The Antiquity Prize 2025 has been awarded to a groundbreaking study that uncovered the first Neolithic society in Morocco, located at Oued Beht in the Khemisset region and active between 3,400 and 2,900 BC. Published in 2024, the research is the result of a multidisciplinary project led by Youssef Bokbot (INSAP), Cyprian Broodbank (University of Cambridge), and Giulio Lucarini (CNR-ISPC and ISMEO). The team unearthed traces of the oldest and largest agricultural complex ever discovered in Africa outside the Nile Valley. The prize, awarded annually, recognizes the best scientific article published in the prestigious journal Antiquity. The project was conducted in Morocco with co-funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under a scientific agreement bringing together the National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Sciences (INSAP) in Rabat, the Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISPC), the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, and ISMEO, the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies. The study confirms the key role of North Africa in Mediterranean prehistory, particularly as the Oued Beht site shows «surprising similarities with contemporary settlements on the Iberian Peninsula». It also underscores the region's importance in shaping the cultural dynamics of the western Mediterranean between the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. By revealing evidence of early agricultural systems at a crossroads of cultural exchange between the Mediterranean and the Sahara, the research provides valuable insights into the emergence of complex societies. It further sheds light on North Africa's role in the sweeping transformations that marked the Mediterranean world between 4,000 and 1,000 BC.
