El Gour
El Gour is a circular, two-story tomb of a Berber prince of the archaeological type of the Bazina , which is one of the sparse architectural evidence of early Berber cultures in northern Morocco .
location
The village ( douar ) Souk Jemaa El Gour is located south of the A2 motorway about 30 km east of Meknes in an agriculturally used hilly landscape at the intersection of roads P7050 and P7067. The structure called El Gour is located above a river valley, about 500 m north of the village's water tower .
history
Nothing more is known about the history of the building. Excavations have taken place, however, without any indications of a more precise dating to light, because finds of skeletal remains or grave goods did not come to light. A Neolithic stone ax was discovered in the filling material , which is made up of stones and earth, but it seems to have got into it by chance.
architecture
The circular structure about 20 meters in diameter and about 5 meters high, standing on a small hill, is very likely not a former tumulus , the stone and earth cover of which has disappeared, but a two-storey complex of the type common in North Africa Bazina , in which the outer stone border was always visible. The two levels of the building are arranged concentrically and framed by carefully hewn cuboid stones. The construction differs significantly from other known tumuli in Morocco ( Volubilis , Msoura , Bouia and Taouz ).
In front of the actual core building was a strangely trapezoidal construction that was interpreted as a kind of platform or altar, but which perhaps has nothing to do with the actual building.
meaning
Even if the excavators found neither a burial chamber nor skeletal remains, it is very likely that the tumulus of El Gour is the burial place of a Berber prince from (late) Roman times - in any case, the exact stone work on the two borders indicates Roman Influences. A reference to megalithic tumuli, as was previously assumed, is obviously excluded.
The El Gour called tumulus was established in 1995 on the tentative list of World Heritage RESIDENTIAL LEISURE of UNESCO entered.
literature
- Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine. Volume IV, 1960
- Arnold Betten: Morocco. Antiquity, Berber Traditions and Islam - History, Art and Culture in the Maghreb. DuMont, Ostfildern 2012, p. 166f, ISBN 978-3-7701-3935-4
See also
Coordinates: 33 ° 51 ′ 1 " N , 5 ° 18 ′ 32" W.