Hermeneutic Cartography for the Restitution of a Lost Antique Seaport

This article deals with the reconstruction of an ancient seaport in the town of Bejaia, known as Muslubium Horrea. This settlement, ignored by the official historiography, would nevertheless have played an important role in wheat exports and trade with the Roman port of Ostia. Moreover, of all the ancient ports known to date, the Algerian coast has only two port warehouses, and Muslubium Horrea is the only granary belonging to the Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis (400AD). The methodology adopted to locate and reconstruct the topography and the settlement’s structures is based on the concept of cartographic hermeneutics. The compilation of existing historical accounts and the interpretation derived from the superimposition of ancient geographical maps and 19th century archaeological and geological maps identified all the natural resources necessary for its construction, in particular the abundance of water sources and deposits of geomaterials for construction (clay, stone, gypse, marble, etc.). These data were confirmed by field and photogrammetric surveys, resulting in a map showing the archaeological context of the Muslubium Horrea port and the remains of structures still visible today. The approach adopted allowed to delineate the size of the port site and scale the structures that make it up, as well as identify the water supply source and its primitive topography prior to its establishment.