bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Traditional Settlement in the Oasis of Ghadames in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Authors: Shawesh Abubaker Mohamed
Published: February 2016

Traditional settlements in Libya reflect man's response to the harsh environmental conditions and the need to sustain the social organisation and respect social and cultural traditions. Thus urban dwellers have a strong desire for the morphology of settlements and the needs of indigenous habitats. This has played an important part in shaping the character of traditional Libyan cities and town. As far as people are concerned they are part of their community or neighbourhood. This paper reviews the old town of Ghadames to show how traditional settlement successfully responded to the geographical, environmental conditions and social needs. Attention is also focused on the architectural character, house form and building methods and materials, based on a survey carried out by the author in Ghadames oasis in August 1991. It attempts to establish the suitability of traditional building.
ULVS XXVII: Mapping and Spatial Analysis of the Libyan Valleys Data using GIS
Authors: Flower C. P. J. , Mattingly D. J.
Published: February 2016

This article presents a new approach to the analysis of the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey data, using a Geographical Information System (GIS) for mapping and spatial analysis of site distribution. The first section of the article describes the way in which the GIS was compiled and linked to the computerised gazetteer database. The second section demonstrates the use of the system as a mapping tool, shedding new light on the settlement trends in the region through time. The final section of the article explores in greater depth some aspects of its potential in sophisticated spatial analysis.
Photographs of Libya 1
Authors: Bailey Donald M.
Published: February 2016

The Editor introduces the first of a new occasional series for the reproduction of early photographs of Libya. The group of photographs selected were taken at Cyrene in 1860–61 during the Smith and Porcher archaeological expedition to that site.
Note on the Contents and Accessibility of some Italian Archives with Relevance to Libyan Studies
Authors: Sjöström Isabella W.
Published: February 2016

Details of access to five institutes and libraries in Rome and Florence are given, with some indication of the relevance of their contents to Libyan studies.
Early Urbanism in Cyrenaica: New Evidence from Euesperides (Benghazi)
Authors: Buzaian A. , Lloyd J. A.
Published: February 2016

Excavations by the Department of Antiquities, Benghazi, Garyunis University, Benghazi and the Society for Libyan Studies took place at the site of Euesperides for a total of seven weeks in 1995 and 1996. Work was concentrated on the northern margins of the city, where much new evidence for its topography and development came to light. The discoveries include successive fortification walls (the earlier of which may belong to c. 600 BC), part of a necropolis, and a large extramural kiln complex of the fourth/third centuries. Evidence bearing on the infrastructure, economy, diet and cultural life of this early Cyrenaican city, which was abandoned by the mid third century BC, was also recovered.
The Horseman of Tobruk
Authors: Mohamed Fadel Ali
Published: February 2016

Aspects of the geographical setting of Tobruk, the ancient Antipyrgos, are discussed as a context for the publication of a limestone statuette of a horse and rider found in 1991 at Bir el Jeser. Stylistically difficult to date, it is probably of the later Hellenistic or Roman periods.
The Fezzan Project 1997: methodologies and results of the first season
Authors: Mattingly David , al-Mashai Mohammed , Balcombe Philip , Chapman Simon , Coddington Hugh , Davison Jim , Kenyon David , Wilson Andrew , Witcher Robert
Published: February 2016

This report summarises the aims and methods of the Fezzan Project, a new interdisciplinary investigation of human settlement in the Saharan environment of southern Libya. The work follows up earlier British work by Charles Daniels on the Garamantes and focuses on the Wadi el-Agial in the vicinity of Germa (ancient Garama). The time frame of the project is the last 12,000 years. A variety of methodologies has been employed, including topographic survey, standing building recording, excavation, field walking, palaeobotanical and faunal sampling, geophysics and human bone analysis.
Commerce and Industry in Roman Sabratha
Authors: Wilson Andrew
Published: February 2016

This article presents evidence for the exploitation of marine resources at Sabratha, including the salting of fish and production of garum, as well as purple dyeing from theMurexshellfish. These activities may in certain periods of the city's history have been of some importance to Sabratha's economic life, alongside the export of olive oil from the city's hinterland. There is evidence also of various minor crafts and service activities of the sort perhaps to be expected in many Roman towns — bakeries, ceramic manufacture, and glass production.
Cyrene Papers: The Second Report. The Oric Bates Expedition of 1909
Authors: Uhlenbrock Jaimee P.
Published: February 2016

In late April 1909 the young Egyptologist Oric Bates led a three-week survey expedition to Cyrenaica under the sponsorship of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for the purpose of locating a suitable site for archaeological excavation. Participants in the expedition included Richard Norton, Allison V. Armour, and Russell C. Sturgis, Jr. At the conclusion of the expedition Bates sent a full report to the sponsors, who filed it away without acknowledgement. The report, which is published here for the first time, details this first official American expedition to Cyrenaica. Correspondence is discussed that reveals why the Archaeological Institute of America and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston chose to ignore the report and to dismiss Bates abruptly from the project just several days after the report was submitted. The role that Norton played in Bates' dismissal is also examined.
Cyrene: Other Men's Memories
Authors: Wright G.R.H.
Published: February 2016

