Erfoud Fossil Workshops

The desert around Erfoud is Devonian and Ordovician seabed, and the rock in places is packed with the shells of orthoceras - straight-shelled relatives of the nautilus - and with goniatites and other ammonoids, so densely that when a slab is cut and polished the cross-sections stand out as pale shapes in near-black stone. The workshops cut, grind and polish it into table tops, basins, plates, clock faces and blocks, and they show the whole sequence from quarry slab to finished surface, which is worth an hour. The other trade is prepared specimens - trilobites above all, from the Devonian beds around Alnif and Jbel Issoumour - and here caution is needed: preparation ranges from expert to fabricated, and composite and carved fakes are common enough that dealers and museums treat unprovenanced Moroccan trilobites with suspicion. Buy polished marble for what it is, and buy trilobites only from someone you trust.

What you actually see

• Fossil-packed marble - orthoceras and goniatite sections in near-black polished stone.
• The full sequence - quarry slab through cutting and grinding to a finished surface.
• Prepared specimens - trilobites from the Devonian beds around Alnif.
• A known fake problem - composite and carved trilobites common in the trade.

When to go

October to April. Two hours.

Honest expectations

Trilobite fakes are widespread and convincing - assume nothing without provenance. Polished marble pieces are heavy and awkward to carry home. Workshops sell hard. Summer heat in the Tafilalt is extreme.

Nearby

Rissani and the Tafilalt are south; Merzouga is south-east.