Imed BEN JERBANIA - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Imed BEN JERBANIA
TRANSFORMATIONS AND CRISIS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN “IDENTITY” AND INTERCULTURALITY IN THE LEVANT AND PHOENICIAN WEST DURING THE 5TH-2ND CENTURIES BCE EDITED BY GIUSEPPE GARBATI AND TATIANA PEDRAZZI, 2021
Necropoleis constitute for the moment our primary source for the various components of Punic soci... more Necropoleis constitute for the moment our primary source for the various components of Punic society and culture in the area of Bizerte, ancient Hippo Diarrhytus. The data from the recent excavations of the tombs of Beni Nafa and Cap Zbib refute the idea of a cultural homogeneity of this area, and put forward local specificities that can be regarded as principal markers in the differentiation of the social groups, from cultural, economic and social points of view. Indeed, the variation in practices and funeral ritual between these two cemeteries constitute a distinctive element of a "community" when compared to others. The frequent use of red ochre and handmade pottery in the hypogea of Beni Nafa, and its absence in the coastal necropolis of Cap Zbib, testify, for example, to the clear differentiation of local practices and the role they played in those areas. In the same way, the study of material culture, through the analysis of the ceramics of each necropolis, makes it possible to highlight the local characteristics and to speak, therefore, about "ceramic areas", which probably coincide with "socio-cultural areas". The features of the ceramic repertoires, in terms of production (density of black glazed ceramics, handmade pottery…), and morphology, allow us to grasp both foreign influences and local characteristics.
AULA ORIENTALIS Revista de estudios del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, 2020
The article presents the results of the excavations of the Tunisian-Spanish team in Utica, with s... more The article presents the results of the excavations of the Tunisian-Spanish team in Utica, with special reference to those of the 2017 campaign. A very old Phoenician building has been documented in Zone II, as well as remains of a large building from the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC. In the urban area of Zone I, part of a house with a mudbrick domestic kiln has been located, probably a kitchen, adjacent to a courtyard covered with an opus tessellatum pavement, which was in use until the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. Also in Zone I, the floor plan of a Phoenician-Punic temple from the 4th century B.C. and its construction process has been completed, locating also decorative architectural elements of a monumental building, dating from the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C
![Research paper thumbnail of La primera ocupación fenicia de Utica [The earliest Phoenicians levels at Utica]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/64508584/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](S. Celestino y E. Rodríguez (eds.): IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos (Mérida, 2018), 2020
The results of the Tunisian-Spanish project in Utica in Zone II are presented. Four construction ... more The results of the Tunisian-Spanish project in Utica in Zone II are presented. Four construction phases have been recorded: the oldest corresponds to a well, filled with abundant ceramic and bone material from a collective banquet. The second phase is another well covered by the construction of a Phoenician building that partially preserves the floor plan and the interior compartmentation. On
this phase are superimposed the remains of a later building to which domestic ovens are associated. The phases are included in an average chronological interval between c. 950-810 cal BC for several dates of C14 obtained in the oldest well and strata associated to both buildings. The archaeological chronology of the first phase is situated at an advanced point in the horizon Al Bass II and the two
subsequent buildings in the horizon Al Bass III.
KEYWORDS North Africa, Phoenician colonization, construction phases, C14, horizons Al Bass II, Al Bass III
IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos , 2020
Se presenta el resultado de las excavaciones en el área urbana del promontorio norte de Utica, en... more Se presenta el resultado de las excavaciones en el área urbana del promontorio norte de Utica, en la que se distinguen siete fases constructivas superpuestas desde el siglo VIII a.C. hasta época imperial romana. Durante las dos primeras fases fenicias se documentan actividades productivas como un horno de fabricación de cerámica. A partir del siglo V a.C. el área pasa a tener un uso de habitación en dos terrazas separadas por un muro y se abandonan los usos industriales, siguiendo un trazado ortogonal. Tras la conquista romana se amplía el área urbana y en época tardorrepublicana cambia la orientación de las edificaciones. En el siglo I d.C. la superficie ocupada anteriormente pasa a encuadrarse dentro de una insula delimitada por dos calles, estando habitada hasta su abandono en el siglo IV d.C.
IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos, 2020
Pleuger, E., Goiran, J.-P., Mazzini, I., Delile, H., Abichou, A., Gadhoum, A., Djerbi, H., Piotrowska, N., Wilson, A. I., Fentress, E., Ben Jerbania, I., and Fagel, N. ‘Palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Medjerda delta (Tunisia) during the Holocene’, QSR 220: 263–78, 2019
The progradation of the Medjerda delta has been the subject of many studies since the 19th centur... more The progradation of the Medjerda delta has been the subject of many studies since the 19th century. The scale and the rapidity of this phenomenon interested researchers in various fields early on, such as geomorphology, geology, palaeogeography, history, archaeology, or geoarchaeology. Indeed, the delta prograded by around 10 km over 3 millennia. At the time of its foundation supposedly at the end of the 12th century BC, the Phoenician city of Utica was located on a promontory bathed by the sea, but the sediments carried by the Medjerda progressively sealed the bay, leaving the tip of the Utica promontory now 10 km inland. This area is therefore an exception to the general pattern along the Tunisian coast, since as over the same period everywhere else there is a regression of the coastline, owing to a sea level rise of several decimeters. Based on multi-proxy analyses of two coring transects, this paper aims to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments and the palaeogeography of the Medjerda delta's progradation since the mid-Holocene, some aspects of which are described in ancient sources. The results highlight in particular an episode of high-intensity flooding around the 4th century AD, which is consistent with episodes of high floods and an increase in sedimentation rates recorded in the watershed at the end of the Roman period. The gradual abandonment of the city of Utica can certainly be related to the activity of the Medjerda River, but our results show that it is because of an increase of fluvial sediment contribution in connection with an erosive crisis in the headwaters, and not because of the change of course of the river, which had occurred long before.
Delile, H., Pleuger, E., Blichert-Toft, J., Goiran, J.-P., Fagel, N., Gadhoum, A., Abichou, A., Ben Jerbania, I., Fentress, E. W. B., and Wilson, A. I. (2019). ‘Economic resilience of Carthage during the Punic Wars: Insights from the sediments of the Medjerda delta around Utica (Tunisia)’, PNAS, 2019
While the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) have been the subject of numerous studies, generally focused on... more While the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) have been the subject of numerous studies, generally focused on their most sensational aspects (major battles, techniques of warfare, geopolitical strategies, etc.), curiously, the exceptional economic resilience of the Carthaginians in the face of successive defeats, loss of mining territory, and the imposition of war reparations has attracted hardly any attention. Here, we address this issue using a newly developed powerful tracer in geoarchaeology, that of Pb isotopes applied to paleopollution. We measured the Pb isotopic compositions of a well-dated suite of eight deep cores taken in the Medjerda delta around the city of Utica. The data provide robust evidence of ancient lead–silver mining in Tunisia and lay out a chronology for its exploitation, which appears to follow the main periods of geopolitical instability at the time: the Greco-Punic Wars (480–307 BC) and the Punic Wars (264–146 BC). During the last conflict, the data further suggest that Carthage was still able to pay indemnities and fund armies despite the loss of its traditional silver sources in the Mediterranean. This work shows that the mining of Tunisian metalliferous ores between the second half of the fourth and the beginning of the third century BC contributed to the emergence of Punic coinage and the development of the Carthaginian economy.
