9th Century BC Moat to Protect Phoenician Settlement Excavated in Spain
Archaeologists working at a in the Alicante province of Spain have just discovered a large moat. This emphasizes the defensive actions taken by the settlers against the hostility they faced when they lived on the Iberian coast between the 8th and 9th century BC.
The moat is one of the defensive features of the Phoenician settlement at the archaeological site of Cabezo Pequeño del Estaño (also known as Cabeço de l’Estany), located in the coastal town of Guardamar del Segura. A University of Alicante press release reports that the moat is three meters (9.84 ft.) deep and over eight meters (26.25 ft.) wide at the top. It was dug by hand and the chisel marks made by the ancient workers can still be seen in the rocky substratum even today.