Phoenician Tombs of Marshan

On the cliff edge in the Marshan district west of the Tangier kasbah, a shelf of bedrock has dozens of rectangular pits cut into it - roughly body-sized, some with ledges for a cover slab, arranged without much order, and open to the sky and the weather. They are generally described as Phoenician and dated broadly to the first millennium BC, from the period when this coast was part of the Punic trading network, though the dating is not tightly established and later reuse is likely. There is nothing else: no fence, no signage, no ticket and no guardian, and the site is used as a public clifftop with people sitting on the rock looking across the strait to Spain. Whether that is scandalous or admirable depends on your view, but it does mean this is one of the few ancient sites anywhere you can simply walk onto. The Marshan quarter around it is residential.

The main sights

• Graves cut in bedrock - dozens of rectangular pits open to the sky on the cliff shelf.
• A Punic-era site - broadly first millennium BC, with the dating not tightly fixed.
• No protection at all - unfenced, unsigned and used as an ordinary clifftop.
• Spain across the water - the strait and the European coast from the edge.

When to go

Spring and autumn; late afternoon over the strait. Half an hour.

Things to know

There is no interpretation whatsoever - without knowing what they are, they read as holes in rock. The cliff edge is unfenced and the drop is real. The site is unprotected and treated casually. Litter is a problem.

Nearby

The kasbah and its museum are east; the Marshan quarter surrounds it.