Archaeology: New Battle of Marseille

Paris could scarcely have been more than a tribal village when Phoenician sailors established Massilia on the southern coast of France during the 6th century B.C. So strong were the Massilians and the fortifications they built that not until Caesar laid extended siege to Massilia in 49 B.C. did the city's streets clink to the armor of invaders. Subsequently Romanized, then later buried for centuries beneath the foundations of what became the port of Marseille, the fortifications were unearthed this summer when contractors began excavations for three high-rise commercial buildings, a...

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