Punic Urns from the Precinct of Tanit at Carthage

Author(s): D. B. Harden
Reviewed work(s):
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1927), pp. 297-310
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
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Urtbaeotlogicat
3anstitute
of america
PUNIC URNS FROM THE PRECINCT OF TANIT AT
CARTHAGE
THE excavations in the precinct of Tanit, which were undertaken by
the Franco-American expedition in 1925 under the directorship of
Professor F. W. Kelsey of Michigan, have been dealt with in general
by Professor Kelsey in his preliminary report published last spring.'
I propose in this paper to confine my remarks entirely to a treatment
of the pottery found during the excavations. Over one thousand
cinerary urns of local Carthaginian fabrication were unearthed, and
they date from the eighth to the second century B.c. I wish to trace
in the briefest manner possible the sequence of types, and also to
show how closely these Carthaginian urns are paralleled by finds at
western Phoenician sites in Sicily,2 Sardinia,3 Malta,4 the Balearic
Islands,5 and Spain.'
The precinct lies a little to the west of the so-called commercial
harbor of Carthage 7 and would consequently, according to the
traditional topographical theory, lie within the walls of Punic
Carthage. It is simply a burial ground. No trace of a Punic temple has so far been found on the spot. The urns found contained
ashes and remains of charred bones, and were buried in the earth
either beneath cairns of small stones, or beneath stelae. It has been
established that some at least of the bones in the urns belonged to
human infants.8 Others probably belonged to small animals or
1 Francis W. Kelsey, A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Carthage.
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1926). For the Tanit precinct see especially pp.
33-51. A report of previous excavations on the site conducted by the French
government has been published by L. Poinssot and R. Lantier, Rev. de l'Hist. des
Religions, 1923, p. 32 ff.
I wish to express hearty thanks to Professor Kelsey, without whose encouragement this paper would not have been written. The photographs nos. 1-5 and
7-12 were taken by Mr. George R. Swain, photographer to the Near East Research
of the University of Michigan. Figure 14 is from a photograph taken by Mr.
Enoch E. Peterson. The remainder are from my own negatives. For permission
to take the photographs of Motyan, Maltese and Sardinian urns I am indebted to
the kindness, respectively, of Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker, the owner of Motya; Professor
T. Zammit, the curator of the Museum at Valletta; and Sig. A. Taramelli, the
director of the Cagliari Museum.
2 J.
I. S. Whitaker, Motya, a Phoenician Colony in Sicily (1921).
3 Patroni, Mon. Ant., XIV (1904), p. 109 ff. (Nora); Taramelli, Mon. Ant., XXI
(1912), p. 46 ff. (Cagliari).
4 The early Punic pottery found in Malta has not so far been published.
The
pottery of the latest Punic and of the Romano-Punic age is described by A. Mayr,
der
Sitzungsb.
bayer. Akad., Philos-Philol. Klasse, 1905, p. 484 ff.
5 C. Roman, Antiqiiedadas Ebusitanas (1913); Vives y Escudero, La Necropoli de
Ibiza (1918).
6 L. Siret, Villaricos y
Herrerias, Mem. de la Real Acad. de la Hist. (Madrid),
XIV, p. 381 ff.
For a fuller bibliography of the whole field of Punic pottery see the footnotes to
S. Gsell, Histoire Ancienne de 1'Afrique du Nord, IV, pp. 57-74.
7Kelsey, op. cit., p. 23, fig. 10, for map showing position.
8 Poinssot and Lantier, op. cit., p. 55; Anthony, Revue Tunisienne, August, 1924.

297

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298

AMERICAN

JOURNAL

OF ARCHAEOLOGY

birds. That we have here burials of infants sacrificed alive to Tanit

is possible but by no means proved.'
Three distinct strata of burials are to be distinguished.2
The first stratum stands at rock level and consists of cairn burials
set down irregularly at a distance of about one metre from each
other (Fig. 1). The urn was first filled with cremated remains and
its cover sealed on, and it was then placed in a hollow of the rock
surface and a cairn of stones built up all round it. The average
height of the urns is about 25 cm.
It seems probable that this stratum was begun early in the eighth

et
A

Ph,

FIGURE 1.