El autor/la autora posee el derecho de realizar copias de este pdf para uso científico propio o f... more El autor/la autora posee el derecho de realizar copias de este pdf para uso científico propio o facilitar a terceros el pdf inalterado en formato digital. Asimismo, posee el autor/la autora el derecho de publicar el documento en una página de internet de su elección, una vez que hayan transcurrido 24 meses y que el DAI haya puesto el documento a disposición del público de forma gratuita. MADRIDER MITTEILUNGEN erscheint seit 1960 MM 58, 2017 · VIII, 480 Seiten mit 175 Abbildungen
by José Luis López Castro, Imed BEN JERBANIA, Víctor Martínez Hahnmüller, Carmen Ana Pardo Barrionuevo, Amparo Sánchez Moreno, Ana María Niveau-de-Villedary y Mariñas, Alfredo Mederos Martin, Faouzi Abidi, KHALFALLI Walid, Bartolomé Mora-Serrano, and Luis Alberto Ruiz Cabrero
The campaign of 2015 in Utica has had limited aims but interesting results. The excavation of the... more The campaign of 2015 in Utica has had limited aims but interesting results. The excavation of the well 20017 in the square 20 was concluded, confirming its character of closed finding of the 9th century B.C. In the square 21 the surface of excavation was extended into the attached building to the well, locating Phoenician strata and structures of mudbrick that confirm its later use to the closing of the well. In the square 10, sector 14 was deepened to date constructive phases located in previous campaigns. Construction remains of the 7th B.C. century were documented too. In the square 11 were executed some extensions in the monumental area, discovering a room with walls of regular stones oriented with the big Roman stairs, as well as medieval structures attached to Phoenician structures of the Building B, which intention was the installation of a waterwheell. In squares 10 and 11 the works were interrupted after reaching to the groundwater level.
[Las excavaciones en Útica (Túnez) llevadas a cabo por un equipo hispano-tunecino desde 2012 han ... more [Las excavaciones en Útica (Túnez) llevadas a cabo por un equipo hispano-tunecino desde 2012 han documentado los restos de dos edificios monumentales superpuestos fenicio-púnicos cercanos a una fuente de agua caliente. El más antiguo, denominado Edificio A, fue erigido en la segunda mitad del siglo VII a.C. y las evidencias del mismo se limitan, hasta el momento, a dos muros de sillares de piedra probablemente pertenecientes a un podium, un pozo de agua de planta cuadrada construido con sillares y los restos de una cisterna. El Edificio A fue desmontado y sus sillares fueron reutilizados en la construcción de otro complejo arquitectónico, el Edificio B, con un nuevo podium hacia la segunda mitad del siglo IV a.C. Esta construcción fue destruida en el período tardorrepublicano por la construcción de una escalera monumental que formaba parte de una reorganización urbana. De acuerdo con los hallazgos y los paralelos arquitectónicos se puede proponer como hipótesis la interpretación de ambos edificios como templos.] Palabras clave: Útica, fenicio, púnico, edificios monumentales, pozo, templos. [Recent excavations at Útica (Tunisia) conducted by a Tuniso-Spanish team from 2012 have discovered the remains of two superposed Phoenician and Punic monumental buildings near to a hot water well. The oldest was named Building A and was erected in the second half of the 7 th century BC. The traces excavated for the moment of this building consist in two block stone walls which most likely were the remains of a podium, a square water pit constructed with regular stones and the remains of a cistern. Building A was dismounted and the stones reused to build another architectural complex towards the second half of the 4 th century BC, named Building B on a new podium to hold pated chambers. Building B was destroyed in late Roman Republican period by a monumental stairs which were part of an urban reorganization. According to the findings and architectural parallels it is possible to propose the hypothesis of the interpretation as temples for both buildings.]
Étude de deux autels à cornes égyptiens Thiaudière J. ISSN 2272-8120 -Dépôt légal : mars 2014 the... more Étude de deux autels à cornes égyptiens Thiaudière J. ISSN 2272-8120 -Dépôt légal : mars 2014 the Near East entre le Chalcolithique récent et l'Age du Bronze ancien du IIIe millénaire: la documentation mésopotamienne en partant de cas paléo-babyloniens d'époque romaine : iconographie et usage
Se presentan los primeros resultados del proyecto de investigación tunecino-español en Utica (Tún... more Se presentan los primeros resultados del proyecto de investigación tunecino-español en Utica (Túnez). En concreto se estudia un complejo formado por un pozo de agua vinculado a un edificio excavado en parte. El pozo posiblemente fue clausurado y cegado de forma ritual. El contenido de su interior ha aportado, además de abundantes restos faunísticos, un depósito de cerámicas fenicias, griegas geométricas, sardas, libias, villanovianas y tartesias, principalmente formado por vajilla de mesa y ánforas, que testimonian tempranas redes de intercambio fenicias en el Mediterráneo Central y Occidental así como un temprano asentamiento fenicio. Las dataciones de C14 obtenidas con semillas del interior del pozo aportan una cronología hacia 925-900 cal AC al conjunto material, idéntica a las de tempranos asentamientos fenicios en la Península Ibérica como Huelva, El Carambolo y La Rebanadilla. En conjunto definen el horizonte más antiguo de la colonización fenicia en el Mediterráneo Central y Occidental.