Richard Goodchild was much concerned for the men who had preceeded him in connection with the discovery and rebirth of Cyrene. It seems, therefore, a fitting contribution to his memory to deal in their memories: the memories of Cyrene evoked by antipodal circumstances such men came to experience in their subsequent careers. The curtain is raised on half a dozen of these men who took all the chances offered by the 19th-century world, so full of opportunity for the talented and resolute.
The Garamantes of Fezzan Revisited: publishing the C.M. Daniels archive
Authors: Edwards D. N. , Hawthorne J. W. J. , Dore J. N. , Mattingly D. J.
Published: February 2016

Until the recent resumption of British fieldwork in the Fezzan, knowledge about the Garamantes was largely based on the interim reports of the extensive fieldwork carried out there by Charles Daniels between 1958 and 1977. Following the death of Charles Daniels in 1996, a new project based at the Universities of Leicester and Newcastle is undertaking the full publication of his work. This first interim report discusses progress with the preparation of a survey gazetteer for the Ubari-Germa area of the Wadi el-Agial, reports of the major excavations and the development of a ceramic type series on the basis of excavated material from Zinchecra, Germa and Saniat Gebril.
Urbanism and Economy at Euesperides (Benghazi): preliminary report on the 1999 season
Authors: Wilson Andrew , Bennett Paul , Buzaian Ahmed , Ebbinghaus Susanne , Hamilton Kenneth , Kattenberg Alette , Zimi Eleni
Published: February 2016

This paper reports on the first season of a new project at Euesperides (Benghazi) aimed at studying the urban development and economy of the city. Two area excavations were started, the first on the site of early Hellenistic pebble and tessellated mosaics discovered in 1998, and the second in what appears to be an area of houses and workshops built against the city wall on the east side of the mound of Sidi Abeid. Geophysical survey and surface prospection was also undertaken; it appears that the lower-lying extension to the city was much larger than previously thought, and several modifications are necessary to previously published plans of the site. Much of the lower city is covered with large spreads of deliberately crushed shells of Murex trunculus, indicating the production of purple dye on a significant scale. Other evidence of urban production was also recovered, notably metal-working, while study of the ceramic assemblage shows widespread trading connections, with significant imports of coarsewares besides the expected fineware and amphora imports.
Importazioni italiche in Tripolitania nella prima e media età imperiale
Authors: Fontana Sergio , Felici Fabrizio
Published: February 2016

The present contribution considers Italic imports into Tripolitania between the end of the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD with special reference to the city of Lepcis Magna and its territory. The imports consist mainly of fine ceramic tableware and amphorae. The archaeological context is varied and highlights the diverse use of Italic goods. A wealth of information has been derived from the study of subterranean tombs excavated in the suburbs of Lepcis by the Libyan Department of Antiquities and by the University of Rome III mission. The assemblages consist of grave goods dated to between the middle of the first century BC and the 3rd century AD. Here we consider a sample of ten subterranean tombs not all of which have been published. They are located in the necropolis of the western suburbs of Lepcis with the exception of a tomb at Gelda, in the southern suburbs, and the Ganima tombs in the countryside to the east of Lepcis. Burial in subterranean tombs apparendy was reserved for the nobility while the majority of the population were buried in surface cemeteries often nearby. A contextual study of the early and middle Imperial period of the villa of Wadi er-Rsaf—excavated between 1995 and 1998—provided more data. Further surface reconnaissance surveys of various sample areas near Lepcis were carried out by the same mission in 1999-2000. Special emphases is placed on the survey in the Silin area on the coast some 15 km west of Lepcis and another inland in W Tareglat, now semi-desert, 40 km SE of Lepcis. The quality of the documentation is uneven but good enough to reveal the presence of Italic goods in different contexts: the ritual setting of a necropolis, everyday life in a prosperous suburban home, and rural settlements in the hinterland.
Continuity and change in the Libyan maʿlūf musical tradition
Authors: Ciantar Philip
Published: February 2016

Over the past thirty-nine years, the Libyan maʾluf musical tradition undergone through several changes in order to ensure its existence. Most of these changes and/or innovations had generated new performance practices that changed the more familiar and traditional sonority of this musical genre as it used to be experienced by the Libyans in the context of the zāwīya (Sufi meeting place). These innovations were being proposed by a newly established ensemble that in 1963 was set up by the renowned Libyan musician Hassan Araibi as to revitalize a musical tradition which at that time was on the verge of extinction. At first, the people could not accept, for instance, the inclusion of “modern” instruments such as the violin and cello in a maʿlūf ensemble because such instruments were considered as not belonging to Arabic instrumentation. But then the same people began realizing that such innovative practices were not only stimulating a new interest in this musical tradition but were also assisting in the continuation and preservation of the same tradition. This article presents a case in which “modern” practices of performance and dissemination had guaranteed the existence of an “old” musical tradition to the extent that nowadays this same tradition is still enjoyed in both its “authentic” and “modern” forms.
Water transfer versus desalination in North Africa: sustainability and cost comparison
Authors: Alghariani Saad A.
Published: February 2016

