Sharifian Letters: Conducting Archaeology in Pre-Protectorate Morocco (1884-1891)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

One of the recurrent themes of French colonial-period discourse on conducting archaeology in Morocco was the belief that the state and the people had little or no interest in their pre-Islamic past or its material correlates. To explore and deconstruct this theme, we will examine a set of never-before-published archives consisting of 8 firmans (also called Sharifian Letters), which were royal authorizations from Sultan Moulay Hassan I allowing Henry Poisson de la Martinière to conduct his scientific expedition to Morocco (1884-1891). This paper will consist of 1) a close analysis of these Sharifian Letters in terms of content (e.g., the terms used for archaeology, excavation, artefacts, to mention a few) and form, and 2) a close analysis of Henry de la Martinière’s correspondence with his contemporaries as they viewed themselves as the rightful heirs to Rome. As Ennahid stated elsewhere, “archaeology was to serve as a powerful tool to establish a material connection between the old colonizer and the new one, and, consequently, to legitimize the Protectorate’s appropriation of Morocco’s classical heritage.” Preliminary analysis of the firmans’ language shows a genuine concern, within the royal court of Morocco, for the preservation of the country’s archaeological heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37853.0