A History of Human Impact on Moroccan Mountain Landscapes

The present study aims to review palaeoecological evidence for environmental 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 changes of the arboreal pollen proportions, with a decline in all tree taxa, indicate a reduction of the forest cover interpreted as being anthropogenic. In the Rif Mountains, increased influx of carbonates (Ca) in the sedimentary records indicates enhanced soil erosion coincident with the reduction in tree cover. In the Middle Atlas, reduced forest cover is linked to geochemical evidence for mining and metallurgy of lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). These industrial activities correspond to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Morocco at around AD 40 and show a decline when the Romans were displaced by the Vandals about five centuries later.RC thanks Jean Maley for the friendly incitement to write the present paper. This work was supported by the French national program EC2CO-Biohefect, “Variabilité paléoclimatique et impact sur les forêts de conifères au Maroc depuis la dernière période glaciaire.” We acknowledge support from the Excellence Research Projects funding programme of the Andalusian government: “Relic-Flora (RNM-7033).” We thank the LMC14 staff (Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone-14), ARTEMIS national facility, UMS 2572 CNRS-CEA-IRD-IRSN-MCC, for the results obtained with the accelerator mass spectroscopy methodPeer reviewe