Excavators taking and recording measurements in one of the areas at the Zita excavaton site. Credit: Zita Project on the Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography of Southern Tunisia
Posted on 02/01/2015 9:58:10 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The site of Zita contains remains of a Roman forum and a Punic child sacrifice precinct.
During the summer of 2015, a team of archaeologists and other specialists and students will be exploring a large mound that contains the remains of an ancient city that once commanded the highest point on a peninsula that juts out from the southern coast of Tunisia into the Mediterranean. Visible from the island of Djerba, which was anciently known as Calypso of the Lotus Eaters in Homer's The Odyssey, the mound features the remains from a Roman bathhouse, ceramic kilns, evidence of metallurgy, and a Punic tomb.
Dr. Brett Kaufman of Brown University and colleagues from UCLA and the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP), Tunisia, have been conducting research at the site known as Zita, ("Olive City" in Punic), since 2013. Their first two seasons have uncovered promising signs that will help shed light on the human occupation phases and changes in a location that will see the first archaeological teams at the site since the Arab Spring.
"During our first two seasons in 2013 and 2014," state the project leaders in their project summary, "extensive survey and selected excavations at the site demonstrated occupation levels beginning at least 500 BCE and lasting at least until 400 CE, mostly abandoned around 300 CE. A tophet was identified with numerous stelae and burials well preserved. Also, portions of a Roman forum were exposed, clearly demonstrating continued occupation covering the Punic and Roman cultural horizons."*
The team's goals for 2015 include mapping the ancient city, including the surrounding coastal and agricultural areas; and targeted excavation of key areas and features of the site, such as the Roman forum, the Punic sacrificial precinct, and domestic and metallurgical areas.
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
Excavators taking and recording measurements in one of the areas at the Zita excavaton site. Credit: Zita Project on the Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography of Southern Tunisia
As soon as the archeologists dig it up and display it, the Islamists will come along and destroy everything they can!
Maybe not in Tunisia.
They're excavating the equivalent of the Zita Mall and Planned Parenthood clinic.
Interesting wardrobe for the archeologists (grad student?) in the foreground. I wonder if the purple headscarf is intended as a concession to Islamic modesty. If so, not working. :-)
I was wondering about that scarf, too. Strange.
The men are wearing hats, the woman a scarf, it has to do with the need to keep some shade on their heads in the desert sun.
Maybe the Phoenicians were bad spellers. After all, they only wrote the consonants so there could be an error.
Maybe the Phoenicians were bad spellers. After all, they only wrote the consonants so there could be an error.
I thought that about her scarf, but, then I was thinking that having it under the chin would made me feel a lot hotter. But, then again, I just can’t stand to have anything on my head when I am working in the heat. So, I suppose it does not bother her like that.
Or terrorists will kidnap them and hold for ransom, or even behead. Hope they have a good guard force.
Now you've done it.
"Why did you dump me for Marco?"
I’d excavate her site anytime.
Mission Accomplished!
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