The Anti-Atlas is reviewed and examined in the light of its geodynamic significance as a Palaeozoic basin and fold belt. Shortening is accommodated by polyharmonic buckle folding of the cover in a thick-skinned fashion without the development of any significant thrust/duplex systems. The Anti-Atlas is heavily inverted deep intracratonic basin, rather than a former passive margin of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean. Inversion took place in Late Carboniferous to Early Permian times. Main shortening directions changed from NW–SE to north–south and maybe NE–SW through time, leading to the development of dome and basin patterns on scales from 100 m to 10 km.