Morocco: the cliffside granaries of Aoujgal
 

http://www.infar.co.uk/tim/gs/carvings.jpg

I did a lot of pre-trip planning for the recent trip in April and got to visit a pile of new (to me) places. I found more examples of rock engravings (pic above) and I visited quite a few granaries.

Historically capturing someone's grain harvest is a way of completely subjugating a tribe as they have no food for the winter and no seed for next year's crop. Hence there are quite a few fortified granaries which in Berber are called agadirs and tagadirts.

The granaries at Aoujgal are different as they are halfway down a sheer cliff face (there's some more examples of this type on the Talouet piste).

http://www.infar.co.uk/tim/gs/aoujgal2.jpg
Close up from above

http://www.infar.co.uk/tim/gs/aoujgal1.jpg
Wider angle

http://www.infar.co.uk/tim/gs/aoujgal3.jpg
Follow the strata line to gain access

YouTube video (bit of shake in the voice): http://www.youtube.com/v/Cho8A9eCSmQ
If I sound a bit breathless it was at 6000 ft and I'd been clambering over rocks!

Tim