Tazota: The Forsaken Legacy
In the hinterland of El Jadida, Doukkala region, 90 km south of Casablanca, there are unique dry stone and mortar free constructions in Morocco, called Tazotas. These are circumscribed in a well-defined territory.
Most of Tazotas are systematically accompanied by the construction of low walls or stone enclosures called "stara". These low walls are intended above all to serve the fellah as the limit of his “hata” (dwelling and its surrounding field). There are also "zriba" and "toufris" which serve as sheepfolds. The enclosed area can vary from approximately 100 to 200 m2. There is sometimes a small vegetable garden where some vegetables or fruits grow (bhira), an underground silo for grain (matmoura), poultry or cattle, fruit trees (fig trees, quince trees, vines ...). Some Tazotas were initially used as warehouses for wheat and barley straw, for corn stalks or for hay. They were also used as temporary shelters against the heat for the men and the animals, and places of fattening for the young cattle.
In the absence of dating of the Tazotas on a lintel or a stone, of archaeological research, the hypotheses, on their origin, abound, as for the origin of the words. Some have them go back to ancient times during the first settlements. They attribute these constructions either to the Romans, however the limes of the Roman Empire is much higher, or to the Berbers in Roman times, or to peoples from the Mediterranean (Phoenicians ...). Others place them in the Middle Ages or at the time of the Portuguese presence in the Doukkala. Finally, some people reduce the Tazotas to banal dry stone constructions, whose date of construction could not go back in time, beyond the years 1915-1920, on the pretext that they were not mentioned in the notebooks of certain French travelers, having crossed the hinterland of the Doukkala at the beginning of the years of the protectorate. In the region, the Tamazight word tazudea or tazoda (ⵜⴰⵣⵓⴺⴰ, tazoḍa) means “bowl”, “upside-down bowl”. Indeed, these cabins are of a shape that can recall an overturned bowl. It is also close to the Spanish word for "cup": tazota. In tachelhit, ⵜⴰⵣⵓⵟ (tazoṭ) means the bread basket with the conical lid.
