Afr Archaeol Rev (2015) 32:233–248 DOI 10.1007/s10437-015-9186-7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE A History of Human Impact on Moroccan Mountain Landscapes Rachid Cheddadi1 & Majda Nourelbait2 & Ouafaa Bouaissa1 & Jalal Tabel1 & Ali Rhoujjati3 & José Antonio López-Sáez4 & Francisca Alba-Sánchez5 & Carla Khater6 & Aziz Ballouche7 & Laurent Dezileau8 & Henry Lamb9 Published online: 9 June 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract The present study aims to review palaeoecological evidence for environ- mental changes induced by human activities over the last few millennia in the montane landscapes of Morocco. The study is based on well-dated pollen and geochemical records from the Rif and the Middle Atlas mountains, to show spatial and temporal variation in the onset and intensity of exploitation of forest, soil and mineral resources. Before ca. 2000 BP, anthropogenic impact was minimal. At about that time, abrupt * Rachid Cheddadi
[email protected] 1 Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution, UMR UM2-CNRS-IRD 5554, University of Montpellier 2, place Eugène-Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France 2 Laboratoire Géosciences Marines et Sciences des Sols, Unité associée au CNRST (URAC 45), Département de Géologie, Université Chouaib Doukkali, 24000 El Jadida, Morocco 3 Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Département de Géologie, Labo. Géo-Ressources (URAC 42), Bd A. Khattabi, BP 549, 40000 Guéliz, Marrakech, Morocco 4 G.I. Arqueobiología, Instituto de Historia, CCHS, CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, 28037 Madrid, Spain 5 Departamento de Botánica,