let's not be literalists here- Carthage wasn't completely obliterated into a pile of fine-grain dust, but it was pretty roughed up. As I understand it, it was burnt down, with the walls pulled down (of course, not literally, but probably pretty knocked up to prevent them from ever being usable again. The site was then formally cursed and abandoned- so I see a huge smoking city that is completely uninhabitable- but not denigrated or something.

note- when I said abandoned, I mean abandoned for a hundred-so-odd years until re-settled...