Algeria is rich in prehistoric memorials of human occupation, especially in megalithic remains, of which nearly every known kind has been found in the country. Numerous flints of palaeolithic type have been discovered, notably at Tlemcen and Kolea. Near Jelfa, in the Great Atlas, and at Mechra-Sfa ("ford of the flat stones"), a peninsula in the valley of the river Mina not far from Tiaret, are vast numbers of megalithic monuments. The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic – lit. ... Tlemcen (Arabic: تلمسان) is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the seat of government for the wilaya of the same name. ... Mina is a city in Saudi Arabia in which 251 hajji pilgrims were killed in a stampede on February 1, 2004. ... Tiaret is a wilaya of Algeria. ...

In the Kubr-er-Rumia-- "grave of the Roman lady," "Roman" being used by the Arabs to designate strangers of Christian origin--the Medrasen, and the Jedars, Algeria possesses a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments.

The Kubr-er-Rumia-- best known by its French name, Tombeau de la Chrétienne, tradition making it the burial-place of Florinda, la Cava Rumía, the beautiful and unfortunate daughter of Count Julian-- is near Kolea, and is known to be the tomb of the Mauretanian king Juba II and of his wife Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. It is built on a hill 756 ft. above the sea. A circular stone building surmounted by a pyramid rests on a lower platform, 209 ft. square. Originally the monument was about 130 ft. in height, but it has been wantonly damaged. Its height is now 100 ft. 8 in.: the cylindrical portion 36 ft. 6 in., the pyramid 64 ft. 2 in. The base, 198 ft. in diameter, is ornamented with 60 engaged Ionic columns. The capitals of the columns have disappeared, but their design is preserved among the drawings of James Bruce, the African traveller. In the centre of the tomb are two vaulted chambers, reached by a spiral passage or gallery 6 1/2 ft. broad, about the same height and 489 ft. long. The sepulchral chambers are separated by a short passage, and are cut off from the gallery by stone doors made of a single slab which can be moved up and down by levers, like a portcullis. The larger of the two chambers is 142 ft. long by 11 ft. broad and 11 ft. high. The other chamber is somewhat smaller. The tomb was early violated, probably in search of treasure. In 1555 Salah Rais, pasha of Algiers, set men to work to pull it down, but the records say that the attempt was given up because big black wasps came from under the stones and stung them to death. At the end of the 18th century Baba Mahommed tried in vain to batter down the tomb with artillery. In 1866 it was explored by order of the emperor Napoleon III, the work being carried out by Adrien Berbrugger and Oscar Maccarthy. Jump to: navigation, search With the rise of Roderic to the throne of the Visigoths in Hispania, and with the death in 710 CE of the previous king, Wittiza, the relatives and partisans of the latter fled to Ceuta (Septa), the Pillar of Hercules in North Africa on the northern... Jump to: navigation, search With the rise of Roderic to the throne of the Visigoths in Hispania, and with the death in 710 CE of the previous king, Wittiza, the relatives and partisans of the latter fled to Ceuta (Septa), the Pillar of Hercules in North Africa on the northern... Mauretania was a Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa (named after the Mauri tribe, after whom the Moors were named), corresponding to western Algeria and northern Morocco. ... Juba II Juba II of Numidia (52 BC - 23 AD) was the husband of Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. ... Cleopatra Selene (40 BC – 6 AD), sometimes referred to as Cleopatra VIII, was the daughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony and the twin sister of Alexander Helios. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bust of Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (Latin: M·ANTONIVS·M·F·M·N¹) (ca. ... Jump to: navigation, search Egyptian statue of Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII Philopator ( January 69 BC – August 12, 30 BC) was queen of ancient Egypt, the last member of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty and hence the last Greek ruler of Egypt. ... Architects first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX) The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and... See also James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin. ... // Etymology World map showing Africa (geographically) The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — land of the Afri (plural, or Afer singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day... Algiers Algiers (French Alger, (Arabic: ولاية الجزائر ) El-Jezair, i. ... Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ... Jump to: navigation, search Berbrugger (May 11, 1801 – July 2, 1869) was a French archeologist and philologist. ...

The Medrasen is a monument similar to the Kubr-er-Rumia, but older. It was built about 150 B.C. as the burial-place of the Numidian kings, and is situated 35 miles southwest of Constantine. The form is that of a truncated cone, placed on a cylindrical base, 196 ft. in diameter. It is 60 ft. high. The columns encircling the cylindrical portion are stunted and much broader at the base than the top; the capitals are Doric. Many of the columns, 60 in number, have been much damaged. When the sepulchral chamber was opened in 1873 by Bauchetet, a French engineer officer, clear evidence was found that at some remote period the tomb had been rifled and an attempt made to destroy it by fire. Constantine or Qustantînah is a city and wilaya in north-east Algeria, slightly inland, at about 90 kilometers from the coast. ...

The Jedars

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Algeria contains many Roman remains besides those mentioned and is also rich in monuments of Saracenic art. For a description of the chief antiquities see the separate town articles, including, besides those already cited, Lambessa, Tebessa, Tipasa and Timgad. Roman Remains at Lambessa (19th cent. ... Tebessa is a wilaya of Algeria. ... Tipasa (Arabic Tibaza, older Tefessedt, Chenoua Bazar): A town on the coast of Algeria, capital of the wilaya of the same name, 30 m. ... Timgad (called Thamugas by the Romans, located at 35°27′ N 6°38′ E) was a Roman colonial town in North Africa founded by the Emperor Trajan around 100 CE. The ruins are noteworthy for being one of the best extant examples of the grid plan as used in Roman...

See also : Prehistory of Central North Africa The cave paintings found at Tassili-n-Ajjer, north of Tamanrasset, and at other locations depict vibrant and vivid scenes of everyday life in the central Maghrib between about 8000 B.C. and 4000 B.C. They were executed by a hunting people in the Capsian period of the Neolithic...