Colloquia

The Archaeology of the Maghrib Interest Group (AMIG) organizes regular colloquia at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America:

2021

The Archaeology of the Tophet

The so-called "tophet," the conventional name for the sanctuary to Ba’al and Tinnit, is one of the most studied and fiercely debated components of Phoenician-Punic civilization. The literary sources are tendentious, the archaeological remains often poorly recorded, and the epigraphic texts terse and formulaic. For about a century, scholarly debate has focused primarily on whether these open-air votive precincts were the locus of ritual, sacrificial infanticide, or rites of passage, burial, or some combination of these activities. The question of cultural continuity, either looking back with Phoenician colonization or looking ahead to forms of religious practice in the Roman period, has similarly been a point of interest.

This colloquium therefore presents current fieldwork on these precincts, showcasing work that has shed light on the development of these religious practices in Carthage, Sardinia, and the African countryside, and examining issues of continuity, not only in terms of their formative period in the Late Iron Age – Archaic period, but also into the Roman period.

Organizers: Brien Garnand, Howard University and Stephen A. Collins-Elliott, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Brien Garnand (Howard University): "Stratigraphic Evidence from the Kelsey Excavations (University of Michigan, 1925) and Stager Excavations (ASOR Punic Project, 1976-79) at the Carthage Tophet"
• Imed Ben Jerbania (Institut National du Patrimoine - Tunis): "Recent Excavations at the Precinct of Baal Hammon in Carthage"
• Ahmed Ferjaoui (Institut National du Patrimoine - Tunis): "Overview of New Epigraphic Discoveries from the Tophet of Carthage"
• Valentina Melchiorri (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen) and Paola Xella (University of Pisa): "The Tophet-Sanctuary of Sulci (Sardinia): Archaeological Research and Epigraphic Evidence"
• Matthew M. McCarty (University of British Columbia): "Technologies of Sacrificial Substitution in Roman Tophets: Reconsidering the N'Gaous Stelae"

2020

New Archaeological Fieldwork in North Africa

Carthage: World City

This colloquium focuses on the development of Carthaginian society, culture, and empire, its urbanism and impact both in North Africa and beyond, at any point in the course of its history. Rather than merely situating the archaeology of Carthage within the context of Tyrian or Roman colonization, we invite a comparative perspective for evaluating aspects of the city of Carthage and the Carthaginian world in order to examine the utility and significance of concepts such as globalization in the case of this important polity.

Organizer: J. Andrew Dufton (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)

• Roald Docter (University Ghent): "The External Relations of Early Punic Carthage: Ceramic Data from the Settlement"
• Imed Ben Jerbania (Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis): "Tunisian Excavations in the Sanctuary of Ba'al ('Tophet') at Carthage"
• James Prosser (University of Michigan): "Carthaginian Imperialism: The Colonial Perspective"
• Paul Scheding (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich) and Sami Ben Tahar (Institut Natinal du Patrimoine): "Live and Let Live? Forms of Land Occupation by Carthage"
• Carina Hasenzagl (University of Ghent): "Carthage: A Case Study of Late Roman Tableware Trading Networks"

New Archaeological Fieldwork in North Africa

This panel highlights recent fieldwork and cutting-edge research on archaeological topics in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.

Organizer: Stephen Collins-Elliott (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

• Néjat Brahmi (École Normale Supérieure, Paris): "Domestic Cult in the Cities of Mauretania Tingitana"
• Jared Benton (Old Dominion University): "The 2017 Field Season of the Urban Economy of Volubilis Project (UEVP)"
• Elizabeth Fentress, Corisande Fenwick (Unveristy College London), Hassan Limane (Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine): "Volubilis 2: Exploring the Medieval City"
• Stefan Ritter (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich): "New Insights into the Urban History of Meninx / Djerba"
• Moheddine Chaouali (Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis), Heike Moeller (DAI Berlin) and Philipp von Rummel (DAI Berlin): "Late Antique and Early Medieval Simitthus in the Light of Recent Discoveries"
• Dirk Booms (University College London), Moheddine Chaouali (Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis) and Corisande Fenwick (University College London): "A New Basilica and its Funerary Landscape at Late Antique Bulla Regia"

Links

Archaeological Institute of America

Africa Antiqua

Contact Information

Group Co-Chairs

• Stephen Collins-Elliott (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
• J. Andrew Dufton (University of Edinburgh)

For more information, please write us at archaeologymaghrib@gmail.com