bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Fezzan Project 1998: preliminary report on the second season of work
Authors: Mattingly David J. , al-Mashai Mohammed , Aburgheba Hamza , Balcombe Phil , Eastaugh Edward , Gillings Mark , Leone Anna , McLaren Sue , Owen Peter , Peiling Ruth , Reynolds Tim , Stirling Lea , Thomas David , Watson Derek , Wilson Andrew I. , White Kevin
Published: February 2016

The Fezzan Project is investigating the last 10,000 years of human settlement, landscape evolution and climatic change in the Germa region in southern Libya. The second season in February–March 1998 comprised interdisciplinary research in archaeology and geography, centred around excavation and survey work carried out at the site of Old Germa. To date, three phases of mud brick buildings have been partially explored. In addition, wider geomorphological study and archaeological survey and fieldwalking were carried out elsewhere in the Germa/Twesh oasis and around el-Hatiya. Numerous sites were discovered, including a new hillfort of Zinchecra type and several valley centre ‘villages’ of Garamantian/Roman date. Artefactual studies were carried out on pottery and lithics, animal bones and seeds. Further work on the subterranean irrigation features, thefoggaras, have confirmed their pre-Islamic origins.
Appendix – Rock-Carvings at Kharsah Fadel
Authors: Mohamed Fadel Ali
Published: February 2016

[Dr Fadel was kind enough to provide the information given below at very short notice in two notes, one in English and one in Arabic (which was originally translated for us by Raymond Stock, M.A., Asian and Middle Eastern Department, University of Pennsylvania). The contents of the two notes have been combined here, after helpful discussion with Dr Hafid Walda of King's College London. We look forward to a more complete presentation of this important site in the near future (D.W., J.M.R.).]

The rock-carvings which are the subject of this note were found in 1980 when a group of amateur archaeologists from Derna discovered an ancient site near modern Kharsah (in antiquity the small harbour of Chersis, Ptolemy,Geog.IV.2). The group, consisting of Faraj Al-Mzaini, Mustapha Ab-Shiha, Abdulla Ben Umran, Murzook Husain and Salheen Mansuri, observed traces of ancient occuption on the summit of the coastal hill known as Ras el-Gemal (Camel's Head),c. 20 km west of Derna, near the offshore island identifiable as ancient Aphrodisias (S. Stucchi,Architettura Cirenaica[Roma 1975] 108, n. 3), and beside a small wadi bringing water to the sea from the Gebel to the south. On the hill, which is a rocky outcrop full of caves, Mr Ramadan Kwaider, Inspector in Charge of Museums in the Department of Antiquities at Shahat, reported rock-cut representations of animals. They include long-horned cattle, certainly a cow (fig. 5), perhaps a bull, although this may be a Barbary sheep (fig. 6), along with an animal that resembles an elephant, drawn below the cow, at the bottom of the carved area – it is very small, but the space available was very small.
L'iconografia e il culto di Aristeo a Cirene
Authors: Vittozzi Serena Ensoli
Published: February 2016

Lo studio prende avvio dal rinvenimento di una statuetta fittile nel Santuario cireneo di Apollo sulla Myrtousa, che riproduce un giovane in posizione stante con una cornucopia nel braccio sinistro piegato e appoggiato ad un'erma e con un oggetto nella mano destra portata in basso lungo il fianco (Fig. 1).

La terracotta è stata scoperta nel corso dei sondaggi stratigrafici eseguiti sulla fronte del Tempietto di Afrodite, situato sulla Terrazza Inferiore della Myrtousa immediatamente a Nord-Est dei Propilei Greci e ad Est del Donario degli Strateghi (Figg. 2, 11.1–2). Le ricerche, nate come parte del programma di lavoro sul propileo d'ingresso al sacro temenos, sull'area monumentale ad esso circostante e sul percorso della Via Sacra, hanno consentito di precisare la cronologia delle fasi costruttive del tempietto anche in relazione alle successive sistemazioni di questa parte della Terrazza Inferiore.

La statuetta, ricomposta da più frammenti, si conserva per un'altezza massima di cm 20 e una larghezza di cm 11,5, mancando della parte inferiore della figura a partire da poco sopra l'articolazione delle ginocchia, di gran parte della mano sinistro con l'attributo, del collo e del corpo squadrato dell'erma (Figg. 1.1–1.4).

La figura, nuda, con il mantello avvolto attorno al braccio sinistro, insiste sulla gamba destra, mentre la sinistro è leggermente divaricata e probabilmente in origine era un poco flessa. La testa, dal volto carnoso, da cui emergono i salienti del naso, della piccola bocca e del mento, è vista lievemente di tre quarti verso sinistro. La capigliatura è disposta intorno alla fronte con un addensamento di riccioli lavorati a massa. Sul torso sono ben dis-tinguibili i muscoli pettorali, l'addome con l'ombelico e la linea inguinale con il pube.
Reconstructing the discoveries of Alan Rowe at Cyrene
Authors: Thorn James Copland
Published: February 2016

Alan Rowe excavated on four campaigns in the Cyrene necropoleis from 1952–1957, but his final publications were incomplete and misleading, and the original records were apparently lost prior to his death in 1968. This is an account of the attempt to re-assess what he found, and of the project to present his discoveries in a more useful form.

