The Roman circus and southwestern city quarter of Carthage: first results of a new international research project

Abstract

The paper presents first results of a joint German–Tunisian research project in Carthage, Tunisia. Archaeological fieldwork has been undertaken (preceded by a geophysical survey) in the southwestern quarter of the ancient city to study the architecture, chronology and urban context of the circus. The area has, unlike the rest of Carthage, not been targeted by excavations of the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries and, also unlike the rest of Carthage, is mostly not overbuilt, although under pressure from neighbouring communities. The area is the last one allowing a large-scale diachronic urban study in which the circus and its impact on the quarter is in the centre. From our first results, we can date the beginning of the construction of the circus to the late first century AD, with interventions in the early third century and usage continuing into the sixth. We were able to define the extension of the northern cavea and to study the western part of the spina and identify the meta at this point. Information has been obtained on early Roman, pre-circus use of the area as well as data on the Punic phases. Sixth- and seventh-century levels are also well preserved.

Isotopic reconstruction of diet at the Vandalic period (ca. 5th–6th centuries AD) Theodosian Wall cemetery at Carthage, Tunisia

“…The overlap in the isotopic results from Carthage with those from coastal Spain from roughly the same period is notable and could indicate not only similar dietary patterns in roughly the same period of time in the western Mediterranean despite geographical distances but also possibly comparable social and economic circumstances. This result is especially important given the fact that the population buried in the Theodosian Wall cemetery represents a more “ordinary” and maybe even rather lower class part of the population of the North African metropolis, whose image has been overly dominated by its elite housing and representational lifestyle due to the emphasis that was laid on this type of evidence in archaeological excavations (a recent project in the southwestern city quarter in Carthage aims at studying the urbanistic development in a more “popular” quarter ( quartier populair as it is put in modern Carthage) for the first time in Carthage (Bockmann et al, 2018, 2020). Excavated, well stratified, and dated cemeteries from the 6th and 7th centuries from this part of the ancient city (both near the Roman circus that dominated this part of the city, one to the south and around a small church to the north of the building, (Humphrey, 1988, Baratte et al, 2014) would present a worthwhile additional data set for an isotopic analysis with which to compare the promising results of the Theodosian Wall cemetery.…”