Fossilhunting in Morocco, Alnif and the deep south.

Morocco is known as a fossilcountry, where many geological stages and lifeforms can be found. Attitude is changing towards fossil regulations, but still a lot of paleontologists, collectors, commercial excavating, trade finds their/it's way to and in Morocco.

Near the desertvillage of Alnif, Carboniferous up to Devonian and Cambrian stages (300-530 million of years old) can be found, which contain many ancient sealife like trilobites, ammonites, molluscs and so on.
Ofcourse, you'll have to do your studies about geological layers, finds should be well documented with information about location, geological information describing the exact layer in which the fossil was found, using pictures, drawings and other finds. A fossil without any documentation loses it's scientific value.

Starting of in the desertvillage, you have to scale the mountains, to reach the layers which contain fossils.

On top of a mountainplateau.

Mount Issimour is one of the many known sites to look for fossils, but as you see in the pictures, many mountains stand to be explored.


Looking for fossils, means hitting rocks with a hammer, looking through the debri and rubble that lies strewn around. Or looking directly in the deposited layers, but think preservation of the Natural heritage. If you are not sure what you are doing, best to start of by looking through the losely deposited debri.

Against the slopes of the plateau, debri washes down, containing trilobites and other fossils.

Washed out of the mountain, trilobiteremains.

Trilobite

Ancient sealifebed, like you can find them deposited in the mountains.

Plaque of brachiopods, not quite molluscs, but resembling.

Some primitive art/marks high on the plateau.

Eagles nest

Village of Alnif, my place of stay and startingpoint, starting from Marrakesh. Alnif lies in the deep south of Morocco, not far from the Algerian border.

A once in a lifetime experience, i hate to think that, but something that will stay in my mind for sure.