The importance of Rowe's work is that he was the first person to make an extensive archaeological study of the monuments and tombs of the four necropoleis of Cyrene. His predecessors in the 19th century limited their activities to a few individual tombs mainly around Wadi Haleg Shaloof and Wadi Bel Gadir. The first archaeological excavation this century, undertaken by Richard Norton in 1911 on the western slope of Wadi Haleg Shaloof (Norton 1911, 160), its extent unmatched until Rowe's campaigns forty years later, received only preliminary publication and the material found is mainly lost. The only other archaeological work undertaken in the necropoleis was by Oliverio in 1925 on Tomb N.1, whose artifacts are also now lost, and by Burton Brown who excavated two sarcophagi and a Roman burial in 1947 on the slopes of the Northern Necropolis; the artifacts discovered then have not been seen since publication (Burton Brown 1948, 148–152 figs. I–II). After Rowe's campaigns, Professor Beschi excavated two tombs in 1963 (Beschi 1972, 150–168, 186–196). There has been some survey since, but no formal excavation.
Un Colombier en Pierre de Taille pres d'Apollonia
Authors: Chamoux Francois , Hallier Gilbert
Published: February 2016

A environ sept kilomètres à l'Ouest d'Apollonia, au lieu-dit Gasr-as-Suwayrah (indication donnée par S. Stucchi), on remarque, dominant l'étroite plaine côtière, non loin du pied du djebel, un amas de ruines partiellement envahies par des buissons. Les membres de la Mission archéologique française ont reconnu ces ruines en mai 1978, sans pouvoir pousser leur examen au-delà d'une étude sommaire des vestiges actuellement visibles de l'édifice: il n'a pas été possible de procéder à un nettoyage, ni au déplacement des blocs écroulés, ni à des travaux de sondage ou de fouille. Toutefois l'architecte de la mission, Gilbert Hallier, a pris à cette occasion les mesures et les croquis de tous les éléments accessibles, ce qui lui a fourni une base d'étude suffisante pour proposer une interprétation et une restauration graphique du monument. Il s'agit d'un grand pigeonnier construit en pierre de taille, avec beaucoup de soin. C'est jusqu'à présent le seul bâtiment de ce genre qui ait été signalé en Cyrénaïque. R. G. Goodchild avais déjà remarqué cet amas de ruines. Il n'avait pas échappé à S. Stucchi, qui lui a consacré quelques lignes dans son ouvrage magistral Architettura Cirenaica en 1975. Voici comment il le décrit (p. 519): ‘una grande colombaia circolare in muratura di grossi blocchi, che all' interno presentano file regolari di nicchiette per in nidi’. L'étude de G. Hallier confirme pleinement ce que S. Stucchi avait justement noté. Elle permet désormais de proposer de ce colombier une image précise qui enrichit notre connaissance du paysage rural en Cyrénaïque.
Il Forum–Caesareum di Cirene e la moderna riscoperta
Authors: Luni M.
Published: February 2016

Agli inizi dell'Ottocento si assiste al sorgere e al diffondersi di particolare interesse da parte di esponenti della cultura e della diplomazia internazionale verso gli imponenti resti archeologici di Cirene e di altre città della Tripolitania e della Cirenaica, che diventano meta di visita. Nella circostanza vengono in genere compilati diari di viaggio e relazioni, spesso illustrati da disegni di monumenti antichi e talvolta anche da preziose carte topografiche in cui sono evidenziate ampie aree di affioramento di ruderi e tracce superstiti di viabilità cittadina ed extraurbana.

Si tratta generalmente di documentazione poco omogenea, talvolta occasionale e frutto di osservazioni del tutto personali. Di estrema rilevanza sono comunque i dati che è possibile desumere da questo tipo di ‘fonte’, spesso dovuti allo spirito di osservazione di personaggi dai vasti interessi e anche a casualità, ma sempre assai utili a comprendere il clima di indagine pionieristica della prima metà dell'Ottocento e le tappe decisive della riscoperta di Cirene.

La città, per altro, era nota alla cultura storico-archeologica dell'epoca attraverso la documentazione costituita dalle fonti letterarie classiche (una delle prime sintesi è in Thrige, 1819). Esse costituiscono un valido supporto di base che accompagna vari viaggiatori nella ricerca del sito su cui sorgeva Cirene e della sua antica conformazione. Gli appunti di viaggio in seguito vengono ulteriormente elaborati e prendono corpo in opere che hanno avuto in qualche caso ampia fortuna in Europa e che hanno costituito il primo fondamento della moderna conoscenza e del rifiorire degli studi e delle ricerche sulla ‘Atene d'Africa’.
An Inscribed Stone from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in the Wadi Belgadir at Cyrene: Cult, Corn and Roman Revenues
Authors: Mohamed Fadel Ali , Reynolds Joyce
Published: February 2016

In winter 1987–8 Mr Ramadan Kwaider of the Department of Antiquities at Cyrene found a marble block, inscribed on three faces, in die lower levels of the Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in the Wadi Belgadir; it had been uncovered by a combination of burrowing foxes and winter rains, and is now, by his prompt action, safe in Cyrene Museum (inv. no. 3480). Our preliminary report on it is awaiting publication inLibya Antiqua; we offer here the three texts, with discussion of some of their points of interest.

The history of the block, which was three times re-used, is a vivid reminder of the value of marble at Cyrene, all of it imported and therefore very rarely to be discarded when out of date or damaged, if it could be made to serve another turn. Its findspot solves an uncertainty about the attribution of some other inscriptions to the Wadi Belgadir Sanctuary. More significantly still, it provides a new and suggestive document relating to Roman taxation in Cyrenaica.

