Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis
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How it came to be
Kerkouane was a Phoenician-Punic town on a cliff above the sea at the tip of Cape Bon in Tunisia. Its ancient name has not survived, and the present one was given by archaeologists. The earliest traces date from the 6th century BC, and the visible ruins from the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC.
The town probably never had more than 1,200 people, mostly fishermen and craftsmen, and the many murex shells suggest it produced purple dye. It was laid out to a set plan, with wide, straight streets forming a grid and houses built to a standard design. Coloured plaster on the walls and simple mosaic floors can still be seen.
The town was abandoned around 250 BC, during the First Punic War, and the Romans never built over it. As a result it is the only Punic town whose layout survives almost intact. It was discovered in 1952 and inscribed, together with its necropolis, in 1985.
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