N~~~:ii,:~ .1

::_:i:-:

':::::

PRECINCT OF TANIT: VIEW OF CAIRN BURIALS IN LOWEST

STRATUM

century B.C. if not actually before 800 B.C., that is, it was begun
almost as soon as Carthage was founded. The earliest Punic tombs
so far found at Carthage are dated about 700 B.C.by the excavators.'
Now, the earliest of these tombs contain pottery corresponding in
shape and technique, not to this early Tanit ware, but to that of the
next period. We can be sure then that most, if not all, of this first
stratum pottery dates back to the eighth century B.C.
We find here three main types of urn. The commonest is the
amphora with vertical or horizontal handles and ovoid body (Fig. 2).
'1For the most recent discussion of the subject see G. Pinza, Mon. Ant., XXX
(1925), I, p. 44 ff.
The
2 MM. Poinssot and Lantier, op. cit., p. 39 ff., distinguish four strata.
latest evidence does not support such a fourfold division. Cf. Kelsey, op. cit.,
p. 43.
3A. L. Delattre, Mem. de la Soc. des Antiquaires de France, vol. LVI, pp. 255395 (Douimes tombs); P. Gauckler, Necropoles puniques de Carthage, tombs nos.
1-232 (Dermech).

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

299

Another shape is a vase with high-spreading neck and no handles, a

shape which, for want of a better name, I call thistle-shaped (Fig. 3).
The third common type is a round pot with a small circular handle

'!i ! !
i
:

:-

I l
!!?i!r

:'

?~:-

:_

i:-

:i

'l:-:

-I-|

FIGURE 2A, B.

:-i

..

AMPHORAE WITH (A) HORIZONTALAND) (1) VERTICAL

hIANI)LES, STRATUM1-

at the neck (Fig. 4a). Besides these, other shapes occur including
some obvious prototypes of later shapes.'
The clay of these Tanit 1 urns is well fired to a red-brown color.
The urns are wheel-made
and quite graceful and
symmetrical, and the outside surface is smoothed
r-~
and polished except in
the case of the round
pots. In all cases the
:,::?i--:
clay is for Punic ware
-i~?J
remarkably fine and soft
---~:
in texture. As to de:i~ii
coration, the round pots
:-?I?:~
?are merely covered with
::::::~ii
a::
a white color wash. The
::L-:
amphorae are decorated
-x?:
_:
:~::
;rl
with horizontal bands of
red paint on the neck
and body: these bands
-2
being often connected
VASE WITH LID,
THISTLE-SHAPED
FIIGURE, 3.
together by vertical
STRATUM1
black lines which form a
1 Figure 5, for instance, shows an obvious prototype of the middle Tanit 2 type
seen in figures 9 and 10. Again, a few examples occur which are undoubted forerunners of the early Tanit 2 types represented by figures 7 and 8.

For convenienceof referenceI henceforthuse the terms Tanit 1, Tanit 2, Tanit

3, to describe the pottery of the three strata respectively, beginning from the
earliest.

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

300

triglyph-metope design. The vases without handles have similar

red paint decoration, and on both these and the amphorae there are
also traces of a white color wash which not only seems to be used on
.;..

::::::-:::::E~-

II
::::1::
c

:-i:::-::::
-:-:::
:::

:_::

:::::J-,;-.
:i;-_:-:ii:ii?i:
: --:~i;:i:::ii
_-:::::~~~~i~sa%8~ie
-....-.
?::-:~::

-s
-:-~~:"-

L?

-'II

4. (A) ROUNI POT W'ITH

C'IRCULAR HANDLE, TANIT 1.
FIGUR"EL
OF EARLYTANIT2 TYPE ((f. FIGURE8)

(B) AMPHORA

the unpainted parts but also at times seems to have covered the
painted bands. This white color wash has often vanished owing to

:;
;:i-::::
.-:
:::
:::

r::
:-::

~:_i~:i
---i,~-i-:ii
I-:-:~:~:::9:?:fii
:::
?:::r?--j:ij:::::i::;1:;:

i:iiiiii-:::;:ii_
::-:':': _~~~~~Z,_~i*-'

.:::~

FIGURE5.

