PHOENICIAN/PUNIC WATCH:

Metro station in Algeria's capital: link to the past

By Pierre-Yves Julien (AFP) – 3 days ago

ALGIERS — Workmen digging the foundations of a new metro station in Algeria's capital stumbled on an archaeological goldmine that gives new meaning to "time travel" -- opening a window on 2,300 years of history.

Relics from the French colonial era lie on top of those from the Ottoman period, in turn covering those from the Middle Ages and early Roman Empire.

Then comes what archaeologists hope will be ruins from the Punic period -- when Phoenician traders established north African outposts in the first millennium BC.

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Beneath that came the remains of a Paleo-Christian church dating from the 4th or 5th century AD, said Francois Souq, director for the Mediterranean region at the National Institute for Preventive Research (INRAP) in the southern French city of Nimes.

The bases of columns are still visible, surrounding a nave around 20 metres (65 feet) wide, with the floor covered in mosaics.

The archaeologists hope that by digging a bit deeper they will uncover remains dating from the Punic era, when the Phoenicians built trading posts along a 1,200-kilometre (745-mile) stretch of the Algerian coastline.

One of the ports was Icosium, the ancient city on which Algiers now stands.

Archaeologists believe Icosium would have been founded in the 3rd century BC although they admit their knowledge is limited.

Among the few clues so far was a pot of money discovered during the building of a road near the Casbah.

It contained coins with the Punic inscription for Icosium and the effigy of a man who could have been Melqart, a Phoenician god.

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(Via the Agade list)