The North African region is experiencing water scarcity that is getting more severe with time. The regional annual average per capita water availability has been reduced from 2285 cubic meters in 1955 to 958 cubic meters in 1990 and is expected to reach 602 cubic meters by the year 2025. To meet the present and future water demands of the region the available options are limited to either long distance water transfers from the southern aquifers to the coastal areas or to investing in large scale seawater desalination technology. Economic analysis revealed that the cost of long distance water transfer can escalate to more than 0.83 US Dollars per cubic meter. When sustainability considerations are taken into account this figure may reach up to 2.35 US Dollars per cubic meter. While these figures were competitive with the cost of seawater desalination twenty years ago, the situation has been recently shifted in favor of seawater desalination which dropped from 5.5 US Dollars in 1979 to less than 0.55 US Dollars in 1999. It is concluded that sustainable development of North Africa will depend in the future on large scale desalination as a last resort. Presently, planned water transfer projects should be substituted by this fast growing technology as the best option.
Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage of the Libyan Desert: report on a conference held in Libya 14-21 December 2002
Authors: Mattingly David
Published: February 2016

The Society for Libyan Studies (SLS), in concert with the Libyan Environment Agency (EGA), the Biruni Remote Sensing Agency, the British Council and the British Embassy, Tripoli, organised a major international and interdisciplinary conference on the Sahara desert, held in Tripoli and southern Libya in December 2002. This marked the culmination of two years' planning and preparation after the idea was initiated by David Mattingly, whilst Chair of the SLS. On the Libyan side, the organising committee was chaired by Dr Ehtuish F. Ehtuish (Secretary of Natural Resources, Environment and Urban Planning), with the main organisational work being carried out by Dr Khaled Gadgood and Dr Ahmed Tawangi of the EGA, along with Dr Yahya al-Fasatwi of the Biruni Remote Sensing Centre. The conference received strong backing from successive British Ambassadors, Richard Dalton and Anthony Layden, and the role of Tony Jones, British Council Director in Tripoli was crucial in finalising all the practical arrangements. Anthony and Josephine Layden kindly hosted a reception to welcome conference delegates on 14th December. The British Council and British Embassy also provided financial support towards travel costs of external speakers and the hire of facilities in Tripoli. Additional sponsorship for the conference was received from Shell, BAE Systems, the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. British Council staff worked tirelessly during the conference to ensure close liaison with our Libyan hosts. The southern tour (see below) received considerable practical support from the local government agencies (shaʿabiyāt) in Fazzan. The general organisation of the conference was superb, for which our Libyan hosts were much congratulated.
The ruins at Virginia Water (part 1)
Authors: Lane Andrew
Published: February 2016

One of the more unusual attractions in Windsor Great Park is the folly beside the lake at Virginia Water. Built in the 1820's in the form of an idealised Classical ruin, it incorporates a large collection of Roman antiquities from the site of Lepcis Magna in Libya. Considering the importance of this monument, not only as one of the most elaborate follies, but one of largest assemblages of Roman architectural fragments in the country, it has received relatively little scholarly attention. As a consequence, in the summer of 2003 a thorough survey and partial excavation of the site were undertaken. The results of this work, a detailed plan of the ruins, a catalogue of the items remaining and new evidence for the origin, construction and history of the site, are presented. The provenance of the Roman elements will be examined in greater detail in part 2.
Military artwork in Libya dating from the Second World War
Authors: Simpson Richard
Published: February 2016

Three years ago, a reader of this Journal sent a photograph of an elaborate drawing from Garian, a town in the Jabal Nafusa region to the south of Tripoli and asked what information could be found about it. Noticing a similarity to another photographed drawing published by Paula Hardy (2002, 120-21) we asked Richard Simpson, an expert on World War II nose art, to give an opinion. Both images date to the Second World War and are examples of military artwork of that time.
Libya: years of change
Authors: Miles Oliver
Published: February 2016

I became President of the Society at the end of 1998. The following six years, and those immediately preceding them, saw the most positive developments in Libya's history of recent times, perhaps of any times. I have been asked to give a brief account of them.
Cultural landscape and local knowledge: a new vision of Saharan archaeology
Authors: di Lernia Savino
Published: February 2016

This paper, based on an Olwen Brogan Memorial Lecture presented to the Society for Libyan Studies on 4 May 2005, reviews the Italian archaeological research started in 1955 with the pioneering work of Fabrizio Mori in the Acacus Mountains and surroundings (Libya, Central Sahara). In particular, the article explores the theoretical and methodological shifts of the last fifteen years, from an ‘adaptionist’ point of view to a ‘new vision’ based on cultural landscape and local knowledge. The paper ends with a call for a new ‘African’ approach to Saharan archaeology, underlining the necessity of international projects—able to link Mediterranean, Saharan and sub-Saharan regions—for some particularly endangered segments of the archaeological record, i.e. rock art and funerary monuments.
Under sail from Tripoli to Derna, 1821–1822
Authors: Thorn Dorothy
Published: February 2016