OFTHEPOTSFROMMIDDLE
TANIT 1 PROTOTYPE
TANIT2

the action of the damp soil in which the vases were found, but traces
of it are found on some urns of all three strata.'
Stratum 2 lies immediately on top of stratum 1, only separated
1 Can we have here an example of some ritual which entailed the covering of
ordinary household vases with a white coating when they were to be used for religious purposes? Countless other instances of the ceremonial and religious use of
white or whitened objects might be cited, and especially the very common practice
of whitewashing tombs and shrines. Cf. also the white lekythoi found in Athenian
tombs, though these differ from our vases in having been made specially, it would
appear, for funerary uses.

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

301

from it by a well-defined layer of viscous yellow clay of about 5 cm.

thickness.
We now get an entirely different type of burial. Instead of the
urns being encircled by cairns, they are set in the earth in groups of
three or four, each group being surmounted by a stele. Figure 6
shows a good view of a vertical section of this stratum. Moreover,
the urns are now much more numerous. In stratum 1 we found on
an average one urn per square metre. In stratum 2 we often find as

i- : n-i f-~i?
?.-: '::-:-:~:
,i-i"i~~iil
zi~i.........~I~~~:~:i
-'-WI

_,?:- -

-1:

?ii.............................

i-i-iii-i
.::iii
~iji~iiii

FIGURE6.

:-*

TAN,
:~sM

.-'.i-i :-":
J.'Aiii-?-:-:i"iri~iii~i

PRECINCT OF TANIT: VERTICAL SECTION OF STRATUM 2

many as half a dozen. The average height of the urns is again about
25 cm.
This stratum ranges in date from about 650 B.C. to about 350
B.c. The earliest urns in it are exactly similar to urns of seventh
century date from the Punic tombs.' Urns of the latest type are
found also at Lilybaeum,2 which was a Punic town founded shortly
after the destruction of Motya in 397 B.C., so that the form must
have been prevalent at Carthage in the fourth century B.C.
The shapes (Figs. 2, 3, 4a) that are common in stratum 1 either
become rare in stratum 2 or else die out altogether. On the other
hand, the majority of urns in stratum 2 are of shapes that are obvious
developments of three rather uncommon stratum 1 types.3 Thus a definite development from one stratum to the other can be established.
1E.g., urns found in the Douimes tombs and in the Dermechtombs. For these
see Delattre, op. cit., and Gauckler,op. cit.
2
These Lilybaean urns are identical in every way with the Carthageexamples,
and in all probabilitythey were importedfrom Carthage-perhaps for themselves,
for their contents.
perhaps
3See note p. 299.

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AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

As a general rule the finish of the pottery becomes coarser as time

goes on and the shapes become uglier and less symmetrical. The
same deterioration in technique and finish is noticeable in the series
of pottery found in the Punic tombs at Carthage, and also in the

Sol.

Il

..........

i
iiii!iii~!ii~!!yl
-c!!i!!
FIGURE

7.

URNS OF EARLY

ONE-HANDLED

2 TYpE

TANIT

Punic ware found in Sardinia, Sicily and Malta. Everywhere

fourth century B.C. Punic pottery is inferior in quality to that of the
earlier periods.1
Of the urns in this stratum the earliest in date are upright urns

. ..
.....................:--

......................

:??PC

......

.....-:
: .......
...........
.

........

'M

........

FIGURE

8.

AMPHORAE

OF EARLY

TANIT

2 TYPE

with ovoid body, high perpendicular neck and vertical handles; the
smaller urns have one handle (Fig. 7), and the larger ones two
(Fig. 4b and Fig. 8). The decoration now consists of black horizon1 The clay of the earliest stratum pots is uniformly red in color, but that of some
of the pots in this stratum takes on a brownish, greenish or whitish tinge. Such
differences are, at least in the majority of cases, due to insufficient firing.