Only the third and final inscription on the block (Fig. 1) can be said with certainty to belong to the sanctuary. This was cut on a face which measures w. 0.97 m × ht. 0.35 m × d. 0.23 m and was dressed with a claw chisel, but not polished. The letters (ht. average 0.04 m) were lightly cut, rather narrow for their height, in a style dateable approximately to the Hadrianic and early Antonine periods; but although the layout, with quite careful centering, is respectable, the cutting is light so that the letters would only be easily legible if over-painted. The top surface, when the block is in this position, has been hollowed out, presumably for the insertion of the base carrying the statue implied by the text.
Statuette in Calcare da Bu Senab
Authors: Fabbricotti Emanuela
Published: February 2016

Nel Magazzino del Museo di Cirene vi sono numerose statuette in calcare, purtroppo acefale, rappresentanti uomini e forse donne con in mano offerte o attributi vari. Dovevano, quando intere, raggiungere un'altezza di circa cm. 50/60. Molte sono senza numero d'inventario e quindi senza indicazione della provenienza. Alcune sono immortalate in vecchie lastre fotografiche del magazzino-museo di Barce e provengono da Bu Senab. Riproducono i pezzi come erano dopo il ritrovamento, in condizioni notevolmente migliori. Di questi molti sono oggi scomparsi così come tutte le teste ed alcuni frammenti. Quelle conservate sono: (le descrizioni sono state fatte durante l'esame diretto delle statue e pertanto non sempre corrispondono alle fotografie eseguite dopo il ritrovamento).

Nelle vecchie lastre di Barce vi erano altre statuette poi disperse: un togato (Fig. 14), un cavaliere a cavallo (Fig. 15), due personaggi maschili (Figg. 15 e 17) con mantello gettato dietro le spalle (uno dei quali con una pecora accanto), uno con il solito oggetto piegato ad angolo retto (Fig. 18), due con in mano un vitellino (Figg. 19 e 20), due frammenti della parte inferiore di personaggi panneggiati (Figg. 21 e 22), sette teste (Figg. 23–27) (otto con quella del n. 2), molti frammenti di basi con piedi umani (vedi Fig. 13) e zampe caprine ed altri poco leggibili.
Is El Merj the Site of Ancient Barqa?: Current Excavations in Context
Authors: Dore J. N.
Published: February 2016

Since 1989, the Society for Libyan Studies has been carrying out, in conjunction with the Libyan Department of Antiquities, excavation and fieldwork in El Merj (Dore 1990, 1991, 1992) which is held to be the site of two earlier towns named Barqa (also spelled Barca and Barka), one of medieval date and the other Greek, as also of a Roman-period village. In this paper I wish to review critically the evidence for the identification of El Merj as medieval Barqa.

The broad outline of the case is as follows: a town called Barqa is mentioned by a considerable number of medieval authors writing in Arabic. To judge from them the town flourished between the ninth and eleventh centuries AD but declined thereafter. The association of the names Barqa and El Merj with a single site seems to stem from one author, Ibn Sa 'id, writing in the thirteenth century, though even he is tentative in his identification (see below). After the fourteenth century there is a period which is devoid of information. By the eighteenth century the town(s) of Barqa/El Merj had disappeared (i.e. ceased to be inhabited) but local memory preserved the name and location of El Merj because Pacho visited its ruins and recorded the name in 1825 (see below). About twenty years after this a new town called El Merj began to grow up around a castle newly built by the Ottoman authorities on the remains of an earlier town. This town was called Barce by the Italians but reverted to being called El Merj after the second world war, and was finally destroyed by an earthquake in 1963.
Excavation and Fieldwork amongst the Garamantes
Authors: Daniels C. M.
Published: February 2016

The Garamantes exercised a powerful hold upon the Mediterranean imagination during the early and high Empire (Daniels 1970; Desanges 1962; Merighi 1940; Romanelli 1959; Ruprechtsburger, forthcoming). Remote and beyond the southern limits of the African provinces, they represented the mythical south, only accessible after perilous desert travel; they were inextricably interwoven in people's minds with swarming serpents, fabulous fountains and precious stones, with the silent noon tide of the terrifying desert and such inhuman creatures as men with no voices or no heads, strapfoots, Goat-Pans and Satyrs (Pliny, N.H. 5.1.7).

The reality of Roman contact with them was no less exotic. The last entry of all in the Fasti Triumphales (CIL I2, p. 50) on the Arch of Augustus in the Roman Forum commemorates a triumph celebrated on 27th March 734 A.V.C. (19 BC) by L. Cornelius Balbus, ex Africa: below, the stone surface remains rough and no further names follow. But Balbus' honour was much more noteworthy for he was not even a Roman by birth (PIR2 C1331; Thomasson 1960, 11). Like his famous uncle, Caesar's Balbus, he was a full-blooded Spaniard hailing from Cadiz (Gades) — and the only foreigner ever to be accorded a triumph, the Elder Pliny informs us (N.H. 5.5.36). His rise to fame came about through a steadfast devotion to Caesar's cause, for which he was ultimately rewarded by Augustus with consular rank (Velleius 2.51.3), and became Proconsul of Africa in ?20 BC (Syme 1939, 80, 235, 325, 339, 367).
La Cyrénaïque, des origines à 321 a.C., d'après les fouilles et les travaux récents
Authors: Chamoux Par F.
Published: February 2016