When the Beechey brothers sailed to Tripoli in 1821 in HMS Adventure to begin their survey work along the coast of Libya, a young midshipman, William Robinson, was aboard on his first voyage. He sent home letters describing shipboard life and the Libyan coast as he saw it, reportedly strewn with wrecks, Tripoli and the castle, the ‘Basha’ and Colonel Warrington, Leptis Magna and the ruins which he sketched, Benghazi where the sea had recently eroded the land, leaving Berenice ‘open to view’, Bomba, Derna and the Gulf of Syrtis, the desertification and the wildlife.
DMP VI: Preliminary results from 2009 fieldwork on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara
Authors: Lahr Marta Mirazón , Foley Robert , Crivellaro Federica , Okumura Mercedes , Maher Lisa , Davies Tom , Veldhuis Djuke , Wilshaw Alex , Mattingly David
Published: February 2016

This paper reports on the work carried out during the 2009 field season of the prehistory sub-theme of the Desert Migrations Project. The work consisted of detailed survey and small-scale excavations in two wadis that drain the Messak Settafet, near the town of Jarma. Both wadis were found to contain evidence of Palaeolithic and Neolithic occupation, as well as of having been used as migratory routes between the Ubari and Murzuq sand seas. One of the wadis (WJAR-E-O1) was surveyed intensely along a few kilometers of its tributary margins. This revealed archaeological material ranging from Oldowan (Mode 1) to historic. The distribution of the various industries and structures had a distinct spatial patterning; the Palaeolithic scatters were spatially discrete, but Holocene remains were often found superimposed on earlier industries. Among the finds were a spatially discrete Oldowan assemblage, an extensive Acheulean industry which included the exploitation of fossil wood as a raw material, the identification of at least five major outcrops of fossil trees, and a number of more recent structures dating from Neolithic to Islamic times and consisting of graves, cairns, rock engravings, and stone features. Middle Stone Age lithics, so predominant over the surface of the Messak plateau, were absent. The second wadi (WJAR-W-02) was geomorphologically different, being comparatively narrow and deeply incised, and containing a number of terraces on the wadi bed resulting from cut and infill processes in the past. The surface of these terraces contained an extensive Aterian lithic industry, while evidence of late Holocene use of the area was also recorded in the form of Tifinagh inscriptions, rock engravings, cairns and graves. Besides mapping the archaeological distributions, a number of trenches were dug at the edge of the river terraces. These revealed an in situ stratigraphic sequence, within which Aterian lithics were found at a depth of > 1 m. Samples for OSL dating were taken. Overall, the work of the 2009 field season was extremely successful in that, besides the fascinating range of archaeological material recorded and studied, it provided important insights into the role of the north-south wadis that cross the Messak, the southern boundary of the area being explored by the DMP, and their differential use in prehistory.
DMP VII: Style, symbolism and cultural identity in the Wadi al-Hayat: results of fieldwork in 2008 and 2009
Authors: Barnett Tertia , Moussa Farès
Published: February 2016

This article reports on the results of the 2008 and 2009 field seasons to survey and record rock engravings in the Wadi al-Hayat. The project started in 2004 with the intention of systematically surveying a 160 km long section of the wadi, centred on the Garamantian settlement at Jarma. This was completed in 2009 in collaboration with the Desert Migrations project. Over 600 previously unrecorded engraved panels were identified in 2008–9. These appear to range in date from the early Pastoral period to the post-Garamantian period. Clear links have been noted in previous seasons in the distribution of the engravings with respect to specific topographic and cultural features. The 2008–9 survey showed that rock carvings also mark patterns of movement through the wadi, and that these patterns appear to shift over time between the Pastoral and post-Garmantian periods. Some of the areas investigated provide relatively easy access into the Wadi al-Hayat from the south and may have represented important corridors for the migration of people and animals for thousands of years.

In tandem with the systematic survey, a targeted survey of selected Late Pastoral and Garamantian cemetery and settlement sites was undertaken during the 2008 season. No positive relationship was found between rock engravings and Garamantian burial or settlement sites. However, a definite association was demonstrated between rock art and Late Pastoral burials and temporary camp sites.
Reconnaissance investigation of the palynology of Holocene wadi deposits in Cyrenaica, Libya
Authors: Hunt Chris , Elrishi H. A. , Hassan Abd T.
Published: February 2016

Pollen assemblages from the base of silty alluvium in three wadi-fills in Cyrenaica are described. They show evidence for forest clearance and cultivation, including the likely cultivation of olive. This suggests that the samples are broadly of Graeco-Roman age, and that the silty alluvium started to accumulate in these wadis as the result of the landscape impact of agricultural expansion.
Radiocarbon dates from Fazzan, southern Libya
Authors: Mattingly David , Edwards David , Dore John
Published: February 2016