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

303

tal lines on the neck and body of the vase, and sometimes bands of
red or purplish paint as well.
Not long after this earliest type-perhaps about 600 B.c.-there
,::
:":::
i::::
ii.ii?i
a-iii;ai

Eiidiiiii:-;iiiii
i-?ii
?i?i-~-in,:iii
i~
ii--'i?iiiiiial'i
:::-:
:::::::::::::::'::::'::::':::
:_::::ri_:::?:
~-i,-iiil~?iiiiiiii~ai
r.:i -:~i_:n-;~
~:Bs~i-~i?~f-i:-;9Sil::::::--,__::-:
:::::::::-::::?:--:--::_:_:::
_i::--ii:-:-i?:
:~_:_I~:~:::-:--::_.I)
:::~1-:::-::
:::-1?_:_-~:~~Oi~-l~:::_::-i::
::.oi-:i----.~-IEli-'_
~i-i
-iiiii~
i-ii:i-iii
_ii:,iiiiiiiiiai:Biiii:i.--B:
:iii
iiiiiiii~iiii
ii~ii
::
i-i:-i-~ill:ii:-?
::::-:-----j:;-::-~:
i?ii:ii.iiiiii~,iiii
iii:iiliii:8ii-?-'
iii:'i
i-i-:-i-i--?ii:-i

9.

OLLAE

FIGURE

(FoRM 1) OF MIDDLE
CIRCULAR

TAN[T 2 TYPE,

WITH

HANDLES

IN SECTION

came into vogue quite a different type of urn. Two main varieties
of the type are found concurrently for some time, though form 2
:--:~~-?:?:a

:P:
::::

1 I

i:i:iiiiii?-~iiriii:ii-i~ii:ii~i:-:i_
.- _:_:::::
: .. ::-:- :?--::-_:i::::i:.:
:::-:::::
iiii~iii~piiiii---:--:- :-::::--:::'
::--: :::
-:1-~
-":::~-:-ui:-s~i-~-~i~i:~~:~~i--l:-i:3i
::_::-4-.?i?::ili--:-:L:i...;:::::i:):-:":':?-::
i-i-::;-ii:?::
I'::-::--:`:i:::
::-::-::I..---1:::
~i-i-i:i::i-i:-i:i-i-i:i:::
:j:-:
::;:::::i-i
i:::::
-:.::-:::
:?-.-::-::j::::_::
: :::
iiiiiiii~iiiiiiiiii?iiiii
-iiiriiii

:-)r;__ii::,:~_:;_::-:-::
:::
:--i:i:j;::lj-:::::-:
:::__:::::.:::::j
:-ji:-:-:-:::::::::_
-:j-:;::_,:~-b~:-I-~-j::j-~-;:::-::
.:-;::i::_:i::::::::-4:
i--:
iiii-iiiiiii3?:iiii-$iii
iii :.:ii-i:ii:ii?ii:-i?-i
i-i?:ii
-i::-ii:i
i-i:-iii:i-i-:
i_
u~u~xu~x;"-~'~"?s~Ya~as~a~r~~-l:i:g---i~

-:::::---::::i:-

-s~~~iSP~Fa~l~G~i?~~C~'~i~lF~*~~?~'~~i? :?ii::iiii
:ia:--??:
:iB~liiii:i
?i:i-:ii:ii-i:
i-iii::i~i-i-i
:_

.-_
`-i-ii?i-i_:i--_:

FIGURE

10.

OLLAE

(FORM

2) OF MIDDLE TANIT
CIRCULAR IN SECTION

TYPE,

WITH

HANDLES

eventually outlasted form 1. They are barrel-shaped urns or ollae

with small handles, circular in section, at the neck. Form 1 (Fig. 9)

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

304

has its greatest diameter lower down its body than form 2 (Fig. 10)
has. These urns are for the most part undecorated, though some of
the early examples show horizontal bands of red-brown or purple-

:-:j_:
...~il::::
..::..:.

FIGURE

11.

.......

