ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF KERKOUANE

We love this superb site on the Mediterranean coast! Remember to visit the small museum before starting your visit of the site: it reveals thanks to numerous objects found during excavations many aspects of the daily life, the spiritual life and the economic and commercial activities of the Punic period. Among them, a wooden sarcophagus discovered 500 m from the coast in the necropolis, whose carved top represents the princess Kerkouane who watches over the dead. The mask represents Astarte. Discovered in 1952, the ruins belong to a city whose name has not been determined. The first organized excavations began in 1953, but most of the city was exhumed between 1958 and 1959. This charming site has been inscribed by Unesco on the World Heritage List since 1986. These Punic ruins of the 6th century BC are precious because they respect the original layout of the Punic cadastre. Unlike the other Punic sites, the plan of this one was not modified by the Romans, who abandoned the city after having destroyed it in the second century BC. The scientific community agrees that this is the only preserved Punic city. The urbanistic facies, visible today on the ground, is situated between the end of the 4th century BC and the first half of the 3rd century BC. The urban space is divided between the citizens, the deities and the dead. Excavations show that Kerkouane lived mainly from the manufacture of purple. Traders, glassmakers, potters and jewelers who exported their products to the Mediterranean world were also present. Highly prized in Carthage and Rome (where it became the imperial color, the gowns of the imperial families were dyed with it), the purple comes from a shell, the murex, which abounded on the coasts of the Cape. The population, estimated at 2,100 inhabitants for 7 hectares within the city walls, had all the comforts of an advanced city life. The ruins, numerous and scattered, allow us to distinguish ancient dwellings, recognizable by the low boundary walls. Very comfortable for the time, these houses were equipped with elaborate bathrooms. We also find in Kerkouane a Carthaginian mosaic representing Tanit, the goddess of fertility, protector of the city. During a recent excavation, one of the most important temples of the Mediterranean dating from the Punic period was discovered.