This short paper presents a full list of the currently available radiocarbon dates from the work of Charles Daniels in the 1960s-1970s and the Fazzan Project (1997-2001). The dates can be grouped into several categories, by site or area, and demonstrate the potential of radiocarbon dating being applied to historic-period archaeology in the Sahara. This complements earlier Italian work on later prehistory. One of the most important conclusions to emerge is that the construction of castle-like buildings in Fazzan began within the Garamantian period and that some of the numerous well-preserved mudbrick fortified sites are thus rather earlier than has previously been envisaged. A second important conclusion is that the use of AMS dating can help to identify and confirm activity of the post-Garamantian and early Islamic phases, which has hitherto been elusive.
Preliminary report on two seasons of excavations at Balagrae (al-Beida)
Authors: Buzaian Ahmed , Bentaher Fuaad
Published: February 2016

This paper presents a short preliminary report of excavations at Balagrae (al-Beida) in 2001 and 2002. Two phases of building were investigated; the first, representing a possibly domestic or industrial structure which appears to have been destroyed in the earthquake of AD 365, and the second a crudely built late structure erected after the earthquake. Elements of a Roman Doric colonnade reused in the walls of Phase I suggests the existence nearby of a still earlier structure of some architectural pretension.
Marsa-el-Brega: a fatal port of call. Evidence for shipwreck, anchorage and trade in antiquity in the Gulf of Sirte
Authors: Preece Chris
Published: February 2016

This paper outlines the recording and analysis of ceramic material (predominantly amphorae) from a scattered, shallow wreck site at Marsa-el-Brega. Evaluation of the underwater finds suggests the existence of at least two wrecks, one dating to the first century AD, the other to the sixth century AD. In addition, the role of Marsa-el-Brega is analysed with reference to the evidence on land which includes a possiblepiscina, a settlement and a headland anchorage. An argument for commerce along the Gulf littoral is postulated, with other possibilities for anchorage proposed, and the possibility of transshipment to other destinations is considered.
Cyrene'sTheafigure discovered in the Necropolis
Authors: Reynolds Joyce , Thorn James Copland
Published: February 2016

A small limestone half-figure from Alan Rowe's 1957 excavations in Cyrene was recently found to have the word ΘEA lightly inscribed on the polos. The authors describe the sarcophagi with which this figure may have been associated, together with the burial artifacts found within them. It is rare to find ΘEA used in this way, although two examples from Eleusis provide useful parallels. One is a votive plaque, the other a large relief, and each portrays the Eleusinian deities whose iconography is discussed here and compared with that of the Cyrene ΘEA example and also other uninscribed Cyrene half-figures.
Patterns on the rocks: report on recent work to survey rock art sites in the Wadi al-Hayat, Fezzan
Authors: Barnett T. F.
Published: February 2016

This article reports on survey work carried out in December and January 2004/5 to identify and record rock engravings in the Wadi al-Hayat (previously called the Wadi al-Ajal). This work builds on previous surveys carried out under the aegis of the Fezzan Archaeological Project (FAP) (Barnett 2002; Barnett and Roberts 2003; Mattinglyet al.2003).

During this season, systematic survey identified over 300 engraved panels which included all stylistic ‘phases’ known to be present in the wadi (Barnett in Mattinglyet al.2003). When these engravings are incorporated into the spatial distribution model derived from previous field seasons, the preliminary patterns this model describes are no longer wholly applicable. Instead, a more complex and subtle spatial distribution is indicated, in which there appears to be the interplay of several separate relationships between die engravings and die cultural landscape. To avoid misleading interpretation, detailed analysis of die rock art and integration with cultural and environmental data will be attempted only once a full dataset has been gathered on completion of the fieldwork. In the meantime, this paper describes what has been achieved this season. It presents a broad overview of the patterns of rock art distribution as they appear so far with an incomplete dataset and points die way to future fieldwork.

One of the key additional aims of the fieldwork this season was to develop an appropriate recording ʿtoolkitʾ. This included piloting state-of-the-art digital technology to establish its accessibility and value in this environment. Working in collaboration with a team from the University of Bristol, die project applied surface laser scanning to capture 3-dimensional digital data from 14 separate engraved panels. This is die first time this technique has been used to record rock art in North Africa and this provided an unprecedented opportunity to explore its potential for future heritage applications.
Holocene climatic changes in an archaeological landscape: The case study of Wadi Tanezzuft and its drainage basin (SW Fezzan, Libyan Sahara)
Authors: Cremaschi Mauro
Published: February 2016