En 1953, j'avais exprimé le voeu que les antiquités de la Cyrénaïque, que les archéologues italiens avaient si remarquablement étudiées entre 1912 et 1942, fussent à nouveau l'objet de recherches régulières, dès que les épreuves dues à la guerre auraient été surmontées. Ce voeu a été pleinement exaucé. Dès la fin des hostilités, comme j'avais pu le constater sur place en janvier–février 1946, puis en mai–juin 1947, l'Administration militaire britannique avait pris en charge la sauvegarde des monuments et des sites. L'oeuvre réalisée par les responsables successifs de cette administration, à travers mille difficultés et avec des moyens modestes, fut fort efficace. A partir de 1953, elle fut poursuivie et développée par R. G. Goodchild, nommé Controller of Antiquities pour la Cyrénaïque dans le cadre du nouvel Etat libyen. Il suscita et contrôla la reprise des recherches sur le terrain, en même temps qu'il créait de toutes pièces un Service des antiquités dont les jeunes archéologues libyens, en grande partie formés par lui, fournirent les cadres. Avec leur concours, il exécuta lui-même des fouilles, des restaurations de monuments, des prospections à travers le pays, conduites avec une méthode exemplaire, en particulier à Cyrène et à Apollonia. Les missions étrangères, accueillies avec faveur, ouvrirent des chantiers: les Britanniques à Benghazi et à Tocra, les Américains à Ptolémaïs, les Français à Apollonia. Mais surtout la mission archéologique italienne, animée par S. Stucchi, revint travailler à Cyrène à partir de 1958 et, depuis trente ans, accomplit un admirable travail de publication dans tous les domaines, exploitant à Cyrène les fouilles antérieures, en les complétant par des sondages, et procédant parallèlement à la reconstruction des monuments quand l'état des ruines le permet.
The Pennsylvania University Museum's Demeter and Persephone Sanctuary Project at Cyrene: A Final Progress Report?
Authors: White D.
Published: February 2016

Trigeminated at more or less the same time as the First of September Revolution and the appearance of the first published report from The Society for Libyan Studies, the excavation phase of the extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone project at Cyrene ran until 1978 when it was stopped in order to begin work on final publication. The intervening years have seen a degree of progress, and this retrospective vicenary issue of Libyan Studies provides a welcome opportunity to take stock of what has been and is going on. The journal's readers will already have some familiarity with the broad outlines of the sanctuary project, since summary articles have been published in an earlier issue (White 1978) and elsewhere (Vickers and Reynolds 1972; Kane 1979; Humphrey 1980; White 1981). In addition reviews of the three published volumes of the final report (White 1984; Schaus 1985; Lowenstam et al. 1987) have appeared here with exemplary promptitude (Lloyd 1985; Boardman 1986; Fulford 1988), as well as externally (Brown 1986; Tomlinson 1986; Cook 1987). The present article's bibliographical citations list what has been written about the sanctuary, but omit the series of preliminary reports in Libya Antiqua (between Vols. 8 and 16) and American Journal of Archaeology (Vols. 78 and 80), whose inclusion would be redundant, as would be any attempt to minute the contents of the reviewed final study volumes. Instead my present intention is to give a short report on work in progress and to summarise the results of what has already been published in separate studies outside the framework of the final publication.
Urban Archaeology in Cyrenaica 1969-1989: the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods
Authors: Lloyd J. A.
Published: February 2016

During the past two decades all the major cities of Cyrenaica have seen new fieldwork, and much has been achieved. The Department of Antiquities has been active, particularly in the increasingly important area of rescue archaeology. Its resolute and skilful efforts have included very important work at Shahat (Cyrene) (Walker (in Walda and Walker), this volume) and at Benghazi (Berenice). At the latter city, one of the least known in Cyrenaica, the Department's excavations at Sidi Khrebish demonstrated the rich archaeological potential of the site and led to the large-scale campaigns of 1971-5, in which the Society for Libyan Studies was deeply involved.

Generous support has also been extended to British teams atEuesperides(Berenice's predecessor), Driana (Hadrianopolis), Tocra (Tauchira) and Tolmeita (Ptolemais); to the Italian Mission, whose work at Cyrene has proceeded throughout the period; to the major American investigation of the extra-mural Demeter sanctuary at the same site; and to the French Mission, which has conducted annual campaigns at Susa (Apollonia) since 1976. There has also been productive research into the minor towns.

Perhaps the outstanding feature of the period under review, however, has been publication. No less than thirteen major site reports (see bibliography underApollonia, Berenice, Cirene, CyreneandTocra), several works of synthesis (Goodchild 1971; Huskinson 1975; Rosenbaum and Ward-Perkins 1980; Stucchi 1975), collected papers (Goodchild 1976) and a profusion of shorter studies in journals, conference proceedings (Barker, Lloyd and Reynolds 1985; Gadallah 1971; Stucchi and Luni 1987) and exhibition publications (Missione Italiana 1987) have appeared — a very rich harvest. Many of course, had their genesis in earlier research, particularly during the fecund years of Richard Goodchild's controllership. Amongst much else, this saw Boardman and Hayes' exemplary Tocra project, which in its use of quantification, scientific analysis and other techniques anticipated later British and American work; the University of Michigan's extensive research at Apollonia; and the inauguration of the Italian Mission, under S. Stucchi, to Cyrene (Stucchi 1967), whose work on the architectural development, art and anastylosis of the city continues to make an outstanding contribution to our appreciation of Libya's archaeology and cultural heritage.
Town and City in Tripolitania: Studies in Origins and Development 1969–1989
Authors: Jones G. D. B.
Published: February 2016

The manifest achievement of the colonial epoch in the Maghreb was the clearance and, in places, restoration of the great archaeological heritage that awaited investigation in North Africa. To the near exclusion of other themes such as agriculture and the economy, the images of magnificent classical ruins have sprung from the pages of many books, and for better or worse, shaped the mentality of the previous generation and also of that which followed after the Second World War.

