RESUMENSe 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.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the first results of the TunisianSpanish research project in Utica (
In the paper are presented the results of a faunal set from the recent excavations at the Phoenician colony of Utica (Tunis). The set is composed by 536 fragments of bones found in an abandoned Phoenician water pit, filled intentionally with bones of consumed animals, drinking cups, plates, and bowls, as well as amphorae of Phoenician, Geometric Greek, Sardinian and Lybic productions. The hypothesis is that the well possibly was filled with the remains of a ritual banquet in which oxen, caprinae, pigs, horse and domestic dog were consumed. Another species such as turtle and African elephant complete this ancient faunal set. C14 dating samples from the deposit points to the last quarter of cal 10th century BCE to the middle of cal 9th century BCE, as the initial period of Phoenician presence in the Western and Central Mediterranean. So the faunal remains are for the moment the oldest in a Phoenician settlement in North Africa and Central Mediterranean area.
Human Colonization of new lands implied historically the diffusion of new plant species and the exploitation of local plant resources and forests by human communities. Phoenician colonization in the 1st millennium BC had important consequences in Mediterranean agriculture and the exploitation of vegetation in colonized areas. Later, Roman agriculture introduced new changes. The anthracological analysis or charcoal analysis of the archaeological record of the site of Utica can inform us about the long term transformations in vegetation in North Africa. The original vegetation, consisting mainly of Pistacia lentiscus, would see its population reduced due to the implantation of non-intensive olive production in Phoenician and Punic periods. Nevertheless, since the Roman Imperial Period there was a strong decline of natural vegetation, in correlation of the important increment of olive trees, which indicate the presence of intensive oil production, mainly to be exported to Rome. Furthermore, the appearance of walnut trees presents novel data regarding the expansion of arboriculture throughout the Mediterranean in hand with the Phoenicians during the 1st millennium BC. The anthracological analysis of Utica presents important information regarding the natural vegetation that existed when the Phoenicians arrived, and the transformation that happened throughout time, corresponding to the management of the surrounding landscape during the Phoenician, Punic, and Roman periods.
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