Although the ancient site of Utica has been studied since the 19th century, the location of its ... more Although the ancient site of Utica has been studied since the 19th century,
the location of its harbors remains unresolved as they were buried under sediments
as the Mejerda delta prograded and left Utica 10 km inland. Using relief
data and a coring survey with sedimentological analysis, we identify the dynamics
of the delta’s progradation, which produced a double system of alluvial
fans. These show that the ancient bay of Utica silted up faster and earlier than
was thought, probably before the end of the Punic period. Combined with the
radiocarbon dates from coring, this suggests that the harbor lay on the northwestern
side of the Utica promontory, communicating with the sea by a marine
corridor west of the northern compartment of the delta. As the infilling of the
ancient bay progressed, this corridor narrowed until it disappeared completely
in the early 5th/mid-6th century A.D., when a peat bog developed on the
northern side of the promontory, sealing the fate of Utica as a port. This relative
environmental stability ended in the 9th–10th century A.D. when about
4 m of sediment, probably of fluvial origin, covered the peat bog, leaving the
site more than 4.5 m above the local sea level.
TRANSFORMATIONS AND CRISIS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN “IDENTITY” AND INTERCULTURALITY IN THE LEVANT AND PHOENICIAN WEST DURING THE 5TH-2ND CENTURIES BCE EDITED BY GIUSEPPE GARBATI AND TATIANA PEDRAZZI, 2021
Necropoleis constitute for the moment our primary source for the various components of Punic soci... more Necropoleis constitute for the moment our primary source for the various components of Punic society and culture in the area of Bizerte, ancient Hippo Diarrhytus. The data from the recent excavations of the tombs of Beni Nafa and Cap Zbib refute the idea of a cultural homogeneity of this area, and put forward local specificities that can be regarded as principal markers in the differentiation of the social groups, from cultural, economic and social points of view. Indeed, the variation in practices and funeral ritual between these two cemeteries constitute a distinctive element of a "community" when compared to others. The frequent use of red ochre and handmade pottery in the hypogea of Beni Nafa, and its absence in the coastal necropolis of Cap Zbib, testify, for example, to the clear differentiation of local practices and the role they played in those areas. In the same way, the study of material culture, through the analysis of the ceramics of each necropolis, makes it possible to highlight the local characteristics and to speak, therefore, about "ceramic areas", which probably coincide with "socio-cultural areas". The features of the ceramic repertoires, in terms of production (density of black glazed ceramics, handmade pottery…), and morphology, allow us to grasp both foreign influences and local characteristics.
AULA ORIENTALIS Revista de estudios del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, 2020
The article presents the results of the excavations of the Tunisian-Spanish team in Utica, with s... more The article presents the results of the excavations of the Tunisian-Spanish team in Utica, with special reference to those of the 2017 campaign. A very old Phoenician building has been documented in Zone II, as well as remains of a large building from the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC. In the urban area of Zone I, part of a house with a mudbrick domestic kiln has been located, probably a kitchen, adjacent to a courtyard covered with an opus tessellatum pavement, which was in use until the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. Also in Zone I, the floor plan of a Phoenician-Punic temple from the 4th century B.C. and its construction process has been completed, locating also decorative architectural elements of a monumental building, dating from the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C
S. Celestino y E. Rodríguez (eds.): IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos (Mérida, 2018), 2020
The results of the Tunisian-Spanish project in Utica in Zone II are presented. Four construction ... more The results of the Tunisian-Spanish project in Utica in Zone II are presented. Four construction phases have been recorded: the oldest corresponds to a well, filled with abundant ceramic and bone material from a collective banquet. The second phase is another well covered by the construction of a Phoenician building that partially preserves the floor plan and the interior compartmentation. On
this phase are superimposed the remains of a later building to which domestic ovens are associated. The phases are included in an average chronological interval between c. 950-810 cal BC for several dates of C14 obtained in the oldest well and strata associated to both buildings. The archaeological chronology of the first phase is situated at an advanced point in the horizon Al Bass II and the two
subsequent buildings in the horizon Al Bass III.