Nowhere was this more true than the great coastal cities of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, unearthed and re-erected on a tide of pre-war cultural imperatives. To some extent the wealth of outstandingly well preserved urban remains (associated with an abundance of epigraphic evidence) at the time militated against the refinement of research objectives. It fell to archaeologists working in the colonial twilight of the post-war period, first, to assay the publication backlog and, second, to deepen the level of investigation along lines that were becoming familiar elsewhere through the increasingly sophisticated stratigraphic analysis of urban sites.

In the post-war years the first strand saw, for example, the final publication of the Severan harbour and the market at Lepcis Magna (Degrassi 1951, Bartoccini 1958; for the city as a whole see Bianchi Bandinelli et al. 1966 and Squarciapino 1966); and this continues today with the publication of the work of Kenyon and Ward-Perkins (Kenrick 1986) and various Italian teams (Joly and Tomasello 1984) at Sabratha and at Lepcis (Caputo 1987; Ward-Perkins 1989). The Kenyon and Ward-Perkins excavation at Sabratha, with its sophisticated stratigraphic methods, marked a significant movement into the second area of increasingly searching analysis of archaeological sequences on multi-period sites. For a variety of reasons — logistical, financial and methodological — archaeological investigation effectively remained at that level until 1969, the starting point for this survey of the emporia and the less well-known towns of Tripolitania.
Twenty Years of Inscriptions
Authors: Reynolds J. M.
Published: February 2016

Since 1968 the number of inscriptions newly found in Libya has been limited by the limited scale of excavations; but there has been some compensation from the results of surface surveys and from chance discoveries, especially in rural areas. Although the individual items are not necessarily stirring, they form, when taken together, a valuable base for study of the rural populations, at least within the city territories or near to the Roman forts.

There has been, indeed, a steady stream of articles on inscriptions, or using inscriptions. Together with some new texts, they have presented many new readings and interpretations of ones previously published. In addition four small corpora have appeared: of the inscriptions of Apollonia (Reynolds 1976, 293–333), of Berenice (Reynolds 1977, 233–254), of the Jewish inhabitants of Cyrenaica (Lüderitz 1983), and of the Neo-Punic texts of Tripolitania known by 1967 (Levi della Vida and Amadasi Guzzo 1987).

Another feature of the twenty years has been the intermittent publication of bibliographies of work in progress (Garbini 1974 (Neo-Punic), Gasperini and Paci 1975, Paci 1979 (Cyrenaica and Tripolitania), Reynolds 1972, 1980a (Cyrenaica), Le Glay 1974 (Tripolitania)). These, together with the running records produced approximately every year (L'Année Epigraphique, L'Année Philologique, Bulletin Epigraphique(inREG), SEG), obviate the need to do more here than note what seems to me to show best where the epigraphic contribution is leading us. The selection is inevitably much influenced by my current interests; it is not at all intended to suggest that what is omitted is lacking in importance.
Malik Ifrīqiya: The Norman Kingdom of Africa and the Fāṭimids
Authors: Johns J.
Published: February 2016

This article reviews some aspects of the interesting history of a briefly held Norman Kingdom in Africa in the mid-twelfth century. The question of whether or not the Norman rulers of Sicily ever adopted a formal Arabic title for their African kingdom (malik Ifrīqiya) is discussed in detail, with attention drawn in particular to multilingual inscriptions set up in 1148 by Grizant, priest of King Roger. The significant date of these inscriptions, being the very year at which the African conquests became firmly established, suggests an official title which was experimented with and discarded (at least in formal use, since it occurs in private documents later). The reasons why the style was not more widely adopted are examined in the second part of the article, focusing on the changing pattern of relations between the Norman court in Sicily and the Fāṭimid administration in Egypt.
Problems of Urban Water Supply in Libya
Authors: Kezeiri S. K.
Published: February 2016

Problems connected with the supply of water to Libya's expanding urban connurbations are described. The constraints imposed by the arid climate have obliged Libya to place great reliance on the exploitation of groundwater reserves and in the most populous, northern regions these are becoming seriously depleted. The long-term safeguarding of the water supply and its possible augmentation to meet rising demand depends on current, expensive, investment. The most ambitious scheme is for a ‘man-made river’ in which water from the country's southern underground reserves will be carried in pipelines to the northern coastal region. Further investment is also being made in desalination plants, whilst additional improvements are recommended in the metering and maintenance of water supply installations. The degree of success of these ventures have vital implications for Libya's future agricultural and urban development.
Stratigraphic Aspects of the Gargaresh Formation, Tripolitania, S.P.L.A.J.
Authors: Anketell J. M. , Ghellali S. M.
Published: February 2016

