Architectural Geology of Tunisia, Part 8: Hanging Out at Juno's Place | Dougga Archaeological Site
(Updated on July 7, 2026)
Looking northwestward toward the southern-end facade and eastern elevation of the Temple of Juno Caelestis. A good portion of its temenos wall is also visible.
What must have been Dougga's stateliest structure, the Temple of Juno Caelestis still benefits from being removed a bit from the realm of worldly cares by its lofty podium. Like the nearby Capitol, it's a Corinthian-order design. It was built during the reign of Severus Alexander (AD 222-235).
In this case, the column shafts are not fluted, but they too appear to be monolithic—each carved from one solid block of stone rather than being composed of smaller stacked drums.
If that's so, and if they like so much else on the archaeological site are made of locally quarried El Garia Limestone, it's just more evidence that this site was blessed with a first-class building material.
The semicircular temenos wall in the background marks the limit of the temple's sacred precinct. It's worth scrutinizing under magnification, because it's composed of nicely set, coursed ashlar of what I take to be more Eocene-epoch, nummulitic El Garia. There it has weathered to a pleasing assortment of earth tones—buttery yellow, orange, and ocher.
In contrast, the temple's podium and steps have considerable dark staining. Because this is hardly an industrial area with a lot of automotive traffic, my first guess is that the black crusting with dark-green margins isn't carbonaceous soot, but rather thriving colonies of cyanobacteria. No doubt lichen and green algae are also hanging out somewhere, as well. These tenacious communities of stone-dwellers are collectively called biofilms.
Sources Consulted for This Essay
- Fournier, François, Philippe Bromblet, Alexandre Da Cruz, Yvan Maligorne, Chloé Damay, Nathalie Gandolfo, and Haythem Abidi. "Petrographic and Geochemical Characterization of Eocene Limestones from Thugga / Dougga (Tunisia): Implications for the Provenance of Stones Used in Construction and Sculpture in the Ancient Town." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 72 (2026): 105735. doi.org.
- Poinssot, Claude. Plan du Centre Civil de Thugga. Archaeological site plan, 1958. Digitized by Wikimedia Commons. Last modified May 14, 2021. wikimedia.org.
- Younès, Ameur. "Geoarchaeological Study of the Ancient Quarries of Thugga (Dougga, North-West of Tunisia)." Marmora: An International Journal for Archaeology, History and Archaeometry of Marbles and Stones 13 (2017): 95–124.
- Zoghlami, Karima, Juan Diego Martín-Martín, David Gómez-Gras, Antonia Navarro, David Parcerisa, and Joan Ramon Rosell. "The Building Stone of the Roman City of Dougga (Tunisia): Provenance, Petrophysical Characterisation and Durability." Comptes Rendus Geoscience 349, no. 8 (2017): 402–11. doi.org.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Architectural Geology of Tunisia album.
Architectural Geology of Tunisia, Part 8: Hanging Out at Juno's Place | Dougga Archaeological Site
(Updated on July 7, 2026)
Looking northwestward toward the southern-end facade and eastern elevation of the Temple of Juno Caelestis. A good portion of its temenos wall is also visible.
What must have been Dougga's stateliest structure, the Temple of Juno Caelestis still benefits from being removed a bit from the realm of worldly cares by its lofty podium. Like the nearby Capitol, it's a Corinthian-order design. It was built during the reign of Severus Alexander (AD 222-235).
In this case, the column shafts are not fluted, but they too appear to be monolithic—each carved from one solid block of stone rather than being composed of smaller stacked drums.
If that's so, and if they like so much else on the archaeological site are made of locally quarried El Garia Limestone, it's just more evidence that this site was blessed with a first-class building material.
The semicircular temenos wall in the background marks the limit of the temple's sacred precinct. It's worth scrutinizing under magnification, because it's composed of nicely set, coursed ashlar of what I take to be more Eocene-epoch, nummulitic El Garia. There it has weathered to a pleasing assortment of earth tones—buttery yellow, orange, and ocher.
In contrast, the temple's podium and steps have considerable dark staining. Because this is hardly an industrial area with a lot of automotive traffic, my first guess is that the black crusting with dark-green margins isn't carbonaceous soot, but rather thriving colonies of cyanobacteria. No doubt lichen and green algae are also hanging out somewhere, as well. These tenacious communities of stone-dwellers are collectively called biofilms.
Sources Consulted for This Essay
- Fournier, François, Philippe Bromblet, Alexandre Da Cruz, Yvan Maligorne, Chloé Damay, Nathalie Gandolfo, and Haythem Abidi. "Petrographic and Geochemical Characterization of Eocene Limestones from Thugga / Dougga (Tunisia): Implications for the Provenance of Stones Used in Construction and Sculpture in the Ancient Town." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 72 (2026): 105735. doi.org.
- Poinssot, Claude. Plan du Centre Civil de Thugga. Archaeological site plan, 1958. Digitized by Wikimedia Commons. Last modified May 14, 2021. wikimedia.org.
- Younès, Ameur. "Geoarchaeological Study of the Ancient Quarries of Thugga (Dougga, North-West of Tunisia)." Marmora: An International Journal for Archaeology, History and Archaeometry of Marbles and Stones 13 (2017): 95–124.
- Zoghlami, Karima, Juan Diego Martín-Martín, David Gómez-Gras, Antonia Navarro, David Parcerisa, and Joan Ramon Rosell. "The Building Stone of the Roman City of Dougga (Tunisia): Provenance, Petrophysical Characterisation and Durability." Comptes Rendus Geoscience 349, no. 8 (2017): 402–11. doi.org.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Architectural Geology of Tunisia album.