KEYWORDS North Africa, Phoenician colonization, construction phases, C14, horizons Al Bass II, Al Bass III
IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos , 2020
Se presenta el resultado de las excavaciones en el área urbana del promontorio norte de Utica, en... more Se presenta el resultado de las excavaciones en el área urbana del promontorio norte de Utica, en la que se distinguen siete fases constructivas superpuestas desde el siglo VIII a.C. hasta época imperial romana. Durante las dos primeras fases fenicias se documentan actividades productivas como un horno de fabricación de cerámica. A partir del siglo V a.C. el área pasa a tener un uso de habitación en dos terrazas separadas por un muro y se abandonan los usos industriales, siguiendo un trazado ortogonal. Tras la conquista romana se amplía el área urbana y en época tardorrepublicana cambia la orientación de las edificaciones. En el siglo I d.C. la superficie ocupada anteriormente pasa a encuadrarse dentro de una insula delimitada por dos calles, estando habitada hasta su abandono en el siglo IV d.C.
IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos, 2020
Pleuger, E., Goiran, J.-P., Mazzini, I., Delile, H., Abichou, A., Gadhoum, A., Djerbi, H., Piotrowska, N., Wilson, A. I., Fentress, E., Ben Jerbania, I., and Fagel, N. ‘Palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Medjerda delta (Tunisia) during the Holocene’, QSR 220: 263–78, 2019
The progradation of the Medjerda delta has been the subject of many studies since the 19th centur... more The progradation of the Medjerda delta has been the subject of many studies since the 19th century. The scale and the rapidity of this phenomenon interested researchers in various fields early on, such as geomorphology, geology, palaeogeography, history, archaeology, or geoarchaeology. Indeed, the delta prograded by around 10 km over 3 millennia. At the time of its foundation supposedly at the end of the 12th century BC, the Phoenician city of Utica was located on a promontory bathed by the sea, but the sediments carried by the Medjerda progressively sealed the bay, leaving the tip of the Utica promontory now 10 km inland. This area is therefore an exception to the general pattern along the Tunisian coast, since as over the same period everywhere else there is a regression of the coastline, owing to a sea level rise of several decimeters. Based on multi-proxy analyses of two coring transects, this paper aims to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments and the palaeogeography of the Medjerda delta's progradation since the mid-Holocene, some aspects of which are described in ancient sources. The results highlight in particular an episode of high-intensity flooding around the 4th century AD, which is consistent with episodes of high floods and an increase in sedimentation rates recorded in the watershed at the end of the Roman period. The gradual abandonment of the city of Utica can certainly be related to the activity of the Medjerda River, but our results show that it is because of an increase of fluvial sediment contribution in connection with an erosive crisis in the headwaters, and not because of the change of course of the river, which had occurred long before.
