Kerkouane

Coordinates: 36°56′47″N 11°05′57″E / 36.94639°N 11.09917°E / 36.94639; 11.09917
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Kerkouane
Kerkouane is located in Tunisia
Kerkouane
Shown within Tunisia
LocationNabeul Governorate, Tunisia
Coordinates36°56′47″N 11°05′57″E / 36.946389°N 11.099167°E / 36.946389; 11.099167
Arab States

Kerkouane or Kerkuane (

Punic city in north-eastern Tunisia, near Cape Bon. Kerkouane was one of the most important Punic cities[dubious ], with Carthage, Hadrumetum (modern Sousse), and Utica. This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 BC) and was not rebuilt by the Romans
. It had existed for almost 400 years.

UNESCO declared the Punic town of Kerkouane and its necropolis a World Heritage Site in 1985, citing among other things that the remains constitute the only example of a Phoenicio-Punic city to have survived.

The name Kerkouane was given to the town by archaeologists. Its name in antiquity has not been preserved in any known historical documents.[1]

Etymology

The name Kerkouane is a Libyco-Berber toponym deriving from Berber kkerker "to wall up", it is also found in Algeria and the Sahel region.[2]

Excavations

Kerkouane is a small town and was probably never home to more than 1,200 people, mostly fishermen and craftsmen. Based on the presence of many murex shells, it would appear that the town produced purple dye, in addition to salt and garum (a food product).[1]

Excavations of the town have revealed ruins and

coins
from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Around the site where the layout is clearly visible, many houses still show their walls, and the coloured clay on the facades is often still visible. The town was built on a grid with wide streets and public squares. The houses were built to a standard plan, in accordance with a sophisticated notion of town planning.

Traces of

The Odyssey found with an Ionian cup, and Greek architectural elements like peristyle courtyards and stucco plaster decorations found among the remains of upscale private homes, show the town was influenced by the culture of the greater Mediterranean world.[1]

A sanctuary has some columns preserved, and in a small atrium parts of mosaics are found. Curbstones, doorsteps, thresholds, and floors of simple mosaic layers are found all over the ruins.[3]

There is an area for ritual banquets and a sacrificial altar. While archaeologists are unsure precisely which deities the temple was dedicated to, they speculate based on artifacts found at the site that it may have been

Sid and Tanit. Terracotta heads showing two males wearing conical hats resemble Sid and Melqart iconography known from the Temple of Antas in Sardinia.[1]

Climate change

Due to its coastal location, Kerkouane is vulnerable to

sea walls.[8]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781101517031.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  2. .
  3. ^ "Kerkouane". www.trekearth.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  4. ^ Trisos, C.H., I.O. Adelekan, E. Totin, A. Ayanlade, J. Efitre, A. Gemeda, K. Kalaba, C. Lennard, C. Masao, Y. Mgaya, G. Ngaruiya, D. Olago, N.P. Simpson, and S. Zakieldeen 2022: Chapter 9: Africa. In Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke,V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2043–2121
  5. PMID 31996825
    .
  6. .
  7. ^ Technical Summary. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (PDF). IPCC. August 2021. p. TS14. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  8. ^ IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 3−32, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.001.

Gallery

  • Floor of Kerkouane
    Floor of Kerkouane
  • A bath
    A bath
  • A toilet
    A toilet
  • Remains of houses
    Remains of houses
  • View of the archeological site
    View of the archeological site
  • Outside Kerkouane museum
    Outside Kerkouane museum
  • Plan of the site
    Plan of the site
  • Remains of Tamezrat
    Remains of Tamezrat
  • Remains of walls
    Remains of walls
  • Remains of columns
    Remains of columns
  • Sign of the site
    Sign of the site
  • General view of the site
    General view of the site

External links

36°56′47″N 11°05′57″E / 36.94639°N 11.09917°E / 36.94639; 11.09917