The first to quarry the hills beneath El Haouaria were the Carthaginians in the 6th century BCE. The attraction was yellow to orange sandstone of excellent quality, which could easily be worked. Rather soon it was discovered that the finest quality stones were deep down, which is the explanation for the tunnels digging deep down. Imagine what an effort was put into dragging the large stones out of the holes. These were, however, easily transported down to the sea, where boats would transport them to many cities around the Gulf of Carthage.
