Metro station in Algeria's capital: link to the past

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Aux origines d’Alger :
Un diagnostic archéologique Place des Martyrs

Lundi 3 Août 2009 -- Les travaux d'infrastructure du métro d'Alger et de ses ouvrages annexes (stations, puits de ventilation, etc.) se déroulent dans le périmètre de la Casbah, inscrit au patrimoine national algérien depuis 1973, et au Patrimoine mondial de l'Humanité par l'Unesco en 1992. Plus de deux mille ans de l'histoire d'Alger y sont enfouis. Ce quartier recouvre en effet une partie de l'agglomération d'Ikosim, un ancien comptoir punique. Les connaissances sur l'origine de cette cité sont toutefois limitées : la fondation de l'antique Ikosim remonterait au iiie siècle avant notre ère. La cité faisait partie intégrante du royaume de Maurétanie de Juba II (52 av.- 23 de notre ère), prince élevé à Rome et dont la capitale est Césarée (Cherchel). En 40 de notre ère, la mainmise romaine devient totale après l'assassinat de Ptolémée, fils de Juba II, sur ordre de Caligula. Ikosim, sous le nom romanisé d'Icosium, devient alors municipe romain – statut dont bénéficient les cités autonomes au sein de l'Empire. En 371-372, la Maurétanie se soulève et suit Firmus, prince rebelle à Rome, qui souhaite instaurer un État indépendant : Césarée et Icosium sont prises. Au viie siècle, à la naissance de l'Islam, la tribu des Beni Mezrenna s'y implante. En 1516, le corsaire Arudj Barberousse fonde à Alger une république qui résistera à Charles-Quint. Puis la ville connaît un développement important à partir du xvie siècle, sous la domination ottomane. À partir de 1830, l'époque coloniale laisse également son empreinte. Pour les archéologues, il s'agit là d'une occasion unique d'ouvrir une fenêtre dans le sous-sol de la place des Martyrs. Bien conservés, les niveaux archéologiques atteignent plus de 7 m d'épaisseur. Le site révèle des caves de l'époque coloniale, un quartier commerçant d'époque ottomane (xvie-xixe siècles), d'importants vestiges paléochrétiens et des niveaux antiques.

Un partenariat international exemplaire

Conscientes des conséquences de ce projet urbain sur les vestiges archéologiques, les autorités algériennes ont suscité la mise en œuvre d'une opération d'archéologie préventive, sans précédent en Algérie. Elle est assurée par le ministère de la Culture algérien en collaboration avec le ministère des Transports, en partenariat avec l'Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives français, sous l'égide du Centre du patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco. L'Office national de gestion et d'exploitation des biens culturels protégés (ogebc) et l'Entreprise du métro d'Alger (ema) lui apportent leur concours matériel. L'intervention est réalisée par une équipe franco-algérienne d'archéologues qui mettent en commun leurs compétences et leur savoir-faire et relèvent de plusieurs institutions agissant de concert :

– Ministère de la Culture de la République algérienne démocratique et populaire ;

– Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives ;

– Centre national de la recherche archéologique ;

– Direction de la culture de la wilaya d'Alger ;

– Office national de gestion et d'exploitation des biens culturels protégés.

Les résultats de ce diagnostic permettront de préciser, voire de restreindre l'emprise de la station de métro, afin de limiter la destruction des vestiges.

Le quartier des souks ottomans

Au sud de l'emprise, dans un premier sondage, les restes du quartier des souks d'époque ottomane ont été mis au jour. Deux rues pavées distribuaient des échoppes et des ateliers d'artisans. Un atelier de ferronnerie présente des sols de travail construits en briquettes sur des voûtes encore en élévation, ainsi que des aménagements liés au travail du métal, des forges et des fours.

