In modern times, cities often pave over old cobblestone streets and brick roads with cement or asphalt, so it should not seem too foreign that ancient civilizations built upon the preceding ones.
Today, I went to Nora, roughly 30 kilometers southwest of Cagliari, where successive colonies were constructed one upon the other, starting with the Phoenicians, then the Carthaginians, and finally the Romans.
Once an island, Nora is now a promontory with a portion of the city submerged beneath the sea; but, recently, many artifacts have been unearthed, revealing the lives and times of each civilization.
Nora was founded in 9th century BC by the Phoenicians, who settled amongst the local Nuraghic population of Sardinia. When the Carthaginians arrived later in the 6th century BC, they met with enormous resistance by the Nuraghic people.
The Carthaginians, in turn, defeated the Nuraghic people, destroying all their nuraghi in the area. The Carthaginians, however, met with the same fate in the 3rd century BC when the Romans attacked Nora, burning the city to the ground.
By the year 450 AD, Nora had been completely abandoned because of the incessant raids of the Vandals, who invaded not only Nora but many other colonies along the coast of Sardinia.
Photo, slideshow & Video Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.