Cups and rituals: Rock Art and Ethnoarchaeology in the Tamanart Valley (Morocco)

Our research in Tamanart has shown that certain cultural practices, including "ritual hammering" in Aguerd village, can help with the understanding of at least one type of cupules. Using ethnoarchaeological methods, we compared the cups of the archaeological sites with those still in use among the local population. In the latter category, there are two types: cups resulting from "ritual hammering" to attract good and to ward off evil, and larger cups associated with other rituals. We distinguish "archaeological cups" from "ethnographic cups." We found a great similarity between a type of "archaeological cups" and "ethnographic cups." The rituals associated with the latter are likely to be inherited from old beliefs. Therefore, it is not excluded that cups of archaeological sites result from ritual practices that are beyond of our reach.