Off the west coast of Sicily lies the remains of the ancient city of Motya. There, a compound of temples and shrines offers a window into the life of Phoenician settlers who journeyed from Lebanon across the Mediterranean in the first millennium BC.
While Motya has been studied for a century, the site is still giving up new secrets. Earlier this month a rectangular basin, long-believed to have served as an artificial harbour for protecting naval ships and participating in trade, was revealed to be something else entirely – a religious site, designed and constructed to perfectly align with the stars.
