Africa's oldest known defensive wall outside Egypt discovered, and it's 4,000 years old

Archaeologists in Morocco have discovered the oldest known defensive walls outside Egypt, dating back 4,000 years. The walls were found at the Oued Beht archaeological site, located about 50 miles east of Rabat in a river valley. The defensive structures, which likely included ditches and ramparts, indicate that communities in the Maghreb were building large-scale defense systems at a time when similar developments were also occurring in Europe.

The discovery sheds light on the region's history, challenging the notion that the Maghreb was a blank space in the story of Mediterranean prehistory. The site's storage facilities, including dozens of bell-shaped pits, suggest that the settlement may have been an early farming hub with livestock and large storage capacities. The Oued Beht findings show that early North African peoples were capable of creating major construction works and controlling strategic places, challenging previous assumptions about their capabilities and connections to Europe in the second millennium BC.