Richard Miles has a piece in the Guardian on attempts to recover the heritage of ancient Carthage, and how they have been frustrated by the corrupt government of former Tunisian leader, Ben Ali [here].
We recently visited the site of Carthage and the problem is quite apparent. This first picture is of the outer harbor of Carthage. As you can see it is ringed by mansions housing the nation's elite.
And here is the famed circular Carthaginian war harbor with the Byrsa hill in the background. On the Byrsa there is a relatively small excavation illustrating the nature of the old settlement, but although the area has long been declared a UN World Heritage Site, it has been overbuilt by elite residences housing family and political allies of Ben Ali. In the process an immense amount of the nation's cultural heritage passed into private hands/ Now that the regime has been overthrown archaeologists have new hopes that much of that heritage can be reclaimed.
We recently visited the site of Carthage and the problem is quite apparent. This first picture is of the outer harbor of Carthage. As you can see it is ringed by mansions housing the nation's elite.
And here is the famed circular Carthaginian war harbor with the Byrsa hill in the background. On the Byrsa there is a relatively small excavation illustrating the nature of the old settlement, but although the area has long been declared a UN World Heritage Site, it has been overbuilt by elite residences housing family and political allies of Ben Ali. In the process an immense amount of the nation's cultural heritage passed into private hands/ Now that the regime has been overthrown archaeologists have new hopes that much of that heritage can be reclaimed.
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