Archaeological investigations on the urban history of Meninx (Jerba)

我们突尼斯-德国项目的目的是了解杰尔巴岛上最大的古城梅尼克斯的城市历史。这个宽敞的海港的特殊意义在于，它曾经是地中海紫色的主要生产中心之一。至少从公元前4世纪起，梅尼克斯就存在了，在公元2世纪和3世纪，梅尼克斯得到了相当大的发展，并一直持续到古代晚期。我们调查的动力是由2015年进行的一次地球物理勘探的结果引发的，在那次勘探期间，通过磁力测量手段对该市的大片地区进行了调查，这是我们第一次深入了解该市的城市结构。根据这一新数据，我们现在将重点关注梅尼克斯的城市历史。从最早的定居点所在的论坛周围开始，将在一些选定的保护区、商业建筑和住宅进行挖掘。我们对早期聚居层特别感兴趣，它提供了关于梅尼克斯以前不为人知的历史的信息，从公元2世纪中叶开始，该市被赋予了基本上新的结构设计。为了对遗址上的各种考古遗迹有一个一致的了解，发掘工作应伴随着其他调查。我们打算继续进行地球物理勘探，以检查城市的外围地区。根据陆地勘探，我们计划首次在梅尼克斯进行水下勘探，调查现代海岸的结构遗迹，我们也希望获得有关港口结构的新信息。作为这些相互关联的调查的结果，我们打算探索梅尼克斯的文化地理和特定经济角色在城市结构中的反映程度。这项研究希望有助于填补突尼斯东海岸古城和的黎波里塔尼亚沿海城市(萨普拉塔、莱普西斯马格纳)之间的地形差距，并更好地了解梅尼克斯作为地中海贸易网络和相对大陆之间的震中所发挥的重要作用，其贸易路线通向撒哈拉沙漠。

The aim of our Tunisian-German project is to shed light on the urban history of Meninx, the largest ancient city on the island of Jerba. The special significance of this spacious seaport lies in the fact that it had been one of the main production centers of purple in the Mediterranean. Having existed at least since the 4th century BC, Meninx expanded considerably in the 2nd and 3rd century AD, and persisted into Late Antiquity. The impetus for our investigation was triggered by the results of a geophysical prospection conducted in 2015, during which a large area of the city was surveyed by means of magnetometry and which gave us, for the first time, insights into its urban structure. Emanating from this new data we are now going to focus on the urban history of Meninx. Starting from the surroundings of the Forum where the earliest settlement was situated, excavations will be conducted in some selected sanctuaries, commercial buildings and residential houses. We are particularly interested in the early settlement layers providing information on the previously unknown history of Meninx before the city was given a largely new structural design from the middle of the 2nd century AD onwards. To get a consistent picture of the diverse archaeological remains on the site, the excavations shall be accompanied by other investigations. We intend to continue the geophysical prospection to check the peripheral quarters of the city. And in accordance with the terrestrial prospection, we plan to conduct, for the first time at Meninx, underwater exploration, to investigate the structural remains off the modern shore, by which we also expect to gain new information on the harbor structures.As a result of these interrelated investigations, we intend to explore the extent to which the cultural geography and the specific economic role of Meninx are reflected in the structure of the city. This study will hopefully contribute to fill the topographical gap between the ancient cities on the Tunisian East Coast and the coastal cities of Tripolitania (Sabratha, Lepcis Magna), and to gain a better understanding of the important role that Meninx played, as an epicentre between the Mediterranean trading network and the opposite mainland with its trading routes leading into the Sahara.