<< Other Photo Pages >> Achakar Caves - Cave or Rock Shelter in Morocco
Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 17 April 2026 Page Views: 150
Natural PlacesSite Name: Achakar Caves Alternative Name: Caves of Hercules, Grottes d'Hercule, El Khil C, Idol's CaveCountry: Morocco
NOTE: This site is 12.564 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Tangier Nearest Village: Achakar
Latitude: 35.760000N Longitude: 5.939W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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External Links:
El Khil C, one of the caves on the Achakar plateau, has produced Copper Age burials radiocarbon dated to 2457-2342 cal BCE. Above the caves, undocumented pit burials were found by Cesar Montalban in the 1940s when he was Head of Archaeology at the Tangier International Administration. These contained bodies buried in pits with heads pointing north and feet south, accompanied by pottery vessels including a boat-shaped vessel.
The so-called Idol's Cave in the same complex yielded several hundred low-fired clay figurines of late prehistoric date, portraying unknown schematic figures that have been associated with fertility and agricultural rituals.
A 2025 study by Benattia, Onrubia-Pintado and Bokbot places the Achakar complex within a broader ritual landscape spanning the entire Tangier Peninsula. The plateau above the caves served as both a burial ground and a symbolic/ritual space from at least the 3rd millennium BCE through to the 1st millennium BCE, with cist cemeteries, cave burials, and figurine deposits all concentrated in this prominent coastal location. The Achakar plateau's position on a headland overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar may have given it particular significance as a liminal place between sea and land, Africa and Europe.
Condition: caves survive; Caves of Hercules is a tourist attraction; archaeological caves above are less visited. Ambience: dramatic Atlantic cliff setting near Cap Spartel. Access: Caves of Hercules open daily, road access and car park.
Source:
Benattia, H., Onrubia-Pintado, J. & Bokbot, Y. (2025) "Cemeteries, Rock Art and Other Ritual Monuments of the Tangier Peninsula, Northwestern Africa, in Wider Trans-Regional Perspective (c. 3000-500 BC)" African Archaeological Review 42:229-258
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-025-09621-z
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