During a catastrophic draught in Morocco between 1999 – 2003 up to 90% of the lifestock died or had to be slaughtered. Wool for weaving rugs became a scarce material in this period and ersatz materials such as cotton, synthetic industrial yarns and recycled fabrics have increasingly been used to produce rugs for home use in the villages. The use of such materials in rural rugs slowly began in the region around Boujad in the foothills west of the Middle Atlas in the 1970s, became more popular all over Morocco in the 1990s but increased significantly in Eastern Morocco in and after the period of the draught.
In consequence materials do not vary any more according to local habits or traditions and it becomes more and more difficult and finally impossible to distinguish regional traditions according to technical features. At the same time also regional or local design traditions vanish due to the increasing use of digital media as a mean of communication and of course of visual inspiration at the same time since the mid/late 2000s.
A large number of the small format rugs with a ground colour of white wool can therefor still be attributed to Eastern Morocco in general but it is hardly possible to attribute younger examples from after 2000 to a certain region.
