The reservoirs that would have been filled up during the rains do not appear to have supported agriculture: there are no irrigation channels. That they are dams and not walls is proven by their position, as well as their construction: on the uphill side, they are covered by a layer of mortar whose density indicates it was a water barrier. The defensive structures also include four excellently-preserved dams in the largest ravines. In addition to being a well-protected fort, its high ground also offers far-reaching control over the surrounding area-from the heights of Mudawwar, one can survey an area with a radius of about 50 km (31 mi). In all, the defensive works evidence careful planning, architectural mastery, and a good sense of how best to exploit natural features. It had a V-shape, with a dike and a ditch. A separate wall surrounds the area in front of the low wall, at a distance of about 100 m (330 ft) most of the foundations of this wall have disappeared. It is here that Paul Pascon thought he recognized four towers-there is, in reality, only one construction that can be called a tower, the bastion at the northern end of the low wall. This higher wall allows for surveillance of the entire area south of the massif, and gaps between the rocks are filled in with masonry. There may have been a postern, in about the middle of the western wall. The shortest of the two is in the south and joins the low wall on its eastern end, where a gate was the longest higher wall runs from the western end (at a bastion) almost to the northern tip of the massif. This well-preserved wall (the "low wall") is 8 m (26 ft) high where it abuts the rocks, and in places rises to 12 m (39 ft) it is 80 m (260 ft) long and about 4 m (13 ft) thick, and consists of limestone blocks held together with lime mortar. Gara Medouar has only one large opening, a ravine in the south about one third of the mountain's perimeter has been fortified by walls, the most important of which is the wall going straight across the ravine in the south. The formation, like the fortress of Tasghîmût near Marrakesh, is strategically located and naturally forms an almost complete fortress. Erosion has washed away all loose material, leaving only spurs, and the gara presents itself as essentially a funnel with the constituent canyons leading toward a single exit. The wadi starts after the confluence of four ravines, which divide the higher ground into five plateaus at this confluence is a great circle of rock, surrounded by the overhanging plateaus.
In the south/southwest, the circular formation is broken by a ravine, which continues into the formation as a wadi, providing entrance into the heart of the massif. Most of the perimeter consists of vertical rocks with scree at the bottom. The entire area measures about 50 hectares.
It is a limestone massif that rises 50 m (160 ft) above the desert and consists of fossiliferous beds from the Pragian to Frasnian. Jebel Mudawwar is located 12 km (7.5 mi) to the west of the principal tell of Sijilmasa, in the Tafilalt region.
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