New Pottery Contexts and Radiocarbon Data from Early Layers on the Byrsa Hill (Carthage): the “Astarté 2”-Sequence

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a preventive excavation at the south-eastern slope of the Byrsa Hill in Carthage located in the modern Rue Astarté. Early Punic layers in a closed, undisturbed sequence upon the virgin soil were excavated (“Astarté 2”-sequence). According to the ceramic and radiocarbon data, this sequence can be placed to the first half of the 8th century BCE, and remains open to a possible overflow to the end of the 9th century BCE for the early material of the lowest stratigraphic layer. This evidence makes it possible to consider the assemblages in this sequence as being the oldest one found in Carthage so far. Already in this early stage Carthage seems to have been well integrated into a Mediterranean wide network, connecting Sardinian, Libyan, Cypriote, Iberian, Greek and Levantine partners.