Ancient mines in pre-roman Maghreb. Present and future of archaeological, geophysical and archaeometric researches

We currently have little archaeological and historical data about mining areas of North Africa that were exploited in pre-Roman times, and even the rare ancient proofs can be mostly dated to Roman period. However, it was the searching for new metals that brought Phoenician to the western expansion: North Africa was one of the richest Mediterranean areas and we believe that such a small amount of information about this region has to be connected to the lack of dedicated studies. Every time that the scientific interest focuses on this important part of the economic and social life in the ancient world (as it was already made in Spain and Sardinia), new data emerges and offers a bigger historical background. Current researches of ISMACNR "Researches about Phoenicians in North Africa: archaeology, numismatic and economic history" aims, first of all, to define historical and technological background of all the metal production cycle, the exploitation, the manipulation techniques and the resources management of mining areas in North Africa, Morocco and Algeria in particular.