Delile, H., Pleuger, E., Blichert-Toft, J., Goiran, J.-P., Fagel, N., Gadhoum, A., Abichou, A., Ben Jerbania, I., Fentress, E. W. B., and Wilson, A. I. (2019). ‘Economic resilience of Carthage during the Punic Wars: Insights from the sediments of the Medjerda delta around Utica (Tunisia)’, PNAS, 2019
While the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) have been the subject of numerous studies, generally focused on... more While the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) have been the subject of numerous studies, generally focused on their most sensational aspects (major battles, techniques of warfare, geopolitical strategies, etc.), curiously, the exceptional economic resilience of the Carthaginians in the face of successive defeats, loss of mining territory, and the imposition of war reparations has attracted hardly any attention. Here, we address this issue using a newly developed powerful tracer in geoarchaeology, that of Pb isotopes applied to paleopollution. We measured the Pb isotopic compositions of a well-dated suite of eight deep cores taken in the Medjerda delta around the city of Utica. The data provide robust evidence of ancient lead–silver mining in Tunisia and lay out a chronology for its exploitation, which appears to follow the main periods of geopolitical instability at the time: the Greco-Punic Wars (480–307 BC) and the Punic Wars (264–146 BC). During the last conflict, the data further suggest that Carthage was still able to pay indemnities and fund armies despite the loss of its traditional silver sources in the Mediterranean. This work shows that the mining of Tunisian metalliferous ores between the second half of the fourth and the beginning of the third century BC contributed to the emergence of Punic coinage and the development of the Carthaginian economy.
El autor/la autora posee el derecho de realizar copias de este pdf para uso científico propio o f... more El autor/la autora posee el derecho de realizar copias de este pdf para uso científico propio o facilitar a terceros el pdf inalterado en formato digital. Asimismo, posee el autor/la autora el derecho de publicar el documento en una página de internet de su elección, una vez que hayan transcurrido 24 meses y que el DAI haya puesto el documento a disposición del público de forma gratuita. MADRIDER MITTEILUNGEN erscheint seit 1960 MM 58, 2017 · VIII, 480 Seiten mit 175 Abbildungen
by José Luis López Castro, Imed BEN JERBANIA, Víctor Martínez Hahnmüller, Carmen Ana Pardo Barrionuevo, Amparo Sánchez Moreno, Ana María Niveau-de-Villedary y Mariñas, Alfredo Mederos Martin, Faouzi Abidi, KHALFALLI Walid, Bartolomé Mora-Serrano, and Luis Alberto Ruiz Cabrero
The campaign of 2015 in Utica has had limited aims but interesting results. The excavation of the... more The campaign of 2015 in Utica has had limited aims but interesting results. The excavation of the well 20017 in the square 20 was concluded, confirming its character of closed finding of the 9th century B.C. In the square 21 the surface of excavation was extended into the attached building to the well, locating Phoenician strata and structures of mudbrick that confirm its later use to the closing of the well. In the square 10, sector 14 was deepened to date constructive phases located in previous campaigns. Construction remains of the 7th B.C. century were documented too. In the square 11 were executed some extensions in the monumental area, discovering a room with walls of regular stones oriented with the big Roman stairs, as well as medieval structures attached to Phoenician structures of the Building B, which intention was the installation of a waterwheell. In squares 10 and 11 the works were interrupted after reaching to the groundwater level.
[Las excavaciones en Útica (Túnez) llevadas a cabo por un equipo hispano-tunecino desde 2012 han ... more [Las excavaciones en Útica (Túnez) llevadas a cabo por un equipo hispano-tunecino desde 2012 han documentado los restos de dos edificios monumentales superpuestos fenicio-púnicos cercanos a una fuente de agua caliente. El más antiguo, denominado Edificio A, fue erigido en la segunda mitad del siglo VII a.C. y las evidencias del mismo se limitan, hasta el momento, a dos muros de sillares de piedra probablemente pertenecientes a un podium, un pozo de agua de planta cuadrada construido con sillares y los restos de una cisterna. El Edificio A fue desmontado y sus sillares fueron reutilizados en la construcción de otro complejo arquitectónico, el Edificio B, con un nuevo podium hacia la segunda mitad del siglo IV a.C. Esta construcción fue destruida en el período tardorrepublicano por la construcción de una escalera monumental que formaba parte de una reorganización urbana. De acuerdo con los hallazgos y los paralelos arquitectónicos se puede proponer como hipótesis la interpretación de ambos edificios como templos.] Palabras clave: Útica, fenicio, púnico, edificios monumentales, pozo, templos. [Recent excavations at Útica (Tunisia) conducted by a Tuniso-Spanish team from 2012 have discovered the remains of two superposed Phoenician and Punic monumental buildings near to a hot water well. The oldest was named Building A and was erected in the second half of the 7 th century BC. The traces excavated for the moment of this building consist in two block stone walls which most likely were the remains of a podium, a square water pit constructed with regular stones and the remains of a cistern. Building A was dismounted and the stones reused to build another architectural complex towards the second half of the 4 th century BC, named Building B on a new podium to hold pated chambers. Building B was destroyed in late Roman Republican period by a monumental stairs which were part of an urban reorganization. According to the findings and architectural parallels it is possible to propose the hypothesis of the interpretation as temples for both buildings.]
