Archaeologists have unearthed more ancient ruins of what they believe was once a bustling port city near the capital of modern-day Morocco.
The experts dug out thermal baths and working class neighbourhoods at Chellah, near Rabat, which the country hopes will lure tourists and scholars in the years ahead.
On Friday, researchers from Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage presented new discoveries at Chellah — a 1.2-square-mile Unesco World Heritage Site with a footprint almost five times the size of Pompeii.
Scholars believe the area was first settled by the Phoenicians and emerged as a key Roman empire outpost from the second to the fifth century.
The fortified necropolis and surrounding settlements were built near the Atlantic Ocean along the banks of the Bou Regreg river.
Findings have included bricks inscribed in neo-Punic, a language that pre-dates the Romans’ arrival in Morocco.
The main excavation site has been closed for renovations since the pandemic and archaeologists have worked on expanding it since March.
The footprint — including the extended site presented on Friday — is larger than that of Volubilis, widely visited ruins 111 miles east of Rabat.
Abdelaziz El Khayari, a professor of pre-Islamic archaeology at Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage, said the site’s significance stems from its location on the water, which is likely to have made it an important trading site, facilitating the exchange of materials including the import of Italian marble and export of African ivory.
He said the new excavations underscored the city’s wealth and hoped to find out more in the coming years.
“We still haven’t discovered the actual port,” he said.
Mr El Khayari and his team said the new discoveries further from the centre of Chellah have never been studied.
At a Friday news conference, they showed reporters a recently discovered statue of a woman — possibly a deity or empress — draped in cloth. They said it was the first such statue discovered in Morocco since the 1960s.
They also exhibited a limestone and sunbrick neighbourhood.
Mehdi Ben Said, Morocco’s minister of youth, culture and communication, said he was confident the ruins’ location near the centre of Morocco’s capital would become a draw for tourists from home and abroad.
His department has invested almost £400,000 in the project since March, and plans to double that amount next year and each year following until excavation is complete.
“It’s something that can interest everyone,” Mr Ben Said said.
“Sites like Volubilis get 500,000 visitors per year. We are aiming for one million by developing this site, bringing it to life, setting up marketing, communications and everything.”
