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THE PALM TREE SITE
EXCAVATIONS IN ANCIENT CARTHAGE
CONTENTS:
·
Introduction
·
Location
·
Discoveries
A-The semi
circular embankment
B-The
Theodosian City wall
C-The Rivus
subterraneous
D-The cement
structure
INTRODUCTION:
In the dying days of the 20th
century an Anglo-Tunisian Archaeological team began a series of excavations on
the western outskirts of the ancient city of Carthage (Tunisia). These were
undertaken on behalf of the Museum of Carthage and the Tunisian Institut National du Patrimoine (INP)
and are part of a long-term program of Archaeological research, evaluations,
surveys and rescue excavations conducted by Tunisian and foreign Archaeologists
in the city. This program began in 1972 with an appeal by UNESCO to “Save
Carthage” from the creeping tide of concrete and bricks which threatened to
destroy the fabled city for a fourth and final time. Since then teams of
Archaeologists from ten countries have worked to uncover, study and preserve
parts of this unique site. All in all over seven hundred Archaeologists have
taken part in excavations in the city. Their work has not only increased our
knowledge of the Roman Empire’s “second city” it has also lead; in 1979; to the
site being included in UNESCO’s list of world cultural sites along side
Stonehenge, Abu Sinbal and others.
More recently the Tunisian President; Zine El Abidine Ben Ali; has
declared the site a National Archaeological park, and it is as part of the
development of the Parc Archaeologique de
Carthage et Sidi bou Said that the Palm Tree Site excavations are taking
place.
The focus of these
excavations is a low ridge that crosses the plain between the city’s la Malga
cisterns and the village of Sidi Daoud. Here at the base of the la Malga
plateau; an area earmarked for building and infrastructure works;
Archaeologists have dug a series of long narrow trial trenches through a small
mound, which is topped by a lone palm tree.
These excavations are still
going on, but already a number of important discovers here been made. Here is a
brief summary of the main finds from this site which promises to reveal more
exciting remains in the next few months.
The youngest Archaeological feature
found on the Palm Tree Site are the remains of the Roman city wall built to
“prevent rebellions” in 425 AD.
The city’s second series of
defensive walls, the first were destroyed by the Roman general Scipio in 146
BC, are contemporary with the city walls of Constantinople which were built on
the orders of the emperor Theodosius. Unlike the Theodosian walls at Istanbul
Carthage’s “Theodosian walls” have not stood up to the test of time and have
been mostly destroyed. All that is left of Carthage’s once famous city walls is
a small morsel of rough stone and cement wall at the bottom of an 11-ft (3.60m)
wide “robbing trench”. This is all that is left by the hajaara; stone robbers; who dismantle any abandoned walls they find
for usable rocks and stones which can be recuperated to build the new villas of
la Marsa and present day Carthage.
Excavations on the palm tree
site and in other areas of the city have shown that the Roman City walls
included a series of large towers, fortresses, bastions, extra mural roads and
two ditches. Next to the walls we expect to find one of the many cemeteries
which ringed the city in ancient times
SEMI
CIRCULAR STUCTURE
The Theodosian City wall cut
through and partly destroyed a large building, which promises to be one of the
most important finds on site. A 13-ft (4.5m) wide earthen bank that was
constructed of an inner earth core with a stone revetment some 6 –ft (2m) high.
One side of the bank / wall is vertical whilst the other side forms a marked
slope A flat walkway can be seen running along the top of this bank. The exact
purpose of this strange embankment remains a mystery but it certainly formed a
long narrow unroofed structure with a semi circle end wall. Archaeological
evidence points to this structure having been abandoned in the 4 th. century
when the area seems to have been used as a garbage dump as well as being the
site of glass and iron workshops and furnaces. It had certainly been forgotten
by 425 AD when the Comes Africa,
Boniface, had defensive walls and an 18-yard wide ditch built through the site.
The walls of this enigmatic
building are built directly on top of a long under ground tunnel. This appears
to be one of ancient Carthage’s aqueducts or water channels built to provide
the city with water once it had grown too large for its own wells and spring.
This rivus subterraneus can be
followed for 250-ft (81m) below ground and can be traced for another 1500-ft
(500m) as a crop mark plainly visible on the surface. This tunnel was cut into
the bedrock 8 -ft (2.5m) below ground and was broken into by the Romans in the
3 rd century AD. It was through this ancient stone robbers hole that
Archeologists were first able to enter the channel. The walls of the aqueduct
are 2 -ft (60cm) thick and were made of rough-hewn stones set in cement. The
sides of the channel (the specus) are
lined with a perfectly smooth white water proof plaster, and traces of brown
lime scale (sinter) was left by the
water which once flowed beneath the ground toward Carthage. The specus is 4-ft (1.5m) high and 2 -ft
(60cm) wide; just big enough for a man to enter for cleaning and repair
works.
Archaeologists are currently
digging out a shaft which leads to the channel this shaft seems to have been
deliberately blocked in ancient times, probably to prevent invaders using the
channel to enter the city undetected.
CEMENT STRUCTURE
To date, the earliest
structure found on the Palm Tree Site is a long structure that is made of
coarse sandy cement. This cement appears to have been poured in spits and
contains large amounts of 3rd century Punic pottery shards; particularly the
characteristic, shinny, black Campanian wares of southern Italy. This “wall”
can be clearly seen in aerial reconnaissance photographs taken by the RAF
during World War II. It has been traced by the archaeological team for over 600
-ft (200m) and is 12 -ft (4m) wide and 6 -ft (2m) thick and lies just below the
present ground surface. This is cut by a number of later features including the
rivus subterraneus and some late
Roman graves.