AMPHIORA TYPE,

MII)DLE

TANIT

2. A DEVELOPMENT

OF TANIT

TYPE (SEE FIGURE 2)

black paint on the body and lip. A less common type in this period
is a development of the amphora type of stratum 1 (cf. Fig. 2 with

p?:--~
.:

.~~ai?r~
?"
'::::i-

:::::

.~~~~~JIS~11~

:I:
:

-s;
s
i?:9
~

:-,I :

-~i-cili
t
-~;_:I:~~:__-::,:::t~:
r:i :~:-:?:_r
:~
:r

--?
: '::

iii'P~g~ss~%9~s~l~se~~

:?_

;:'

::-:::

. : ::::
:::_:
_:i..:?-: ::
:::::
?:::
:: :
:-l::r.:---.-.:_:i-: _:i-._: :_::.::::
i:;::
:::i:-,:_:
,j,-,;:-~,:_::::::?i-i::_--i::s.
'-~:-:si~~:l',?j:
_,iiiii
: :?::?:

LS~SI1

"1

FIGURE

12.

OLLAE (FORM

2)

OF LATE TANIT

2 TYPE, WITH HANDLES

ELLIP-

TICALIN SECTION

Fig. 11). The technique is the same as that of the urns in Figures 9
and 10.
In the latest group, which perhaps began about 450 B.C., descendants of form 2 of the previous group predominate (Fig. 12). The
handles of all urns are now flat ellipses in section instead of being

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

305

round as in the last group.1 The shape of the neck varies very much,
but this is just another instance of the diminished care used in manufacture. None of these urns has any decoration.
The third and last stratum probably began about 300 B.C. and is
contemporaneous with the Punic wars.
The urns are similar in shape to those found at many late Punic
colonies along the shores of North Africa (e.g. at Collo 2 and Hadrumetum3), and in Spain.4 In technique and finish the pottery is
identical with that found in the latest Punic graves at Carthage,
i.e. those on the hill of S. Monique 5 and those on the Odeon hill."
There is thus no reason to doubt that this burial ground was in use
up to the last years of Punic Carthage.
The urns of this period are exceedingly uninteresting. Most of

:??~?~:-

1~
:s::

~
?~

I:::::::i
::;
:::
::
:
::i:-:_:_:i-:i
_::
:::-~?::--::::-'":'-?':;::
::

:::::-:
:::::-:

-?_R-ia-~-i-_::l-

,,
-_-:--:

FIGUREm 13.

OLLAE OF SIMPLE

FORM, TANIT

them are identical in shape with those of the latest stratum 2 type
(Fig. 12), but a few (Fig. 13) are simple forms without the angular
neck contour characteristic of that class. All the urns are now much
smaller and the average height is only 17 cm. Decoration, consisting of red-brown horizontal lines, is confined to one or two examples.
The majority are coarsely made plain vases of reddish or greyish
clay. The number found is again five or six per square metre.
This stratum has been badly disarranged by subsequent building
1 This change in the
shape of the handle is a sure criterion of date, not only at
Carthage, but, I venture to suggest, at the other western Phoenician sites as well.
The early urns (Tanit 1 and first half of Tanit 2) have handles round or double
round in section (o or oo). Both these types degenerate from the fifth century
onwards into a handle elliptical in section. The round handle degenerates from
a , to the
o to a, and the double round works through distinct stages, 0o c'
same ultimate ellipse.
2 S. Gsell, Fouilles de Gouraya, figs. 25 and 26.
3 Leynaud, C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1911, p. 470 ff.
4 L. Siret, op. cit.
5 A. L. Delattre, Carthage: Nicropole punique voisine de S. Monique, a series of
articles in Cosmos, 1899-1906.
6 P.
Gauckler, Necropoles puniques, tombs 234-279.

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306

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

operations (Fig. 14).1 A few broken stelae are found, but most of
the original stones were removed for building purposes by the
Romans. As can be seen from the illustration, many of the urns are
broken, and others are found lying on their side or upside downundoubted proofs of disturbance. No early imperial sherds are
found on the site-nothing prior to the third century A.D.-and the
style of the later masonry is late Roman. Consequently it was
perhaps the spread of Christianity at Carthage that caused people to
forget Tanit and desecrate her enclosure.
Exact parallels to most of these Tanit types of urns have been
U,:::

WENVO.:
~ ~ ?5~~
7N~~I~'~''
iisi~i~~iii
?li

Mll?-

FIGURE

14.

