Chorouk newspaper written on the 6th of February 2021 corresponding 23 jomada the second 1442. n°6710
By Nadia Talhi
During excavation works to complete a road linking the centre of the municipality to Mshet Kemosha.
A rare archaeological site dating back to Punic times has been discovered at the Guellat Bou Saba in Guelma.
Excavations carried out by a contractor to complete the preparation project, the road linking the municipality of Guellat Bou Saba in the province of Guelma, last weekend revealed the existence of five funerary inscriptions dating back to the Punic period, that is, before the Roman cradle. This required the presence of a specialized committee from the National Centre for Research in Archaeology at the Ministry of Culture and Arts consisting of researchers and specialists, to complete the search and excavation process to take care of these ancient archaeological treasures and take the necessary measures to transfer them from their site very carefully. Especially since the area of Guellat Bou Saba is considered the second archaeological site after Sirta in Constantine in terms of the quality of the monuments in it. Dr. Wafia Adel, a specialist in archaeology and a research professor at the National Centre for Archaeology of the Ministry of Culture, which oversees the discovery process revealed that “the relevant committee’s visit to Guelma State came as a result of the discovery of antiquities during the completion of the road link project. She mentioned that after an archaeological survey that took place last month, it was decided to carry out excavations with the aim of rescuing and evaluating the antiquities underground in the road, and after saving what can be saved, the completion of the road project will be completed to the best conditions. Without prejudice to the artifacts, the doctor added. Adel Wafia said that at the beginning of the excavation, in the first two days, five funerary inscriptions dating back to the ancient period were discovered. It is considered a rich discovery; for the first time this quantity is achieved in just two days, as the presence of the goddess Tanit, known to the Punics as the goddess of al-Khaswiyya, was examined. Other engravings, not written, but incised with images of the dead figures attached to implements used in funeral rituals known at the time. Dr. Adel added that these engravings were covering a tomb in an elaborate manner, and that this tomb dates from the late Roman period. This indicates that these inscriptions were reused to cover a tomb in the late Roman period. In the same context, I mentioned that the city of Guellat Bou Saba, known in the Roman era as Ad Villam Servillianam, is the second in importance nationally after Sirta and Constantine in terms of the number of inscriptions and artifacts in it dating back to the Punic era.
My thanks to Ines Ballouchi for re-typing a badly ocr'ed article. The above text has been edited from Google Translate.
Regards,
Pete
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