The Gargaresh Formation, of Quaternary age, is shown to be comprised of six members each of which is made up from cross-bedded calcarenite dunes of aeolian origin resting on localised lenses of marine gravels and shallow-dipping, cross-bedded calcarenites of littoral type. The surfaces on which the marine deposits at the base of each member rest, are surfaces of discontinuity cut by wave action. Landwards, the surfaces are shaped by fluvial and aeolian erosion, soil formation and solution and delimit an equivalent number of members in quartzose silts of fluvio-aeolian origin making up the Jeffara Formation. Shorewards the Jeffara silts grade into, interdigitate with and, commonly, lap onto the marine deposits so that that within each depositional unit there is an overall sense of progradation reflecting advance of continental facies in response to falling sea level. A progressive seawards stacking of dune deposits with decreasing age suggests that progradation appears to have occurred at formational level also. However, while this may be true, the various elevations of the fossil beach deposits suggest that decreasing age of sea level high stands is not matched by decreasing altitudes, instead, high stands both higher and lower than present day sea level were involved in the overall drop. The possibility that variation in beach elevations may, however, reflect the influence of tectonic uplift and/or downwarp is also noted.
Planning the New Towns in Libya
Authors: Kezeiri S. K.
Published: February 2016

The recent history of Middle Eastern new town formation and the concepts which underlie it are briefly outlined. New town developments in Libya are reviewed, from the colonial experiments of Italy, through the oil industry expansion in the 1960s, to the recent government sponsored schemes. A number of case studies are provided to illustrate the specific environmental and social factors which planners need to take into account in Libya. Some preliminary comments are offered on the success and failure of twentieth century new towns in Libya.
ULVS XII: The Infill Sequence and Water-carrying Capacity of an Ancient Irrigation Channel, Wadi Gobbeen, Tripolitania
Authors: Gale S. J. , Gilbertson D. D. , Hunt C. O.
Published: February 2016

Sediments of ?Pleistocene and Holocene age infilling an ancient irrigation channel adjacent to the Wadi Gobbeen in Tripolitania are described. The irrigation channel is part of a Romano-Libyan floodwater-farming system. Techniques for estimating the hydrological characteristics of floodwater-farming systems are applied to the irrigation channel to provide an indication of the water-carrying capacity of ancient floodwater-farming systems in the Libyan pre-desert.
ULVS XIII: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Farming in the Wadi Mansur, Tripolitania
Authors: Hunt C. O. , Mattingly D. J. , Gilbertson D. D. , Dore J. N. , Barker G. W. W. , Burns J. R. , Fleming A. M. , van der Veen M.
Published: February 2016

This article describes the interdisciplinary methods developed by the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey in connection with the study of ancient agriculture. These methods combine the techniques of settlement archaeology with those of the earth sciences and palaeoeconomics. The interactive nature of the enquiry does not resolve all the questions, but it can help to re-shape those questions and suggest new lines of enquiry. The example of the Wadi Mansur is used here to demonstrate the application of both conventional and new techniques and the contribution this can make to our appreciation of ancient land use in an arid zone. This provisional statement of results describes the geomorphology of the wadi, the settlement archaeology, ceramic dating evidence, palaeoeconomic data (including palynological evidence), wadi wall technology and typology.
ULVS XIV: Archaeozoological Evidence for Stock-raising and Stock-management in the Pre-desert
Authors: Clark Gillian
Published: February 2016

This paper discusses the preliminary results of analysis of faunal material from eight sites of Romano-Libyan and Islamic date. The sites are located in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. The samples were in general small and the bones were not well preserved, the degree of fragmentation being high. Although a range of species is represented, the economic strategy depended upon the exploitation of sheep and goats. In the southern part of the study area gazelles were also of importance. Sheep and goats were raised primarily as meat animals, being killed principally during their second year of life. The basic economic system seems to have persisted for a long time, although slight differences can be detected between sites of Romano-Libyan date and of Islamic date.
Town Houses at Ptolemais, Cyrenaica: A Summary Report of Survey and Excavation Work in 1971, 1978–1979
Authors: Ward-Perkins J. B. , Little J. H. , Mattingly D. J. , Gibson S. C.
Published: February 2016

This summary presents the main results of three seasons of survey and limited excavation work carried out by the Society at Ptolemais in Eastern Libya. The survey concentrated on two major town houses which had been partially excavated by Richard Goodchild (House G and House T), whilst excavation was carried out on the adjacent site known as the North-east Quadrant. All of the sites revealed complex structural histories and it is evident that in this quarter of Ptolemais, at least, life within the town continued well into the Islamic period.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VI: Investigations of a Romano-Libyan farm, Part I
Authors: Barker G. W. W. , Jones G. D. B. , Bennett P. , Burns J. R. , Dore J. N. , Fleming A. M. , Mattingly D. J. , Moffat P. , Ateyet Allah M. A. , Garsaa J. S. , Zenati M. A.
Published: February 2016

A fourth season of work was carried out in the Spring of 1984. The centrepiece of the programme was the investigation of the well-preserved farm in the Wadi el-Amud (Lamout). The main farm buildings were excavated, faunal and botanical samples were collected systematically from within and between them, the field systems and sluices were examined in detail and investigations begun on the geomorphological and hydrological context. This report presents the basic description of the archaeological data resulting from excavation and survey; a second report will present the results of the various laboratory studies which were generated by the field work.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VIII: Image Analysis of Landsat Satellite data for Archaeological and Environmental Surveys
Authors: Dorsett J. E. , Gilbertson D. D. , Hunt C. O. , Barker G. W. W.
Published: February 2016

