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Planning Punic cities: geophysical prospection and the built environment at Motya, Sicily

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Jason T. Herrmann Open the ORCID record for Jason T. Herrmann [Opens in a new window]  and
Paola Sconzo
Jason T. Herrmann*
Affiliation:
Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, USA Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Paola Sconzo
Affiliation:
Institut für die Kulturen des Alten Orients, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
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Abstract

The urban plan of ancient Motya on the Isola di San Pantaleo on the west coast of Sicily and its relationship to developments in Phoenician and Punic societies have been investigated since the early 1960s. Data from geophysical surveys in the north-eastern quadrant of Motya show the regular organisation of urban insulae framed by two broad roads. These results, combined with data from previous nearby excavations, improve the modelling of Motya's layout, and contribute to the wider discussion of Phoenician/Punic and broader Mediterranean urban traditions between the sixth and fourth centuries BC.

Keywords

ItalySicilyPhoenicianPunicarchaeological geophysicsurban planning
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 376 , August 2020 , pp. 983 - 998
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

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