Recharge of aquifers in the SW Fezzan dates back to the last millennia of the Late Pleistocene and to the very beginning of the Holocene, with a consistent delay between the mountain area (at the beginning) and the ergs. Since that period and up to the end of the fifth millennium BP, the whole area of the Wadi Tanezzuft and of its basin, including mountain ranges and low lands (ergs and pediments), consisted of a wet savannah, and in the low lands displayed a continuous belt of ponds and lakes. During this period, all the physiographic units of the landscape were exploited by hunters and collectors and later, much more intensively, by pastoral communities. Apart from two minor dry episodes, the whole area dried out around 5000 years BP. The wadi Tanezzuft was substantially reduced in discharge and size, but its main course was still fed with water for about three millennia, and during the third millennium BP it was a green oasis about one hundred kilometres long; and for this reason it was intensively settled by the Late Pastoral communities and later by the Garamantes. The different behaviour of the Tanezzuft valley in comparison with the surrounding areas is to be attributed to the fact that it is the main outlet of the Eastern Tassili hydrographic basin, whose water reserve was recharged during the wet Holocene and reduced, but not exhausted by the onset of aridity at 5000 years BP.

During the first centuries AD the size of the oasis was strongly reduced as a consequence of the final depletion of water reservoirs. However strong wind erosion, which is the present dominant geomorphic process, began in the late medieval period.
Megalithic architecture and funerary practices in the late prehistory of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Authors: di Lernia Savino , Bertolani Giovanni B. , Merighi Francesca , Ricci Francesca R. , Manzi Giorgio , Cremaschi Mauro
Published: February 2016

Recent surveys conducted by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in the region of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara) revealed a huge number of sites characterised by the presence of stone tumuli and other megalithic constructions, usually associated with funerary rituals. During the 1999-2000 field seasons, one of these sites—site 96/129—was subjected to systematic excavation, revealing the construction technique of these monuments and showing evidence of human burials. It sheds new light on the funerary practices and anthropological features of the ancient populations of the region. Radiocarbon determinations placed this site at the very end of the Late Pastoral culture, some 3000 uncalibrated years bp. The skeletal material generally shows a good state of preservation and has been the object of a first morphological appraisal. The population of site 96/129 comprised long-limbed and relatively gracile humans, with labour-related afflictions; their dental dimensions consistently follow the trend of dental reduction known for post-Pleistocene human populations. Of great interest are the relationships with the emergence of Garamantian civilisation. Some traits of the funerary practices show the existence of a local heritage, whose roots may be sought in prehistoric times, in particular the position of the corpses and features of grave goods. On the other hand, the presence of multiple burials, the evidence of burnt animal bones, together with small concentrations of ashes in the monuments seem in contrast with the known funerary practices of prehistoric Pastoral sites of the Acacus and surroundings. Such evidence is compared with the regional analysis of megalithic architecture in the Tanezzuft valley, and discloses a tantalising perspective on the cultural trajectories and related biological pulsation in the area.
The archaeology of the southern Fazzan and prospects for future research
Authors: Edwards David N.
Published: February 2016

Since the beginning of archaeological fieldwork in the Fazzan in the 1930s, the focus of research has remained mainly on the Wadi al-Ajal/Wadi al-Hayat and the ‘Garamantes’. While recent work in the Ghat region has identified ‘Garamantian’ sites much further west than previously known, in the Wadi Tanezzuft, very little is known of other parts of the region, notably the southern oases and their towns with their rich medieval and post-medieval heritage.

While preparing materials from the Charles Daniels archive for publication, a brief review of the archaeology of the southern Fazzan identified some 130 sites in the region. While detailed studies are still lacking, there was clearly a significant ‘Garamantian’ presence in many of the southern oases, with several sites in the Wadi an-Nashwa, a significant settlement at Ghuddwa and further cemeteries in the Dujal area and probably at Tsawah. Despite Daniels' reservations, it is clear that a large settlement at Sharaba dated back to the Garamantian period. There is little evidence from the major towns to the east, although Roman imports found at Zuwila suggest that it was at least integrated into ‘Garamantian’ trade networks. Some indications of potentially significant cultural differences between Garamantian remains found in this region and those of the Wadi al-Ajal were also noted.

The potential for medieval and post-medieval archaeology in the region is also very considerable, with the presence of numerous qsur and other settlement sites which await systematic recording. The presence of some groups of foggaras in the region is also of interest and these certainly merit further investigation.
Die Herkunft der zu Kyrene ansässigen Perioiken
Authors: Ryan F. X.
Published: February 2016

Blinkenberg's treatment of the participation of certain Lindians in the founding of Kyrene, a fact mentioned only in the list of dedications to Athana Lindia, is, at the very least, inadequate, since he gives no reasons for rejecting the report. Blinkenberg seems to have been misled by Herodotos, whose account lacks precision, as historians familiar with this passage have long recognised. Chamoux at least attempted to buttress the received view with arguments. The present paper sides with the Lindians against the naysayers regarding a Lindian role in the foundation of Kyrene and reaches the conclusion that these Lindians numbered among the perioikoi there.
A Statuette of the Discobolus: a note
Authors: Wanis Saleh
Published: February 2016

