The site of Zita is an urban mound located in southern Tunisia and situated along an ancient trade route from Carthage to Tripoli. Identified by a Latin inscription as the Roman city of “Zita” (“Olive City” in Punic) it also contains a Carthaginian child sacrifice precinct (tophet). Our project is the first modern research expedition to be granted permission to work here. Our goals for summer 2015 are three-fold: (1) to continue mapping the ancient city and its coastal and agricultural hinterlands which are gradually being eroded by modern activities; (2) to continue targeted excavation of key points that inform us on the cultural trajectories of the site, such as the Roman forum Punic sacrifice precinct, and metallurgical and domestic zones; and (3) to document the socioeconomic, political, religious, and ecological realities of the local populations from prehistory to the post-Arab Spring using archaeological and ethnographic methods.

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