orit Ouaknine, Yuval Yekutieli, Saghir Mabrouk and Salima Naji.”

Goeury said that during a research visit to the synagogue of the area, “the team identified hundreds of fragments of religious texts scattered on the floor.”

The team then decided to organize an emergency archaeological excavation and an operation to restore the buildings to prevent further collapses and damages, which had occurred after repeated natural triggers and some looting incidents.

Several thousand fragments are currently stored awaiting scientific study, under the authority of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Culture in Agadir.

While the majority of these fragments come from printed religious books well known to Judeo specialists, hundreds of documents are handwritten and provide valuable information about religious practices from back in the day, as well as the daily life of the Jewish community in the Moroccan region.

The team of researchers hopes to be able to understand the interactions between different Moroccan Jewish communities, but also between these communities and the Muslim ones living in the area. For the researchers, this first excavation was a way to establish a multidisciplinary intervention protocol linking archaeology, anthropology, history, architecture, and geography.

They hope to be able to carry out a second campaign of excavations to conduct more in-depth investigations on the site, mainly by carrying out a stratigraphy to understand the history of the construction of this building.

In addition to the collection of material, architect Salima Naji carried out an emergency restoration of the building with a team of master masons to rehabilitate the walls and reconstruct the entire ceiling of the synagogue.

The intervention also concerned adjacent buildings to the synagogue that make up the old Mellah. The objective is to secure the site to allow future excavations, while the team is working with authorities on opening the site to visitors and tourists.

The initial excavation is the first of a multi-year research program, which is set to involve numerous synagogues and Jewish neighborhoods in southern and eastern Morocco, according to the team.

The team’s primary objective is to deepen available knowledge of these historic communities that played an important role in Saharan trade, in addition to bridging the gaps in history pertaining to interfaith coexisting communities in Morocco, and Northern Africa as a whole.

The findings are expected to constitute “a better understanding of how religious, economic, political and cultural networks were concretely articulated in territories as specific as the Saharan oases or the mountain valleys,” says David Goeury.

King Mohammed VI ordered a few years ago the restoration of hundreds of Jewish sites across the kingdom. The restoration plan includes the site at Tamanart, as well as cemeteries and hundreds of synagogues.

Jews are believed to have first established communities in Morocco more than 2,000 years ago. In the mid-20th century, the Jewish population in the Kingdom reached a peak of 250,000.