ABSTRACT
The dangers posed, even before the sixteenth century, to the Tizi n’Talghoumt passage, along which the important trade route linking Fez with Sijil-
1 INTRODUCTION
Throughout this research project, whose partial results we present here, a constant work of recording and inventory was carried out, of all the cities in the land of the Outat valley. The first references to these constructions were provided by Foucauld (Foucauld 1888) in the first edition of his book Reconnaissance au Maroc 1883-1884, but unfortunately in the following editions this chapter disappears, plunging this architecture into profound oblivion and beyond any study, until the development of this research project. This project started in 2008. In our first expedition to the High Atlas we located an important group of ksour in the Outat valley, in the Midelt province. After exhaustive bibliographical search we found some historical and geographical references to this place (Raynal 1961) (Peyron 1976 and 1984) (Aouchar 1988-89), due to the fact that this valley had been the refuge of the Ait Izdeg, one of the most politically relevant tribes, as well as one of the most belligerent, in the Oriental High Atlas throughout the nineteenth century. Similarly, we also observed that there were no comprehensive studies about its architecture: only Foucauld, and to a lesser extent Seconzac (Seconzac 1903), had come across its existence, always viewing it according to the geographical and military interests of the French people aiming to control Morocco. The references taken into account in our research served as a basis of study, although through our own fieldwork we found that not all the data gathered in them ended up being reliable or even complete. Despite this, we do recognize their work to be praiseworthy as the means with which those challenges were faced were not ideal: travelling was done on horseback or on
massa ran, makes the Tizi n’Tssardount passage, further west, acquire great importance among local tribes, who seeking refuge in the mountains, move across it in search for new opportunities.
