Between tradition and innovation. A first approach to water storage systems in Gadir/Gades

Abstract

The studies dedicated to the punic settlements’s water supply in Iberian Peninsula have been limited. In this work we have carried out an analysis of the hydraulic structures in Gadir / Gades’s city, approximating the technologies of supply, capture and distribution of the punic city across the characterization of the testimonies provided with Cadiz subsoil’s archaeological register. The comparative analysis of the systems storage’s typologies (the cisterns) of punic and roman period has allowed us to check the continuity in roman period of the evolution punic tipologies (a bagnarola). That’s a clear element which demonstrates the punic culture made a great impact in Cadiz context, like we can see in another strong punic tradition cities as Cartago, Nora or Tharros and in roman Spain Carthago Nova.