Étude de deux autels à cornes égyptiens Thiaudière J. ISSN 2272-8120 -Dépôt légal : mars 2014 the... more Étude de deux autels à cornes égyptiens Thiaudière J. ISSN 2272-8120 -Dépôt légal : mars 2014 the Near East entre le Chalcolithique récent et l'Age du Bronze ancien du IIIe millénaire: la documentation mésopotamienne en partant de cas paléo-babyloniens d'époque romaine : iconographie et usage
Se presentan los primeros resultados del proyecto de investigación tunecino-español en Utica (Tún... more Se presentan los primeros resultados del proyecto de investigación tunecino-español en Utica (Túnez). En concreto se estudia un complejo formado por un pozo de agua vinculado a un edificio excavado en parte. El pozo posiblemente fue clausurado y cegado de forma ritual. El contenido de su interior ha aportado, además de abundantes restos faunísticos, un depósito de cerámicas fenicias, griegas geométricas, sardas, libias, villanovianas y tartesias, principalmente formado por vajilla de mesa y ánforas, que testimonian tempranas redes de intercambio fenicias en el Mediterráneo Central y Occidental así como un temprano asentamiento fenicio. Las dataciones de C14 obtenidas con semillas del interior del pozo aportan una cronología hacia 925-900 cal AC al conjunto material, idéntica a las de tempranos asentamientos fenicios en la Península Ibérica como Huelva, El Carambolo y La Rebanadilla. En conjunto definen el horizonte más antiguo de la colonización fenicia en el Mediterráneo Central y Occidental.
Although the ancient site of Utica has been studied since the 19th century, the location of its ... more Although the ancient site of Utica has been studied since the 19th century,
the location of its harbors remains unresolved as they were buried under sediments
as the Mejerda delta prograded and left Utica 10 km inland. Using relief
data and a coring survey with sedimentological analysis, we identify the dynamics
of the delta’s progradation, which produced a double system of alluvial
fans. These show that the ancient bay of Utica silted up faster and earlier than
was thought, probably before the end of the Punic period. Combined with the
radiocarbon dates from coring, this suggests that the harbor lay on the northwestern
side of the Utica promontory, communicating with the sea by a marine
corridor west of the northern compartment of the delta. As the infilling of the
ancient bay progressed, this corridor narrowed until it disappeared completely
in the early 5th/mid-6th century A.D., when a peat bog developed on the
northern side of the promontory, sealing the fate of Utica as a port. This relative
environmental stability ended in the 9th–10th century A.D. when about
4 m of sediment, probably of fluvial origin, covered the peat bog, leaving the
site more than 4.5 m above the local sea level.
Excavations in the Numidian and Roman town of Althiburos, Tunisia
Madrider Mitteilungen, 2017
Während der letzten Grabungskampagnen des tunesisch-spanischen Teams wurde in Utica (Tunesien) ei... more Während der letzten Grabungskampagnen des tunesisch-spanischen Teams wurde in Utica (Tunesien) ein phönizischer architektonischer Komplex entdeckt. Dieser ist mit einem teilweise ausgegrabenen phönizischen Gebäude verbunden. Südlich dieses Gebäudes öffnet sich ein nahezu kreisförmiger Brunnenschacht. Der Inhalt des Brunnens bildet einen geschlossenen Komplex, der aus den Resten eines kollektiven, vermutlich rituellen Gelages besteht und in das letzte Viertel des 9. Jhs. v. Chr. datiert wird. Unter den Funden aus dem Brunnen befindet sich auch ein quaderförmiges Elfenbeinfragment. Die naturwissenschaftliche Analyse des Stückes ergab Flusspferdelfenbein als Rohmaterial. Dieser Befund wird in einen Zusammenhang mit anderen zeitgenössischen Elfenbeinfunden gebracht und die Frage des phönizischen und orientalisierenden Handels mit Flusspferdelfenbein besprochen.