Digital image data from the Landsat satellite Multispectral scanner have been analysed using a Dipex Image Processor. The image data were classified by a clustering algorithm to produce a thematic map for trial use in areas of archaeological interest. The archaeological, pedological, geomorphic and geological importance of these new data are discussed in the context of ground data obtained during the UNESCO April 1984 field season.
The Byzantine Bath-House at Tocra: a Summary Report
Authors: Jones G. D. B.
Published: February 2016

A summary account of the Byzantine bath-house at Tocra is given. Goodchild excavated this well-preserved structure in the 1960s, but died before producing a published account. Although the evidence of some late features had been removed then, a structural analysis of the building is still possible, showing three main periods of construction and use probably extending into the early Islamic period.
Medicago – its possible role in Romano-Libyan dryfarming and its positive role in modern dryfarming
Authors: Chatterton B. A. , Chatterton L.
Published: February 2016

The authors have had extensive experience in the adaptation of the South Australian dryfarming rotation of cereals and medicago to Libyan agriculture. This paper examines the use of annual medicago (medics) in Libya and notes the way it can reverse the modern trends of declining yields and pasture. The Australian system of medic/cereal rotation is compared with Romano-Libyan practice and contrasted with modern European farming. It is suggested that medicago may have been one of the underlying factors in the notable success of Romano-Libyan farming and that it has a major role to play in future agricultural regeneration.
Stratigraphic studies on Quaternary floodplain deposits of the Eastern Gefara Plain. S.P.L.A.J.
Authors: Anketell J. M. , Ghellali S. M.
Published: February 2016

The Quaternary deposits of the Gefara Plain are comprised of three major facies – alluvial fan facies of sands and gravels which blankets the base of the Jebel Nafusa escarpment; floodplain facies of fluvial sands and silts with aeolian dunes which underlies most of the Gefara Plain and, aeolian coastal dune facies, predominantly calcarenitic, which is confined to a narrow coastal zone. Well exposed sections in the eastern part of the plain allow sub-division of the floodplain deposits into a number of mappable units defined and bounded by surfaces of stratigraphic discontinuity. The lithologies of these units are described and compared from selected type sections. The relationships between the units, their geometry, and the nature of the surfaces of stratigraphic discontinuity are discussed. It is proposed that, the lithostratigraphic sequence displayed by the Quaternary floodplain deposits of the eastern Gefara region provides a firm basis for correlation, not only with floodplain deposits in other parts of the plain but also with the other major facies developed in the area. In addition, the recognition of significant stratigraphic breaks in the sedimentary sequence combined with facies analysis lays a firm foundation for an interpretation of the geological history of the region.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey 1980
Authors: Barker G. W. W. , Jones G. D. B. , Bewley R. H. , Gilbertson D. , Burns R. , Mattingly D. J. , van der Veen Marijke
Published: February 2016

Two seasons of work have now been conducted by British and French survey teams, in conjunction with members of the Libyan Antiquities Department, under the charge of Dr. Abdullah Shaiboub. The objectives of the survey are to locate, survey and analyse the extensive remains of the ancient agricultural settlements that can be found in the wadis of the hinterlands of Tripolitania and the Sirtica. Within the framework established by the Department in cooperation with Unesco lies the archaeological aim of recording the evidence for periods when extensive areas of the pre-desert were, for whatever reasons, cultivated in ways that are not similarly practised today. In the longer term the programme is designed to locate those areas where modern farming might be re-established. Archaeology is thus brought into line with the aims of the modern world.

For the purposes of this report we intend to concentrate on the period which we call the Romano/Libyan in which the great majority of those farming settlements flourished. The prehistoric evidence is in any case mainly of the palaeolithic period, on which there is a separate section.

The preferred zone of settlement in Tripolitania has traditionally been the well watered coastal plain and the adjacent limestone hills of the Tarhuna Gebel as far south as the town of Beni Ulid, for these regions have more than 200 mm of rain a year, regarded as the threshold for settled farming without irrigation. Prehistoric settlement concentrated here, and mixed farming has probably characterised this zone from the fourth millennium b.c. In the Roman period the coastal cities like Sabratha and Leptis Magna were supported by prosperous farms on the plain and in the Gebel. In the Islamic period, too, the same region was densely settled.
Hadd Hajar, a clausura in the Tripolitanian Gebel Garian south of Asabaa
Authors: Brogan Olwen
Published: February 2016

In the Gebel Garian, about 20 kilometres south of Asabaa, the map-makers of 1964 indicated an ancient wall (Fig. 1) called Hadd Hajar (i.e. wall of stone) running south-west for six kilometres from Ras al Tays al Abyad (858 m; the Hill of the White Goat) on which stood a watch tower, to Ras al Said (764 m). The country crossed by Hadd Hajar is about 690-730 m above sea-level with a gently-undulating surface constituting a fairly open and level valley. The hills are covered with esparto-grass. On the west the Wadi Wamis winds among closely-set hills while, in the north-east, the wall is carried for a further three quarters of a kilometre across a narrow valley from Ras al Tays al Abyad to another hill Ras al Saqifah. An old track comes southwards down this valley flanked on the east side by a barrier of hills over 800 m high. Where the track crosses the wall there is a Roman building (Gasr al Saqifah) with traces of an archway for people and flocks to pass through. Two kilometres to the south is an old cistern (Majin Saqifah) presumably Roman. Beyond, the track continues about 25 kilometres to a large well, Bir al Shaqaykah (Sceghega), after which it is another 28 kilometres south-eastwards to Mizdah on the Wadi Sofeggin.
Two Funerary Statues at Cyrene
Authors: Wanis Saleh
Published: February 2016

The female funerary bust, as a type of grave monument, consists of a bust or a demi-statue including hips, waist, shoulders and head. The type is unparalleled elsewhere in the history of ancient sculpture.

