Tamuda Ruins

Tamuda was a Mauretanian settlement founded around the third century BC on the Martil river below what is now Tetouan - a town with its own street grid, houses, workshops and pottery, built by the local population before Rome annexed the region. It was destroyed in the first century AD, and a Roman military camp was then built directly on top of it: a rectangular fort with corner towers and the standard internal layout, whose walls are the most visible thing on the site today. The superimposition is what makes it interesting - the earlier irregular town plan and the later regular fort can be distinguished on the ground. Excavation began under the Spanish protectorate in the 1920s and has continued in campaigns since, with a small museum in Tetouan holding the finds. The site is fenced and signposted but lightly staffed, and it is easy to arrive and find it shut.

What you actually see

• Two plans superimposed - an irregular Mauretanian town under a regular Roman fort.
• A pre-Roman settlement - founded about the third century BC by the local population.
• Camp walls and towers - the rectangular fort outline standing above the earlier layer.
• A 1920s excavation - begun under the Spanish protectorate and continued since.

When to go

Spring and autumn. An hour. Check it is open before making the trip.

Honest expectations

Staffing is irregular and the gate may be locked. Interpretation on site is minimal. The remains are foundations and low walls. Finds are in the Tetouan museum rather than at the site.

Nearby

Tetouan's UNESCO medina is uphill; Martil beach is east.