Lamta Archaeological Museum
The Lamta Archaeological Museum is an archaeological museum located in Lamta, Tunisia.
Description
The purpose of the museum, inaugurated in 1992, is to host the abundant antiquity collections found in the region and explain the history of the area, starting from the arrival of Phoenician sailors in the settlement to the Roman period and early Christian era.The museum is located on the seashore, on the north-eastern corner of the antique town of Leptiminus, which repeatedly played a key role, both during the Punic era, and in the Roman period.
The garden around the museum shows in-situ portions of a Roman thermal complex, with floors covered with mosaics and the hot room central heating system below the floor clearly visible and various sculptures.
The museu's modern building is built like some antique villas, with a rectangular building with a vaulted entranceway leading to three rooms opening onto an interior courtyard hosting a garden surrounded by a columned portico.
One room is dedicated to the Punic period, with poteries and a representative collection of the various finds in the necropolis surroundering the museum. In addition to a reconstitution of the most common urn burial set-up with a tube allowing the living to celebrate on the tomb memorial ceremonies and allowing them to pour libations into the tomb, the museum hosts a rare wooden sarcophagus from the Punic period.
A second room is dedicated to the Roman and early Christian period. A statue of the emperor Trajan and some mosaics from the nearby archeological site of Uzita stand out among the various sculptures and honorary plaques of funerary inscriptions. The piece which particularly stands out is an exceptional sculpted Christian marble sarcophagus, where the deceased, portrayed in his rich landowning context - with a hunting party, his horse, his dog, servants and friends as well as his wife waiting for him at home - comes to the time of death, in front of Christ seated on the throne, surrounded by the apostles Peter and Paul, and transitions to the afterlife where his friends have preceded him.
A third room was opened in 1994, in cooperation with Michigan University. Various types of amphorae discovered on site are displayed, and the exhibit explains how their study can provide data on trade flux in antiquity. Hydraulic systems and building techniques of the Roman period are also presented. The most precious pieces of the collection are several colorful Christian mosaics found in a nearby underground church.