Une basilique paléochrétienne

Dans les niveaux sous-jacents, une basilique paléochrétienne a été découverte. Il s’agit d’un bâtiment de taille respectable dont la nef principale fait près de 10 m de largeur. Les limites des collatéraux n’ont pu être reconnues car les murs se situent en dehors de l’emprise du diagnostic. Le dernier sol, qui recouvre un état primitif, est constitué d’une mosaïque polychrome qui pourrait remonter au ive ou ve siècle de notre ère. La partie périphérique comporte un décor de cercles sécants noirs sur fond blanc avec croix centrale. Le décor central est constitué de cercles dentelés alternativement rouges et verts, et d’une série de panneaux carrés décorés de « nœuds de Salomon ». Il subsiste la base d’un piédestal mouluré dans ce qui pourrait être l’abside ainsi que les traces d’encastrement de panneaux d’un chancel dans le chœur. Après l’abandon de l’édifice religieux, une nécropole est installée dans les ruines du bâtiment. Cet ensemble recouvre un édifice plus ancien remontant au Haut-Empire romain, dont ne subsistent que les fondations. Au nord de l’emprise, un autre sondage a révélé un quartier d’habitation de l’époque ottomane, repris et transformé pendant la colonisation. Il surmonte les murs de maisons romaines occupées jusqu’à l’antiquité tardive. Ces résultats sont encore provisoires, puisque les niveaux les plus profonds de la place des Martyrs n’ont pas encore été dégagés laissant espérer des vestiges de l’époque punique, voire des vestiges proto et préhistoriques.

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Visit virtuelle du site de la Place des Martyrs

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Metro station in Algeria's capital: link to the past

ALGIERS, August 13, 2009 — Workmen digging the foundations of a new metro station in Algeria's capital stumbled on an archaeological goldmine that gives new meaning to "time travel" -- opening a window on 2,300 years of history. Relics from the French colonial era lie on top of those from the Ottoman period, in turn covering those from the Middle Ages and early Roman Empire. Then comes what archaeologists hope will be ruins from the Punic period -- when Phoenician traders established north African outposts in the first millennium BC. Work on the metro station has now been stopped and archaeologists and academics have replaced labourers on the site at the far end of the Casbah, the historic heart of the capital placed on UNESCO's world heritage list in 1992. Fences prevent entry to the area on Martyrs Square as excavations take place right next to the 12th-century grand mosque. Teams of specialist workers probe the ground under the watchful eyes of Algerian and French archaeologists.

In just a few weeks, an area covering several dozen square metres has been opened up, confirming the initial findings by the city's cultural authority in 2008. Experts initially uncovered relics from the beginning of French colonisation in the 1830s before Ottoman remains came to light. "Here's the workshop of an iron worker with its forge still visible," said Kamel Stiti, co-director of the excavations and a member of Algeria's national centre for archaeological research. "This site is evidence of a whole neighbourhood of craftsmen being here," he said. Stiti believes the Ottoman neighbourhood was built on the ruins of the medieval city, traces of which have also been found, along with several graves and complete skeletons. Beneath that came the remains of a Paleo-Christian church dating from the 4th or 5th century AD, said Francois Souq, director for the Mediterranean region at the National Institute for Preventive Research (INRAP) in the southern French city of Nimes. The bases of columns are still visible, surrounding a nave around 20 metres (65 feet) wide, with the floor covered in mosaics.

The archaeologists hope that by digging a bit deeper they will uncover remains dating from the Punic era, when the Phoenicians built trading posts along a 1,200-kilometre (745-mile) stretch of the Algerian coastline. One of the ports was Icosium, the ancient city on which Algiers now stands. Archaeologists believe Icosium would have been founded in the 3rd century BC although they admit their knowledge is limited. Among the few clues so far was a pot of money discovered during the building of a road near the Casbah. It contained coins with the Punic inscription for Icosium and the effigy of a man who could have been Melqart, a Phoenician god. Aware of the value of the heritage that is only now coming to light, the Algerian authorities hope to incorporate it into the site of the future metro station. They have asked to INRAP to help come up with ways of preserving this unique archaeological heritage -- proof of more than 2,000 years of Algerian history.

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Subway excavation uncovers glimpse of Algeria's past

ALGIERS, August 17, 2009 (Reuters) - Work to build a subway line through Algeria's capital has given archaeologists a chance to uncover traces of their country's ancient history that they thought had been erased by French colonial rule. When engineers closed off part of Algiers' bustling Martyrs' Square to build an underground railway station, archaeologists seized the opportunity to investigate the site and, beneath layers of concrete, found a 5th century basilica. They also found Ottoman-era metal forges and recovered cannonballs and a primitive pistol - an echo of the period in the 16th and 17th century when Barbary pirates used Algiers as a base to terrorize shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.

