BACK TO CARTHAGE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 25 August 1924, Page 6

BACK TO CARTHAGE.

NEARLY 3000 YEARS AGO. SURPRISING DISCOVERIES SEVEN-STOREY SKYSCRAPERS. American archaeologists working under the auspices of Harvard University are making some amazing discoveries in Tunisia, North Africa, on and about the site of ancient Carthage. They are proving conclusively the old adage that nothing is new under the sun—not not even America’s skyscrapers, of which New, York is so fond of boasting. For Carthage had skyscrapers nearly 3000. years ago and built them so solidly that they are not only standing today, but, to all intents and purposes, they are just as good as they ever were!

Visitors ;to Tunis have for years known of the existence of a number of odd-looking buildings that clustered half-buried in the. desert sands near Medenine, in Southern Tunisia, not far from the site of Ancient Carthage. They resembled nothing else in the world as as a group of “beehive” coke-ovens. Apparently built of plaster and stone, and laved for centuries by the clean sands, they are \\ hite as driven snow and glisten in the bright sunlight. Recently the Harvard archaeologists who have been working at Carthage were attracted by tlie odd-looking structures. History records that an ancient fort was located at Medenine. But the buildings as they appeared did not m any manner resemble forts. So they decided to dig around and find .out about them. The sand that had been piling up through the centuries at the sides of the buildings, was cleared away, but the foundations they had expected were not disclosed. Instead, the excavators were amazed to find what they thought at first was a basement. They continued to dig, and one after another they unearthed more storeys, until, in a. number of instances, as many as seven were found before the foundation was reached. There they discovered, too, stone pavements and •streets and realised that they had reached the level of the town' as it existed 3000 years ago. More than a dozen of these ancient skyscrapers have been unearthed, some of the seven storey ones being from 45 to 50 feet in height. Apparently— and this will tiring a chortle from many apartment house dwellers—they were “walk-ups,” for no elevators have vet been found. On the outside of the skyscrapers are staircases, leading to the various apartments. The plaster of which the skyscrapers were built is very much similar to the concrete of the present day. But the ancients erected these tall structures without recourse to iron or steel reinforcement.

inside the apartments of some of these skyscrapers were found articles as surprising as the tall buildings themselves. for instance, the archaeologists discovered what are undoubtedly children s toys made of clay.. There are tiny camels and elephants, and a crude attempt at a chariot, with movable wheels of wood. Many small pitchers have been found, which, from the hieroglyphics on them, have been identified as babies’ nursing bottles, indicating that the mothers of those times were modern in many ways. Modern, too, was the woman of 3000 years ago. Apparently, according to discoveries in the ancient skyscrapers, she had all the toilet requisites of the guls of to-day. Jugs have lieen found winch contained the olive oil always rubbed into milady’s skin before retiring There are bowls which contained henna for the hair, and' other bowls for orris root, which, when pulverised, made a splendid face powder for the dark-skinned beauties. There are bottles for perfumes and dishes for sandal-wood and herbs which were used in the bath. And, just to show that not one item was overlooked, there are tiny bowls which contained coloured salves, which the ancient women used as rouge. Likewise, there are odd-looking tubes for all the world like the present-day cigarette-holder, which were undoubtedly used for the coloured salve and were the forerunners of the modern lipstick. Of the skyscrapers themselves, they were undoubtedly used as apartments, and nof a* business offices. Each contained three or four rooms—without bath. But on the first floor of every building were found oools for community bathing.