Protecting The Past 3: Documentation As A Tool For Heritage Protection

Salima Naji and Youssef Bokbot (Institut National des Sciences de l'Archeologie et du Patrimoine, Morocco) give a talk for the first panel on the third day of the conference; Protecting the past: identifying problems and solutions. Moroccan archaeological heritage despite its richness and great diversity, lives under the permanent constraint of destruction and disappearance. This phenomenon of dilapidation of archaeological sites and movable objects has seen in recent decades, a catastrophic upsurge in the Saharan and Pre-Saharan areas. This phenomenon, which began timidly in the 70s of the last century, galloped from the 80s, to cause irreversible damage, especially in rock art sites, pre-Islamic and protohistoric tombs tombs, as well as prehistoric objects . With the major structural projects currently underway in Morocco, in terms of road, rail and port infrastructure, solar energy and wind farms, the degree of danger that has archaeological heritage has reached scandalous proportions, under the pretext