Da Cherchel a Méknès: nuove prospettive per gli studi sul Nord Africa punico

The investigation sector " Research on Phoenician in Northern Africa: archaeology, numismatics and economic history" is structured around two themes with the aim of the enhancement of the Punic cultural heritage in Maghreb. In detail, the research program is focused on the study of coins from Iol-Caesarea from the point of view of their archaeological context in the ancient Punic Algeria, with particular attention to the definition of the economic strategies developed in this area during the Second Punic War. On this research field, in 2012 has been approved a joint project ISCIMA - Equipe geoxploration and Geoteniques of Meknes University "The ancient mines of Morocco. Archaeometric and archaeological study from the minerals to the artefact". The project is focused on Meknes region where the goal is to identify the ancient mining areas through the mapping elaboration, photointerpretation and archaeological- geophysical surveys. Alongside an archaeometric activity carried out on ores, slag and semi-finished products is conducted with optical microscopy, XRF, SEM-EDS, XRD.