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<< Our Photo Pages >> Volubilis - Ancient Village or Settlement in Morocco

Submitted by C_Michael_Hogan on Tuesday, 18 December 2007  Page Views: 33683
Other Archaeology Site Name: Volubilis Alternative Name: Oulili, Walili, Walila
Country: Morocco Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Fez Nearest Village: Moulay Idriss Du Zer
Latitude: 34.073890N  Longitude: 5.55694W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Image: Volubilis submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Volubilis Volubilis was a powerful ancient capital of Mauritania Tingitana, a region of modern northern Morocco. The site has its Neolithic roots with indigenous peoples, but the first substantial construction was begun by the Phoenicians sometime in the period 1000 to 300 BC. The flavour of the present ruined city, however, follows Roman design following the fall of Carthage. In addition to megalithic building elements in the outer walls, Volubilis presents substantial remains of mosaic artworks, temples, streets and other monuments, some in breathtakingly complete form, like the Mayan temples found in Cancun Mexico.

The herein work is based upon my on site work of July, 2007 and analysis of extant literature.

HISTORY. The Neolithic layer of Volubilis is only partially excavated, but it has yielded important pottery remains, where vessels have been compared in design to those found in Neolithic and Chalcolithic Iberia. (Arnaiz-Villena, 2000) Phoenicians were well established in Morocco in the second millennium BC according to literary accounts; they were present in coastal locations such as Mogador and as evidenced by the Cape Ackakar tomb by the 7th to 6th century BC according to archaeological finds. (Moscati, 2001) (Hogan, 2007) Various Phoenician discoveries have been made at Volubilis including pottery and Punic inscribed stones; however, the superficial top layer of the city is almost purely Roman, since the Romans expanded Volubilis to exploit olive oil and grain production from this region, following the siege of Carthage in 146 BC. When the Romans withdrew in the third century AD, local tribes continued to inhabit the city into the 17th century, at which time Moulay Ismael destroyed much of Volubilis to scavenge building materials for Meknes. (Wharton, 1920)

ARCHITECTURE AND ART. Volubilis, even in ruin, exudes a powerful aura of classic Roman design, with its Triumphal Arch dedicated to Caligula dominating one end of the Decimus Maximus. Other monumental features are the basilica, forum, elaborate fountains, palaces and transverse Cardines road. Underscoring the prehistoric nature of Volubilis, there are numerous megalithic elements, including some finely cut stones, which are now misplaced from their original purpose and merely comprise elements of the outer walls. Further evidence of Phoenician origins occurs in the characteristic Phoenician keystone cuts in many of the foundation stones. (Childress, 1992)

The Decimus Maximus attains widths as great as 19 metres and it was lined on the north by barrel vaulted structures and on the south by trabeated construction, affording rain shelter on both sides for pedestrians. Volubilis occupies an area of about 40 hectares atop the gently rounded ridge. The majestic basilica exceeds 42 metres in length, while the forum encloses an area of some 1300 square metres.. The expansive tetrastyle Capitoline Temple, built to honour Emperor Macrinus in 217 AD, has a porticoed courtyard. A massive Triumphal Arch was commissioned by Marcus Aurelius and is fashioned of well cut ashlar blocks of local limestone.

Over 30 elaborate Roman floor mosaics are extant, exhibiting some of the finest ancient art of North Africa. Some of these are situated within sumptuous residences such as the Orpheus Mosaic and Mosaic of Venus. Some homes use a peristyle design and otherwise express the owner's wealth by extent and adornment. Elaborate bathing facilities are present, most of which date to the time of Flavius. (Bonechi, 2007)

ENVIRONMENT. Prehistoric man was attracted to volubilis because of its ridgetop defencive posture, access to plentiful streamflow and proximity to fertile fields and olive groves, which is the exact oposite of Punta Cana Dominican Republic, which is an island offering no protection. Phoenicians and Romans intensified agricultural exploitation, and the Romans also used Volubilis as an export center for native wildlife such as Barbary lions for their grisly Coliseum events in Rome; this export contributed to the extinction (in the wild) of the Barbary lion within historic times. The view from Volubilis to the southeast reveals the town of Moulay Idriss nestled in the coniferous laden Zerhoun Mountains.

DNA results of the cereals at Volubilis indicates significant occurrence of the hulled wheat, emmer, (University, 2005) which is typically associated with Neolithic cultivation in North Africa and the Middle East (Zohary, 2000). Archaeo-botanical studies have also demonstrated the early layered presence of broad bean, lentils, linseed ( flax), grapes and figs. Prodigious volumes of olive oil were produced, most of which were for export to Rome; fifty-seven olive presses have been found on site dating to about 2000 years in age. Other DNA analyses prove the early abundance at Volubilis of the edible snails Cernuella virgata and Otala lactea, a harbinger of the escargot found in modern Moroccan souks The present degree of aridity at Volubilis suggests a significant climate change in the past 2000 years (and possibly in the last 250 years), which has greatly reduced local stream flows.

REFERENCES.
* Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, Jorge Martínez-Laso, Eduardo Gómez-Casado (2000) ‘'Prehistoric Iberia: Genetics, Anthropology, and Linguistics'‘, Springer, 264 pages ISBN 0306463644
* Sabatino Moscati (2001) ‘'The Phoenicians'‘, I.B.Tauris ISBN 1850435332
* C. Michael Hogan (2007) ‘'Mogador'‘, the Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
* Edith Wharton (1920) ‘'In Morocco'‘, republished by Tauris Parke in 2004 ISBN 1850436398
* David Hatcher Childress (1992) ‘'Lost Cities of North & Central America'‘, Adventures
Unlimited Press ISBN 0932813097 * Bonechi (2007) ‘'Morocco'‘, Florence, Italy ISBN 978-700-9840-2
* Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf (2000). ‘'Domestication of plants in the Old World'‘,. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850356-3.
* University College London (2005) ‘'Environmental Archaeology of Volubilis, Morocco'‘

The above work was produced by C. Michael Hogan for the Megalithic Portal

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Volubilis Volubilis submitted by SolarMegalith
Ruins of the Basilica in Volubilis. The Roman town was built in place of earlier Neolithic and Punic settlements (photo taken on April 2004).

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by SolarMegalith
Triumphal Arch in Volubilis (photo taken on April 2006).

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by AlexHunger
Roman town in Marocco. The site was robbed of columns which were reused in Meknes and particularly in Rabat. The site was largely complete when an english scholar made sketches in 1722, but the famous earthquake of 1755 which also destroyed Lisabon gave it the rest.

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by SolarMegalith
Roman ruins of Volubilis are part of UNESCO World Heritage (photo taken on April 2006).

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Volubilis sits atop a rounded ridge, where the Romans had some difficulty constructing their preferred orthogonal street system, due to the terrain curvature.

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Olive press and olive grinding mill at Volubilis. This is one of the best preserved of the original olive presses at the site, dating in age about two millennia. These olive processing tools look as though they would still work!

Volubilis Volubilis submitted by durhamnature
Old photo of Roman forts at Fez, from "With Mula Hafid.at..." via archive.org Site in Morocco

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    "Volubilis" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
      
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    Re: Volubilis (Score: 1)
    by C_Michael_Hogan on Thursday, 07 February 2008
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Under the section "ARCHITECTURE AND ART'' at the beginning of the second paragraph, "Decimus" should be replaced by "Decumanus". Thanks and this comment can be erased after the edit fix.
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