Kerkouane

Kerkouane

Shown within Tunisia
Location	Nabeul Governorate, Tunisia
Coordinates	36.946389°N 11.099167°E / 36.946389; 11.099167
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii
Designated	1985 (9th session)
Reference no.	332
UNESCO Region	Arab States

Kerkouane or Kerkuane (Arabic: كركوان, Karkwān) is the site of an ancient Punic city in north-eastern Tunisia, near Cape Bon. This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 BCE) and was not rebuilt by the Romans. It had existed for almost 400 years.

Excavations of the town have revealed ruins and coins from the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. Around the site where the layout is clearly visible, many houses still show their walls, and the coloured clay on the facades is often still visible. The houses were built to a standard plan, in accordance with a sophisticated notion of town planning.

A sanctuary has some columns preserved, and in a small atrium parts of mosaics are found. Curbstones, doorsteps, thresholds, and floors of simple mosaic layers are found all over the ruins. Still archaeologists work on the Kerkouane site, but it is believed that the best parts have already been discovered.

Kerkouane was one of the most important Punic cities, with Carthage, Hadrumetum (modern Sousse), and Utica.

Sights

UNESCO declared the Punic town of Kerkouane and its necropolis a World Heritage Site in 1985, citing among other things that the remains constitute the only example of a Phoenicio-Punic city to have survived.

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  Floor of Kerkouane
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  A bath
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  A toilet
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  Remains of houses
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  View of the archeological site
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  Outside Kerkouane museum
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  Plan of the site
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  Remains of Tamezrat
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  Remains of walls
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  Remains of columns
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  Sign of the site
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  General view of the site

External links

• Media related to Kerkouane at Wikimedia Commons
• Lexicorient
• Kerkounane Guide