This short note describes a marble statuette of the Discobolus recently discovered north of Wardana ez-Zeitouna in Cyrenaica, evidently a reduced size copy of the famous statue by Myron. The present location of the statuette is unknown.
The Fezzan Project 2001: Preliminary report on the fifth season of work
Authors: Mattingly D.J. , Brooks N. , Cole F. , Dore J. , Drake N. , Leone A. , Hay S. , McLaren S. , Newson P. , Parton H. , Pelling R. , Preston J. , Reynolds T. , Schrüfer-Kolb I. , Thomas D. , Tindall A. , Townsend A. , White K.
Published: February 2016

The Fezzan Project completed its five-year fieldwork cycle in 2001. The geographical research team located numerous additional palaeolake sites within the Edeyen Ubari, using a combination of Remote Sensing technology and field visits. Additional samples were taken for analysis and dating from many lake edge locations, relating to both the large Pleistocene lake and to the numerous smaller Holocene lakes that have been identified by the team. The excavations at Old Germa were taken down through Garamantian occupation levels to the natural subsoil below the earliest cultural horizon. The earliest activity, represented by a few mudbrick walls and hearths built directly on the natural soil, is believed to date toc. 400-300 BC. Traces of several phases of Garamantian buildings were uncovered, along with numerous rubbish pits, which yielded a rich assemblage of finds, including, for the first time, examples of Garamantian figurines, small 3-D sculptures of humans and animals. Work on the various classes of finds (pottery, small finds, lithics and other stone artefacts, metallurgical evidence, etc.) complemented the excavation work. In addition, a small amount of further survey work was carried out on sites in the Wadi al-Ajal, along with a contour survey of Old Germa and standing building survey at a number of other sites.
Murzuk and the Saharan Slave Trade in the 19th Century
Authors: Wright John
Published: February 2016

In 1840 the British Foreign Office decided to open a Vice-Consulate at the oasis of Murzuk, then still the main entrepot of the central Saharan trade in black Slaves from the Sudan to Tripoli and Benghazi. The post was to make first-hand reports on the slave traffic and promote British ‘legitimate’ trade and wider regional interests. A similar post was opened at Ghadames in 1850. Between 1843 and 1854, Vice Consul Giambattista Gagliuffi in Murzuk provided the Foreign Office with a series of yearly slaving statistics which formed the basic raw material for London's case for the abolition of this traffic. It still stands as a unique record of the central Saharan slave trade at probably its most active phase. Gagliuffi's attempts at trade promotion were not so successful, and when it also became clear that the Saharan slave trade would not, after all, be as easily eradicated as had once been supposed, the Foreign Office decided in 1860–61 to close both the Murzuk and Ghadames posts.
Lepcis Magna excavation season 1997
Authors: Walda Hafed
Published: February 2016

The 1997 season of work on a fourth/fifth century house at Lepcis Magna consisted chiefly of study of the pottery and other finds, with limited excavation which revealed much information about the use, maintenance and repair of infrastructure for domestic water-supply. A sondage in the street showed that the house was connected to the street drainage network.
Mapping Ancient Libya
Authors: Mattingly David
Published: February 2016

Between 1946 and 1951 Richard Goodchild carried out the fieldwork that was to result in a seminal series of articles and publications on the ancient settlements of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (Goodchild 1948; 1949a/b; 1950a/b/c/d; 1951a/b/c; 1952a/b/c; 1953; 1954c; 1971; 1976; Goodchild and Ward-Perkins 1953; Ward-Perkins and Goodchild 1949; 1953). The cartographic results appeared in 1954 as two splendid sheets in the ill-fated Tabula Imperii Romani (TIR) series at a scale of 1:1,000,000 (Goodchild 1954a/b). These twenty-two publications remain of fundamental importance to our understanding of the ancient topography of Libya.

Goodchild's map can with hindsight be seen as one of the few successes of the ill-fated TIR project. The TIR initiative aimed to produce 58 maps covering the Roman world, but huge problems have beset it all along and only 11 maps have ever appeared in definitive form. Although work continues in some areas, it must be considered improbable that this series will ever be completed (see Talbert 1992 for a thorough review of the history of the TIR).

The fact that it is now nearly 40 years since the compilation of Goodchild's two TER sheets for Libya is probably reason enough for resuming his interest in mapping ancient Libya. Much has happened in the interim to refine our knowledge of both urban and rural settlement, as a glance at the relevant volumes of Libya Antiqua, Libyan Studies and Quaderni di Archeologia delta Libia will reveal. For the study of the ancient geography and toponomy of Cyrenaica, the studies by Stucchi (1975) and Laronde (1987) are of particular importance. In addition to map corrections necessitated by the new information and perspectives, one may cite the inconvenience caused by the incompleteness of the TIR coverage to the south, east and west of the Leptis Magna and Cyrene sheets. For instance, how can we hope to understand the settlement geography of Roman Tripolitania without reference to Tunisian western Tripolitania or to the desert tribes (Phazanii, Garamantes etc)?
Le territoire de Taucheira
Authors: Laronde André
Published: February 2016