VIEW OF PART OF STRATUM 3

At
brought to light in the other western Phoenician
colonies.two early
Motya in Sicily Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker has excavated
Phoenician cemeteries," which, on independent evidence, he dates
from about 700 B.c. onwards. In these he has found amphorae
(Fig. 15a) 4 in many cases identical in shape and decoration with
those of Tanit 1, but more akin in technique to early Tanit 2 types.
Kelsey, op. cit., p. 34 f., and Poinssot and Lantier, op. cit., p. 38.
An attempt to correlate some of this western Phoenician pottery has recently
been made by B. Pace in Mon. Ant., XXX (1925), I, p. 181 ff. His paper, however, almost entirely confines itself to a discussion of the Motyan and Carthaginian
finds. No real systematic attempt has yet been made to collect the available
evidence from all the sites.
3 J. I. S. Whitaker, Motya, p. 206 ff. and p. 257 ff. For the pottery see further
p. 290 ff.
4 Ibid., fig. 72.
1
2

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

307

One-handled pots 1 similar to Tanit 1 type are also very common.

Again, one-handled urns (Fig. 16) 2 with perpendicular neck identical
in shape and decoration to the early Tanit 2 type are numerous,
while Mr. Whitaker also found many examples of low-bellied ollae

iiiii}iii-li},ii:iiiiiiiiiilii

?::-:?ii:::
:::::,

..... ::i::::iii'{i;:!ii-iii

;!:ii!!

:i ':

.-

: :

FI(URIE 15.

(A)

AMPHORA AND (B) OLLA FOUND

IN THE EARLY

ETERYAT MOTYA

CEIM-

(Fig. 15b) 3 of the middle Tanit 2 type. In the later Motyan and in
the Lilybaean cemeteries we find some late Tanit 2 and Tanit 3 types.
Further parallels occur at Malta. The few early Phoenician
tombs that have so far been discovered give us similar types to both

......M

-:i:-i:---i:iiiii:_~-aBif;~:~ik~tii
~:j::?-:-:;':
'~-ii:?ii~iiii-i--i--:i*:~-~ciiPiiB~~i~
:;::-:~-~-?i:
:::::::
:"-:
::::::::(":
:':::'::?::
?
:--s~-;?:~::::-:
B:i---~,?:r:iiii(ii
~:-i~-~i-i__i-~i-~i-i-i8

-ii~i-iil'??i
~~-i~::i~ii~~~iiiliir'iil~-':l~;~l.s:ii

~:-?-:_:::::::::_:-;:i::-:i:?~::::-':::::? _:

FIGURE

16.

ONE-HANDLED

URNS

: : : .---- :
::::: ::~::-::::-~--;-::--n:c:-i~-~i:ia~~s:?~
::

FROM EARLY

CEMETERY

AT MOTYA

Tanit 1 and Tanit 2 pottery. Figure 17 shows an interesting parallel

to an early Tanit 2 amphora. Figure 18 is like the early Tanit 2
one-handled type, but is still more like those prototypes of it that I
have mentioned from stratum 1.
1
Ibid., fig. 76 (top right-handcorner).

Ibid., figs. 72, 76, 77.

3Ibid., figs. 72, 77.

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308

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

And so, too, in Sardinia, though there I have so far found no

parallels to Tanit 1 types. The Phoenicians were perhaps not established there as early as they were in Sicily and Carthage. We have,
however, later parallels in abundance. First, developments of the
high-necked vases, early Tanit 2 (Fig. 19).1 Second, complete
parallels to the later olla type of Tanit 2 and 3 (Fig 20).2
A comparative study of all these western Phoenician fabrics
seems to warrant the following conclusions:
I. The early types, those of the eighth to the sixth century B.C.,
are very much akin to each other. Yet they show sufficient minor
differences in technique and decoration to exclude the possibility
that they were exportations from one common source and fabric.