Schlagworte: Elfenbein – naturwissenschaftliche Analyse – Flusspferd – Nordafrikanischer Elefant – Elfenbeinhandel – phönizische Kolonisation
Durante algunas de las últimas campañas de excavación del equipo tunecino-español en Utica (Túnez) fue descubierto un complejo arquitectónico fenicio muy antiguo asociado a un edificio fenicio, parcialmente excavado. Al Sur de este edificio se abre un pozo prácticamente circular. Las características del contenido del pozo han permitido interpretarlo como un conjunto cerrado, formado por los restos de un banquete colectivo, posiblemente ritual, y datado en el último cuarto del siglo IX a. C. Entre los fragmentos recuperados en el pozo se encuentra una pieza de marfil en forma de paralelepípedo. Se ha estudiado esta pieza y mediante análisis científicos se ha podido determinar la materia prima como marfil de hipopótamo. Ponemos este dato en relación con otros hallazgos de marfil contemporáneos y revisamos la cuestión del comercio de marfil de hipopótamo fenicio y orientalizante.
Palabras clave: marfil – análisis científico – hipopótamo – elefante norteafricano – comercio de marfil – colonización fenicia
During the last excavation campaigns of the Tunisian-spanish team in Utica (Tunisia) an ancient Phoenician architectonic complex, associated to a partially excavated Phoenician building, was discovered. South of that building an almost circular well opens in the ground. The characteristics of the content of the well allowed to interpret it as a closed context, built up by the remains of a collective, possibly ritual, feast and dated to the last quarter of the 9th century BC. Among the fragments recovered from the well is a cuboid ivory piece. The scientific analysis of the piece revealed the raw material as hippopotamus ivory. This date is put in relation to other contemporaneous ivory finds and the question of Phoenician and orientalizing ivory trade is studied.
Keywords: ivory – scientific analysis – hippopotamus – Northafrican elephant – Ivory trade – Phoenician colonization
MISTRALS Conference “Environment in the Mediterranean. Statements and Prospects for Research and Society”, Marseille, France, 20-22 october 2015, 2015
Harbours as objects of interdisciplinary research, DFG Priority Programme 1630 “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages“, 30th of September - 3rd of October 2015, 2015
Conference on the Environmental Archaeology of European Cities, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium, May 27-29, 2015, 2015
Quaternary International, 2019
According to ancient literary tradition, Utica is considered to be one of the first three Phoenic... more According to ancient literary tradition, Utica is considered to be one of the first three Phoenician foundations in the Western Mediterranean, supposedly founded in 1101 BC by Levantines from Tyre. In the Phoenician and Roman periods, it was an important merchant coastal town, on a promontory facing the sea. Over the centuries Utica lost its access to the sea, and its ports silted up as a consequence of the activity of the wadi Medjerda, which flowed to the south of the city. Despite over a century of investigation by archaeologists and associated researchers, the location of the city’s harbour structures from the Phoenician and Roman periods remains unknown, buried under sediments resulting from the progradation of the Medjerda. Based on the study of sedimentary cores, the research presented here highlights the existence of a long maritime façade to the north of the Utica promontory in Phoenician and Roman times. A deep-water marine environment is attested in the former bay from the 6th mill. BC and the depth of the water column along the northern façade was still 2 m around the 4th – 3rd c. BC. Another core to the east of the Kalaat El Andalous promontory showed the possibilitythat this sector was a sheltered harbour during the Phoenician and Roman periods. This paper illustrates the contribution of geoarchaeology to address this archaeological problem and to understand the relations of this important port city with the sea.