La baie d'Utique et son évolution depuis l'Antiquité : une réévaluation géoarchéologique

Abstract

The Medjerda deltaic plain corresponds to a former marine gulf which has been progressively filled up during the Holocene up to the historic period as a result of numerous shifts of the river course. The area is relatively well known from archaeological viewpoint since ancient writings, relating events which took place here in Antiquity, are available. Many scientists - historians, archaeologists, geologists, geomorphologists, hydrologists - have been for a long time interested in unravelling différents stages in the development of the deltaic plain. As soon as 1884, Ch. Tissot suggested that the deltaic plain developed from south to north in historical times. Such proposal is still considered as valid. The crucial point is to determine when the Medjerda river shifted northward, opening a new channel between the former Utica peninsula and the Galaat el Andless promontory (Castra Corneliana). As a result, the harbour of Utica filled up and the city declined. During a recent archaeological and geomorphological survey covering the entire deltaic plain, ceramics were collected from fifty sites and dated. They point to an early filling up of the former gulf, especially of the area south-east of Utica. Therefore investigations aimed to find out remnants of the ancient harbour facilities have to be carried out on the northern side of the peninsula. Pre-roman settements existed on the clay dunes scattered in the surroundings of Pont-de-Bizerte. Such an early human occupation suggess that the central part of the deltaic plain dad been already filled up prior to the foundation of Utica when the so-called Chaouat channel, whose traces are still visible north of Jebel Maiana, was operating.