New Battle of Marseille

Paris could scarcely have been more than a tribal village when Phoenician sailors established Massilia on the southern coast of France during the 6th century B.C. So strong were the Massilians and the fortifications they built that not until Caesar laid extended siege to Massilia in 49 B.C. did the city's streets clink to the armor of invaders. Subsequently Romanized, then later buried for centuries beneath the foundations of what became the port of Marseille, the fortifications were unearthed this summer when contractors began excavations for three high-rise commercial buildings, a cultural center and a 2,000-car underground garage on vacant land behind the city's bourse (stock exchange). Almost immediately, the ramparts became the objective of a new civil conflict that made up in Gallic fury what it lacked in Roman firepower.

Greek Walls. In one camp were archaeologists who have yearned to dig into Marseille's rich, entombed past for decades. Opposed to them are proponents of a long-planned urban-renewal project--the Projet de la Bourse.

Delayed by World War II, the redevelopment work was reinitiated with the construction of three apartment buildings on an adjacent site in 1962. This year the city finally completed plans to finish the project; excavation was begun in February. Among the archaeologists on hand were Professors Maurice Euzennat, 40, who also serves as director of antiquities of Provence and Corsica for French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux, and 30-year-old Franc,ois Salviat. As the power shovels bit into the rocky grey soil, more and more of Massilia's fortifications began to appear. To Euzennat, it soon became apparent that a greater expanse of ramparts remained intact than anyone had estimated when fragments were unearthed earlier in the century. Moreover, the walls were definitely Greek rather than Roman, and far more important historically.

By the end of May, Euzennat and Salviat had won the support of Malraux. Unmoved, Marseille's mayor, Gaston Defferre, claimed that the city would lose 2,000 jobs and millions of dollars if construction stopped. He offered to rebuild the walls elsewhere, but the scientists balked. "If you transfer these walls, you destroy them."

Catapult Balls. Letters flew between Malraux and Defferre. Finally in early August, Malraux ordered work halted for a month--and the archaeologists began digging. They unearthed remnants of towers, lower ramparts, parts of a pier, inner walls, a sewer network and a central flagstone street. Buried within the fortifications, which are at least 460 ft. by 130 ft., were catapult balls of apparently Roman origin, along with building blocks bearing Greek monograms and pottery fragments, including one that dates from the 5th century B.C. Said Euzennat, who believes the find as important as the ruins of Carthage: "You have to go to Syracuse to find something comparable."

Last week, as their one-month reprieve expired, the archaeologists were confident that an 18-month extension from Malraux was imminent. Defferre, seemingly mellowed by the prospect of a major tourist attraction, was reported ready to negotiate.

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