Le lien étroit qui existe entre la cité et son territoire est une évidence qui a gagné en force avec le développement des recherches sur la chôra. En ce qui concerne la Libye, j'ai abordé la question lors du congrès tenu à Cambridge en 1983, et j'ai tenté de présenter une esquisse d'ensemble lors de la rencontre tenue à Paris en 1984. Si je désire m'arrêter cette fois-ci sur le territoire de Taucheira, c'est en raison de l'originalité qu'il présente parmi ceux des cités grecques de Libye. Taucheira est en effet la cité la plus ancienne après Cyrène, et sa fondation remonte certainement aux dernières années du VIIème siècle. J'ai d'autre part eu déjà l'occasion de montrer que, à l'origine, le site ne comportait aucun port naturel. Dans ces conditions, on peut légitimement se demander quel était l'intérêt de cette fondation. La question prend toute son actualité en raison de la reprise de travaux archéologiques d'ampleur grâce au Département des Antiquités de Libye avec le concours du Département d'Archéologie de l'Université Garyounis de Benghazi, sous la conduite de M. Fouad Bentaher.

Le territoire de Taucheira est bien défini, que ce soit du point de vue de la topographie, de la géologie ou de l'hydrographie.

Du point de vue topographique, le territoire de Taucheira est un élément de la plaine côtière qui prend naissance au Nord-Est au ras Tolmeita et qui s'étend jusqu'au fond de la Grande Syrte, en s'élargissant progressivement au fur et à mesure que l'on vas vers le Sud. Au Nord-Est, la côte vient baigner le pied du premier gradin. Au droit de Taucheira la plaine côtière mesure environ 4,5 km. D'une facon générale, cette plaine côtière offre toutes les caractéristiques du Sahel cyrénéen.
Before the Greeks Came: A Survey of the Current Archaeological Evidence for the Pre-Greek Libyans
Authors: White Donald
Published: February 2016

Since the late Sandro Stucchi organised the pioneering Urbino conference in 1981 (Stucchi and Luni 1987), the relations of the ancient Eastern Libyans with their northeastern African neighbors, whether Egyptian or Greek, have been the object of much discussion in print (Barker 1989, 31–43; Knapp 1981, 249–279; Leahy 1985, 51–65; O'Connor 1983, 271–278 and 1987, 35–37) as well as the focus of another international conference, this time organised by Anthony Leahy for the Society of Libyan Studies joined with the University of London's School of African Studies Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies (Leahy et al. 1990). The 1986 joint SOAS/Society for Libyan Studies conference concentrated on Libyan-Egyptian relations prior to the middle of the 8th century BC, which normally stand outside the immediate purview of classical archaeologists, even though the Urbino conference and the first Cambridge Colloquium organised by Joyce Reynolds in 1984 both included some discussion of the pre-Greek Libyans (Baldassarre 1987,17–24; Beltrami 1985,135–143; Tinè 1987,15–16). While this acceleration of interest would no doubt gratify Oric Bates (dead since 1918), it would also perhaps pique his curiosity even more to read that after so many years the third and second millenia BC Libyans still remain archaeologically largely undocumented (Knapp 1981, 258, 263–264; Leahy 1985, 52; O'Connor 1983, 271 and 1990, 45), especially since he himself had cause to believe that he had excavated their remains in the vicinity of Marsa Matruh (Bates 1915a, 201–207, 1915b, 158-165 and 1927, 137–140; Petrie 1915, 165–166 and 1920, 36).
Hellenistic Terracotta Figures of Cyrenaica: Greek Influences and Local Inspirations
Authors: Burn L. M.
Published: February 2016

Terracotta figures have been uncovered in vast quantities in the cemeteries of the Greek cities of Cyrenaica from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. While the terracottas from more recent excavations have of course remained in Libya, the majority of those brought to light in the nineteenth century are now divided between the national museums of three European capitals: Paris, Madrid and London. The Louvre collection is the largest of the three, consisting of some 400 pieces, mostly acquired by the consul M. Vattier de Bourville in the cemeteries of Cyrene and Benghazi in 1848; the majority are of the Hellenistic period, and have recently received full publication in the final volume of Mme Simone Besques' monumental catalogue. The Cyrenaican terracottas in Madrid, purchased from the collection of one Tómas Asensi in 1876, are about ninety in number, and of these roughly half are Hellenistic in date; the few given a provenance are said to come from the cemeteries of Cyrene. The Madrid terracottas were published by Alfred Laumonier in 1921, and the descriptions and photographs in his catalogue are still useful.

The British Museum has around 300 terracotta figures from Cyrenaica, of which approximately 180 whole figures or fragments can be counted as Hellenistic. The archaic and classical figures were published by Dr Reynold Higgins in the first volume of his catalogue of British Museum terracottas, while a significant proportion of the later pieces were included by H. B. Walters in his earlier catalogue. However, the entire collection of post-classical Cyrenaican material will be treated in greater detail in the new catalogue of the British Museum's Hellenistic terracottas, currently in preparation.