THE EXCAVATIONS OF CARTHAGE. 611 



covered the dead or formed the ceiling" of their tombs has fallen to 

 dust, and only the handles by which they were lowered on their funeral 

 couches remain. 



Even bronze and silver have been consumed by rust, yet these metals 

 must have held a large place in the equipment of the tombs. There are 

 remains of weapons — small hatchets, spear heads, cutlasses, hooks, 

 shovels, and tongs; also, thick copper cymbals, bells, mirrors, and, 

 above all, beautiful bronze vinochoes, which, being more massive, have 

 resisted better. One of them, entirely of gilded bronze and of rare 

 elegance of form, is provided with a handle rising in a graceful curve 

 over the neck. The junction of neck and. handle is made by a square 

 piece, from which the head of a calf, surmounted by disk and uraeus, 

 stands out in relief. On others the handle, artistically wrought, has, 

 at the points of attachment a beardless head above and below a bearded 

 head with the features of a Silenus. 



Gold alone has not been attacked by time. It has resisted even the 

 wear of the waves of the sea. The coast of Carthage, on a level with 

 the promontory of Bordj Djedid, is veritable gold-bearing sand, mixed 

 with which are found, now small grains of gold, now links, rings, and 

 other minor objects. As M. Gauckler has demonstrated, the presence 

 of this gold is due to the collapse of the caves of the necropolis sunk 

 in the cliff. 



Only Etruscan jewels or the art of a Castellani can give an idea of 

 the method by which Carthaginians worked the gold and produced 

 jewels whose delicacy still charms. These bits of necklaces, these 

 pendents and earrings, are made by placing tiny balls of gold close to 

 each other to form links, beads, and cubes. The delicacy of effect 

 obtained by the application of this milled work to massive gold can 

 not be described. The earrings, especially, are small masterpieces of 

 jewelry. Sometimes they end in long gold beads; sometimes they are 

 shaped like lanterns, with a pyramid of gold grains rising in the middle. 

 These jewels are not peculiar to the necropolis of Bordj Djedid. The 

 most beautiful, possibly, came from the more ancient tombs. In one of 

 the latter M. Gauckler quite recently discovered a body wearing a gold 

 finger ring with four baboons engraved on the chaton, in the left ear an 

 earring with the symbol of Tanit, around the neck a large necklace of 

 massive gold, composed of 40 pieces of various shapes symmetrically 

 disposed on either side of a central brooch, which consists of a turquoise 

 crescent falling over a hyacinth disk. Another necklace of silver com- 

 pleted the adornments. 



A curious terra- cotta statuette enables us to understand how these 

 jewels were worn. It represents a goddess seated, her mantle wound 

 about her bust in the shape of a disk. The headdress is high and 

 decorated with a triple row of roses, disks, and laurel leaves; long 

 shell-shaped earrings hang to the bottom of the cheeks. Three ample 

 necklaces drop over the breast and entirely cover it. The first, which 



