A great deal of archaeological activity was carried on at the site, particularly in the late 19th century, uncovering early Punic artifacts and Roman, Byzantine, and Vandal buildings. Though Roman Carthage was destroyed, much of its remains can be traced, including the outline of many fortifications and an aqueduct. The former Byrsa area was adorned with a large temple dedicated to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva, and near it stood a temple to Asclepius. Also on the Byrsa site stood an open-air portico, from which the finest Roman sculptures at Carthage have survived. Additional remains of the Roman town include an odeum, another theatre constructed by Hadrian, an amphitheatre modeled on the Roman Colosseum, numerous baths and temples, and a circus. The Christian buildings within the city, with the exception of a few Vandal structures, are all Byzantine. The largest basilica was rebuilt in the 6th century on the site of an earlier one. Churches probably existed during the 3rd and 4th centuries, but of these no traces remain.


Excavations at Carthage March to May 1925 Francis W. Kelsey, Director Excavations at Sanctuary of Tanit Copyright � 1997 The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan. All rights reserved.

1925 Francis W. Kelsey conducted an investigation of the site of Carthage, the ancient city-state founded by the Phoenicians in the middle of the 9th century B.C. and destroyed by Rome in 146 B.C. in the last Punic War. The Washington Archaeological Society had asked Professor Kelsey and his staff to investigate working conditions and to determine whether to invest large sums of money for a complete excavation. The archaeological stratification on the site of Carthage covered periods from the 8th century B.C. through the 7th century A.D. In one plot free of modern buildings and known to have been associated with the cult of the Punic Goddess Tanit, three distinct archaeological levels were discovered. While the staff found no ruins of an actual temple or shrine they did unearth dedicatory stelae set in the earth like tombstones in a cemetery and cinerary urns. The lowest level they dated to the 8th or 7th century B.C. and the highest, judging from fragments of pottery and Hellenistic lamps found in filling materials, to the period just preceeding the Roman conquest. A preliminary examination of the contents of the urns revealed charred bones of young children, lambs, goats, and small birds. Rings, bracelets, earrings, beads, amulets, and objects of gold, silver, bronze, and iron were found with the bones in certain urns at the lowest level. The excavation at Carthage was discontinued because of lack of substantial evidence that buildings would be found in accessible areas.