Libyco-Berber inscriptions on Moroccan rocks: Assessment and research prospects

The ancient Amazigh script, described as “Numidic,” “Libyc,” “Libyco-Berber,” or tifinagh, has given rise to conflicting opinions among the scientific community. Two types of inscriptions can be distinguished: “ancient” inscriptions belonging to the Mediterranean sphere of influence, and “rock” inscriptions of continental African influence. Initially, this script was given an allochthonous origin. For more than two decades, research has focused on the autochthonous origins of this script and its distant derivatives, Tifinagh and Neo-Tifinagh. This progress has been made possible by the development of research into rock art, with which thousands of inscriptions are associated. In this article, we review the state of research on Libyco-Berber inscriptions associated with rock art in Morocco. We begin by reviewing the results of the corpora produced to date on all Libyco-Berber inscriptions, whether “ancient” or “rock.” We then turn to the Tirra corpus published by the Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe in 2003. As a number of rock inscriptions have been discovered since the publication of Tirra, it is time to make an inventory as well as a description. Finally, we outline some future prospects for research into Libyco-Berber inscriptions.