Historians are excited because the finds give a rare glimpse of the heart of ancient Algiers, the lower Casbah, which was partially destroyed by 19th century French occupiers to make way for a parade ground and the colonial seat of government. "This is our heritage," said Kamel Stiti, director of the team of Algerian archaeologists working on the site, as he sat in his office at the dig, a dusty steel container the other side of a metal fence from a busy bus stop. "No one could have imagined that the earth was hiding these relics," he said. "Little by little we are in the process of rediscovering ... the Algeria which resisted colonization."

For centuries Algeria's coastline, with its fertile farmland and strategic ports, has attracted waves of invaders: Phoenicians, the Romans, Arab rulers, Ottoman governors and finally France, which ran Algeria until independence in 1962. But now Algerian historians are focused on studying the indigenous cultures that lived alongside the occupiers - part of the process of forging a national identity after French rule and a war of independence that killed around a million people.

The dig, on a section of Martyrs' Square that until a few months ago was a bus depot, has largely confirmed what archaeologists had found at sites elsewhere in Algeria. Research there has uncovered evidence of habitation by successive generations of Amazigh societies, the indigenous people of Algeria and large parts of North Africa. But its location - and the rare opportunity to peer beneath Algiers' densely populated streets - have meant the site is attracting keen interest. Passers-by peer through gaps in the metal fencing or clamber up lamp-posts to see what is happening.

Since archaeologists made their discoveries, work on the subway station has been put on hold. The Algerian archaeologists, working alongside a team of French researchers, have dug two pits about seven meters deep. Visible at the bottom of one pit are sections of mosaic from the floor of the basilica, made from ceramic pieces in green, white, blue and red arranged into intricate geometric patterns. That structure was fresh evidence that Algeria's natives adopted Christianity. "It's true today that we are Muslims but perhaps before, the population came to worship God in the Christian style in the 5th century," said Stiti.

Tombs found underneath could be even older than the basilica: the archaeologists said radiocarbon dating on the skeleton fragments found there should reveal their age. The cannonballs were found nearer the surface, in an area that made up part of an Ottoman-era artisans' quarter. Five hundred years ago, craftsmen there could have manufactured the weapons the Barbary pirates used to strike fear into their victims. "It shows the force of the region that dominated the Mediterranean for three centuries," said Stiti.

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So this why it took them longer to get the job done. They were exploring the area first.

Thanks for the information

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Agreement between the Algerian Ministry of Culture and the INRAP with the support of the World Heritage Centre

September 3, 2009 -- On 21 July 2009, the Algerian Ministry of Culture and the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) signed a cooperation agreement with the support of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The ceremony took place in Algiers with the participation of the Algerian Ministry of Culture's Director of International Cooperation, the Ambassador of France, the President of INRAP and the Program Specialist representing the World Heritage Centre. The agreement allowed archaeological diagnostic works before construction began of the Algiers subway station, Place des Martyrs. This preventive archaeological operation, unprecedented in Algeria, was initiated by the national authorities and led by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation and in partnership with INRAP.

Located in Algiers, in the lower Casbah, the project to extend the subway line is located in the area of the Casbah that has been listed as Algerian national heritage since 1973 and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992. In 2003, the National Commission of Cultural Sites declared the Kasbah a Protected Sector. The archaeological diagnostic works confirmed information that had been previously found in archives. The area includes a part of the area of Ikosim, an ancient trading post. This city was an integral part of the Mauretanian kingdom of Juba II (52 B.C.-23 A.D.), where the capital was Caesare (currently known as Cherchell). Ikosim, under the Romanized name of Icosium, became a Roman municipality, a status enjoyed by autonomous cities within the Empire. In the VIIth century, with the advent of Islam, the Tribe of Benou Mezghana settled there. In 1516, the corsair Arudj known as 'Redbeard' founded a republic in Algiers that would resist Charles-Quint. The city would greatly develop starting in the XVIth century with the Ottomans, and, starting in 1830, the colonial period would leave its mark. The first results of the archaeological works have unearthed vestiges of high importance which reinforce the outstanding universal value of the site.