Location | Nabeul Governorate, Tunisia |
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Coordinates | 36°56′47″N 11°05′57″E / 36.946389°N 11.099167°E |
Official name | Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis |
Type | Cultural |
Criteria | iii |
Designated | 1985 (9th session) |
Reference no. | 332 |
UNESCO Region | Arab States |
Kerkouane or Kerkuane (Arabic: كركوان, Karkwān) is the site of an ancient Punic city in north-eastern Tunisia, near Cape Bon. Kerkouane was one of the most important Punic cities[dubious – discuss], with Carthage, Hadrumetum (modern Sousse), and Utica. This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 BC) and was not rebuilt by the Romans. It had existed for almost 400 years.
UNESCO declared the Punic town of Kerkouane and its necropolis a World Heritage Site in 1985, citing among other things that the remains constitute the only example of a Phoenicio-Punic city to have survived.
The name Kerkouane was given to the town by archaeologists. Its name in antiquity has not been preserved in any known historical documents.[1]
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