: :::
--~I
r2%ii

:':i:B?9:
:

-::-:

:_-:i::::

::::--:::-:::::
:i:-::-i:::--::
~~~:~~~~:~l:::~i::-i;::~ii:\-::-._:
~::
:::i:
~;::i::';::-:::?:;:

:::::::

:::~-:
::

FIGURE 18. ONE-HANDLEDVASE FROMAN EARLY TOMB AT MALTA

FIGURE 17. AMPHORA IN VALLETTAMUSEUM, MALTA,OFEARLY
TANIT2 TYPE

The types must have been brought from the East by the Phoenician
colonists of Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia and Malta, after which local
industries were set up in each colony.
II. From the sixth century onward these local industries developed
on independent lines for the most part, though trade and commerce
never allowed them to be entirely independent of each other.
III. Eventually the Carthaginian mercantile hegemony in the
fourth and third centuries caused the pottery types prevalent at the
time in Carthage to be spread abroad in her Phoenician dependencies
in North Africa, Spain and Sardinia. The late Phoenician vases
1See also, for amphora type, Mon. Ant., XXI (1912), p. 103, figs. 22.2 and 4.
2 See also Mon. Ant., XXI (1912), p. 93, figs. 16.3 and 17.1. The mushroomtopped and the pear-shaped oinochoai in figure 20 are typical early Punic types in
the Carthage tombs (e.g. at Douimes and at Dermech). They are also common
at Motya.

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HARDEN: PUNIC URNS FROM PRECINCT OF TANIT

309

found in these localities were in part imported from Carthage and in

part local imitations of Carthaginian wares. It is significant that
Sicily and Malta show this later Carthaginian influence less than the

"Oi
--iiii ii~iiiiiii----

FIGURE 19.

---~ii

------

ONE-HANDLED POTS OF EARLY TANIT 2 TYPE, CAGLIARI

MUSEUM

more westerly lands do: a fact easily explicable from our knowledge
of the history of the last centuries of Punic hegemony.
-::-i
._-s.
I-li.-a~l,:l::::
::::
:i?::di:
::::-l~:~~~~i~:-IB_-~-3~~~
'::"';':------BRli':s-iia:i::j~i~~~;~~il~~~~
:::::--~":"n~~:~n;~i~--:"~"":""
::::-?:::-?
xiiii:iii%:?iii,:i:Yi
,iii?ii';
::-::
:::?:-:--i.":
-iI??---i-i
:.::
iii
i-:iii:ii.iLI:ii:?l
-:-_-i_:_-i'ii-:':B:_-:--i:::i:::;--:---::
i:?i?
i:i-i--ii:::__
--::--:::
::
::j:~:::i:

:
::::j
-,..:

: : :::::::
: _I:

~g'i?i8:l;
: ::::::,l-i'-i:--:-?---::---:::::::
:::-::::::?:
::-i-_-:_-::_-:::,
i::::
i-i'::-:;:::::::':::-:::

FIGURE 20. IN CENTRE, Two OLLAE OF LATE TANIT 2 AND TANIT

LEFT AND RIGHT, PEAR-SHAPED AND MUSHROOM VASES OF
TYPICAL PUNIC FORM, CAGLIARI MUSEUM

3 TYPE.

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310

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

I have been able merely to indicate the main lines of research that
are opened up by the discovery of this series of Punic pottery, which
extends in date over six centuries or more. Hitherto, apart from the
detailed accounts of her wars, first with the Sicilian Greeks and
afterwards with Rome, our knowledge of the relationship of Carthage with the outside world has been meagre in the extreme. Now,
with this complete series of pottery from the Tanit burial ground to
guide us, we may hope that at last a proper correlation of the pottery of the western Phoenicians will be worked out and that thereby
much light may be shed, not only on the commercial relationships
between Carthage and these other Phoenician colonies, but also on
the origin of the various settlements themselves. What was the
date of the founding of Motya, Panormos, Caralis, Sulci, Tharros and
the rest? HIow many of them were founded by the parent communities of the east and how many, if any, were founded by the
daughter state of Carthage? These are some of the questions that
are still without an answer, the answers to which have, I believe,
been brought appreciably nearer by the discovery of this precinct of
Tanit at Carthage.
D. B. HARDEN
UNIVERSITY

OF MICHIGAN

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