One of the difficulties in dealing with the transformation of ancient landscapes is that we do not often know what such landscapes looked like, because in Europe centuries of urban development have obliterated them.
Algeria, invaded by the French in 1830, cost 150,000 lives in 50 years. The landscape had changed little since Roman and Early Christian times; and her monumental remains, some toppled by earthquakes, stood almost intact. The French therefore found and re-used Roman and Byzantine fortresses, roads, cisterns, silos and ports. Unfortunately, they also destroyed many monuments. Their officers were classically educated, and described what they saw and what they transformed in official reports to a War Office equally alert to the importance of classical civilisation.
We also have abundant documentation for what happened, and when, much of it from the French Army archives in Vincennes. The talk will include a multi-page Information Sheet, citing specific examples, with references, many of them from these archives.