Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JULY 29 - Kerkouane, the only Phoenician Punic city still existing, and which has been part of UNESCO's World Heritage since 1985, is this year hosting the 45th edition of the international seminar of archaeological studies.

The seminar, which is being organised by the national heritage institute, a component of Tunisia's Ministry for of Culture and Heritage Protection, will provide a platform for meetings between archaeologists, researchers, university academics and historians from Italy, France, Algeria, Spain and Portugal. The event lasts until August 6.

The participants will be joined by Tunisian graduates who have begun archaeological research. This year's seminar topics include domestic, religious and funereal architecture. Kerkouane, which lies on the Cap Bon peninsula, 12 kilometres from Kelibia, in north-eastern Tunisia, existed for at least four centuries and, according to experts, was abandoned during the first Punic War (circa 250 BC) but was not rebuilt by the Romans.

The town has ruins of major interest that date back to the period of ancient Carthage (excavations exposed ruins dating back to the third and fourth centuries BC) while today, inside what was once the settlement, one can find town walls, houses with clay-coloured facades, the columns of an old sanctuary with fragments of mosaics, pavements, door thresholds, and mosaic floors. Many of the findings are exhibited in a small museum at the entrance of the archaeological site. (ANSAmed).