Publications
Carthage
The archaeological site of Carthage, once a dominant Mediterranean power, has been rediscovered through centuries of exploration and excavation. This book highlights how the site's remnants were gradually uncovered, often controversially, bringing its legendary past back into public consciousness. From the first identification of Punic artifacts to the systematic excavations that followed, the narrative traces the efforts of antiquarians, travelers, and scientists who pieced together Carthage's history. The process revealed a city founded by Queen Dido, destroyed in wars with Rome, and later reborn as a Roman and Christian center. However, the exploration also involved the plunder of artifacts for European museums, raising ethical questions about the preservation and representation of heritage.
Staging Archaeology: Empire as Reality Effect at the 1906–07fêtes de Carthage
The 1906–07 fêtes de Carthage, staged at the recently excavated Roman theatre of Carthage, revealed archaeology's dual role as both a nostalgic celebration and a historicist tool during French colonization in Tunisia. These elaborate pageants, involving hundreds of actors and sumptuous period costumes, drew on archaeological findings to depict French colonizers as preservers of ancient culture while consigning colonial violence to the realm of performance. The 1907 pageant featured two specially commissioned plays, including one that juxtaposed a modern poet with a Carthaginian priestess at her excavated tomb site. This study demonstrates how archaeology, as an emerging science, helped police the boundary between past and present, serving a historicist sense of time that legitimized colonial narratives through the 'reality effect'—a technique that made staged performances appear authentic.
An Archaeological History of Carthaginian Imperialism
Archaeological evidence challenges traditional Greco-Roman narratives of Carthaginian imperialism, revealing that the 6th–4th century BCE Carthaginian Empire differed significantly from its portrayal in ancient sources. By prioritizing archaeological and epigraphic records over textual accounts, this study demonstrates that Carthage's expansion mirrored patterns seen in Athenian and Roman empires—through colonization, political integration of dependencies, and trade network centralization. Contrary to prior interpretations linking destruction layers in Sardinia to 6th-century military campaigns, the research argues that Carthaginian imperial manifestations closely resemble those of other ancient empires, suggesting a more nuanced and structured system than previously assumed.
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