Opus Africanum

Since Alexandre Lezine coined the term opus africanum, the construction technique, characterized by alternating ashlar pilaster courses and mortared fill, had been intimately tied to Punic culture, and to the perceived seat of that culture in Carthage and the surrounding areas.  Yet the term itself, given an air of authority in its Latin form, is but a modern construct.  That said, based upon Lezine’s model, scholars like Sophie Helas have attempted to show that the construction technique spread with the influence of the Carthaginian Empire, and instances of opus africanum outside of North Africa are thus indicative of Punic colonists.  A presentation by Lisa Fentress was seen to corroborate this model, indicating that the distribution of the opus matches the area many historians believe to be under the control of Carthage.  Indeed, when examples of the style were discovered in mainland Italy, the prevailing explanation had been to see it as the work of Punic slaves, as construction technique and ethnic identity had become so thoroughly interwoven in scholars’ eyes.

Regional differences and the multi-ethnic populations at many sites in the Western Mediterranean have been recognized in other media, and it is the purpose of this project to challenge the perception of opus africanum as an ethnically restricted style, and to instead recognize its spread as being one of either emulation, acculturation, or practical functionality, thus formally suggesting a rupture between the technology of the medium and its spread, and the political system that has been imagined from it.  At many sites opus africanum appears to have been a pragmatic means of rapid repair and construction, rather than a conscious expression of a particular identity. 

In order to investigate this, the technical aspects of the building method will be analyzed in detail at four sites: Soluntum and Akragas in Sicily, and Pompeii and Capua in Campania.  While scholarly consensus concerning Soluntum as a continually inhabited “Punic” site allows a study of the technique to serve as a control, the other exempla chosen for this study come from areas assuredly outside of the area of the Punic eparchy.  Traditionally, case studies looking generalizations of style have been restricted to the comparison of opus africanum within the bounds of a single site, as has been done for Soluntum, but in this project the methodologies and materials used in the construction of a single well-dated structure from each site will be compared.  Much can be learned from the substrate of the extant walls, the mortars used, typologies of stones selected, through recent non-invasive techniques of identification more often used in the field of architectural conservation.  It is my belief that, in looking beyond the surface style, and at composition and context, opus africanum might finally be divorced from its singular ethnic association.  It would thus provide the groundwork for a more nuanced debate concerning this opus, and question the belief that this building style can be used as a clear indicator of the ethnic identity of the ancient populations of archaeological sites.