1. This unique unpublished find (pl. 1) of the Flavian period, which is made of grained white marble and measures 50 cm. high by 34 cm. wide, was found at El-Beggara in the S. W. Cemetery at Cyrene by Mr. Ali Bu Nuw-wara on 4 November 1971. The statue portrays a draped woman in half-length bust form. The bust terminates a short way below the waist and is worked flat at the bottom. The figure is in good condition; only three fingers of the left hand are missing and some drapery ridges are chipped or broken.

The figure holds her right arm, bent at the elbow, horizontally across her body; the left arm is bent up to the side of the face and holds part of her garment across the face as a veil. The figure is completely draped in a himation which both enfolds the body and covers the head. The left hand, with thumb, ring and little fingers missing, stretches a part of the himation across the eyes, nose and mouth. These features are indicated under the transparent folds of the mantle. Here the sculptor has precisely demonstrated the delicacy of the facial features through the veil, an effect produced by his controlled chisel work. The figure's forehead is graced with tightly curled hair which is massed over the brow like a short African haircut. The hair style is typical of the Flavian period and is not later than the time of Hadrian. The folds of the himation in front are rendered as sharp ridges crossing the body; the back is also carved with folds of the same type but worked in a more simplified manner. The figure wears a snake bracelet on her left arm; this type of armlet appears in many of these Cyrenean funerary busts and may have iconographic or symbolic significance.
Aqueduct Capacity and City Population
Authors: Duncan-Jones R. P.
Published: February 2016

The authors of a recent article in this journal suggest that ‘water supply arrangements can be interpreted to provide urban population figures’. They offer conclusions constructed on this basis about the population of cities in Roman Cyrenaica. (J. A. Lloyd, P. R. Lewis ‘Water supply and urban population in Roman Cyrenaica’ Eighth Annual Report 1976–7, 35–40, at 36.)

Useable information about ancient city population remains perennially elusive. If a valid criterion for deducing population from physical remains could be established, it would be a highly important addition to the tools available to the archaeologist and the ancient historian. But before any such criterion can be achieved, we must escape from faulty methods. Demographic inference from aqueduct capacity should be recognised as a blind alley.

Difficulties can be indicated briefly.

1. The authors note that the ratios of aqueduct capacity to urban area at Ptolemais and Berenice differ widely. They explain this by noting that the ancients could not measure water flow at all accurately. If that is conceded, the attempt to derive useable population figures from aqueduct capacity fails on its own terms, since we have no means of discovering which ancient hydraulic calculations (if any) were accurate. The authors choose to regard the Berenice figure as accurate and the Ptolemais figure as inaccurate (by a factor of 2). But there is no real reason why one should be preferred to the other, once the likelihood of erroneous calculation has been admitted.
Tripoli at the Beginning of the Fourteenth Century A. D./Eighth Century AH
Authors: Brett Michael
Published: February 2016

In the Seventh Annual Report of the Society I published an account of the journey of the shaykh Al-Tijānī to Tripoli at the beginning of the fourteenth century A. D./eighth century A. H., with particular reference to the Arab tribes and chiefs whom he encountered.

What follows is a translation of the passages from the Riḥla in which he describes the city of Tripoli as he saw it during the eighteen months of his residence. Page references are to the 1958 Tunis edition of the work, followed by references to the nineteenth century French translation by Alphonse Rousseau. The latter is incomplete, and not always accurate.

221, trans. 1853, 135

Our entry into (Tripoli) took place on Saturday, 19th Jumāḍā II (707).

237, trans. 1853, 135–6

As we approached Tripoli and came upon it, its whiteness almost blinded the eye with the rays of the sun, so that I knew the truth of their name for it, the White City. All the people came out, showing their delight and raising their voices in acclaim. The governor of the city vacated the place of his residence, the citadel of the town, so that we might occupy it. I saw the traces of obvious splendour in the citadel (qaṣba), but ruin had gained sway. The governors had sold most of it, so that the houses which surrounded it were built from its stones. There are two wide courts, and outside is the mosque (masjid), formerly known as the Mosque of the Ten, since ten of the shaykhs of the town used to gather in it to conduct the affairs of the city before the Almohads took possession. When they did so, the custom ceased, and the name was abandoned.
A Survey of Ancient Harbours in Cyrenaica
Authors: Yorke R.
Published: February 2016

In July of this year a three week study of ancient ports in the Libyan Pentapolis was undertaken by Robert Yorke, John Little and David Davidson. The principal achievement was the surveying of the remains of the harbours of Tolmeita and Tocra, with a brief investigation of the remains at Apollonia providing useful comparative material. Visits were also made to Zawiat el Haniya (? Ausigda), Zawiat el Hammama (Phycus) an d Driana (Hadrianopolis) but these proved, as expected, to have limited underwater remains.

Previous accounts of the ancient harbour at Tolmeita failed to agree on the exact location of the port but this controversy would now seem to have been resolved as a result of the discovery of submerged quays, roads and buildings and the underwater remains of protective harbour moles attached to the small islands in the bay to the East of the promontory. All these structures are now in an advanced state of decay as a result of wave action over the centuries but the main outlines are still apparent underwater.