bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ancient Art and Architecture in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica: New Publications 1969–1989
Authors: Walda H. M. , Walker S.
Published: February 2016

To mark the twentieth year of publication of the Report of the Society for Libyan Studies, selective bibliographies have been compiled of publications of ancient art and architecture in Tripolitania (H. Walda) and Cyrenaica (S. Walker). Particular attention has been given to sculpture and architecture of the Punic, Greek and Roman periods. Byzantine and Islamic works are regretfully excluded. Brief overviews of the direction of recent research precede the bibliographies. To conform with the ‘house style’ ofLibyan Studies, the bibliographies have been edited using the Harvard reference system.
La vie agricole en Libye jusqu'à l'arrivée des Arabes
Authors: Laronde A.
Published: February 2016

Du Ier au VIIème siècle ap. J.-C, pendant la pÉriode romaine et byzantine, la Libye a connu une vie agricole originale et intense. Ce fait de civilisation n'attire l'attention des savants que depuis peu d'annÉes. Même si l'importance des vestiges archÉologiques n'avait pas ÉchappÉ aux voyageurs europÉens (Pacho 1828, 236) et arabes (El Hachaichi 1912, 60), les jugements Émis sur la valeur agricole de la Libye relevaient d'opinions prÉconçues, soit pour vanter l'intÉrêt du pays, soit au contraire pour le minimiser, dans le contexte de l'Époque coloniale (de Martino 1912, 145). De plus, tout l'intÉrêt Était orientÉ vers la façade côtière, sans beaucoup de considÉration pour l'immense zone intÉrieure.

Une mise au point s'avère donc nècessaire, en partant des donnÉes physiques et humaines observables, en cherchant à retrouver des formes d'amÉnagement, des types d'exploitation, afin de dÉterminer les grandes lignes de l'Évolution historique (Laronde 1986).

Différentiation zonale

Il convient de rappeler d'abord que la Libye s'Étend sur 1.760.000 km2environ, et que sa façade mÉditerranÉenne mesure 1900 km de longueur. En fait, l'Étendue des zones dÉsertiques fausse toute apprÉciation objective et a conduit à des opinions très divergentes et toujours arbitraires; il faut donc recourir à une analyse des donnÉes physiques pour commencer. La morphologie se caractÉrise par la prÉdominance des plaines, des plateaux et des vallÉes, les communications sont gÉnÉralement aisÉes, en dÉpit de l'ampleur des distances.
Islamic Archaeology in Libya, 1969–1989
Authors: King G. R. D.
Published: February 2016

In the course of the two decades since 1969, archaeological and architectural investigations relating to the Islamic period in Libya have made sufficient progress for it to be possible now to see the country's Islamic antiquities with a reasonable degree of perspective within Libya and in relation to a broader context. Nevertheless, a great deal of work remains to be done, both with regard to extending the geographical scope of research on Islamic Libya and to studying relatively neglected periods. At present we are better informed about certain Fāṭimid monuments in Libya than any other Islamic buildings in the country. While the importance of Libya in the tenth and eleventh centuries AD is a matter of great interest, it must not be forgotten that even today, we know very much less in detail about the mosques and houses of later times. A marked imbalance therefore exists in the relative degree of information available for an account of the Islamic archaeology and architecture of Libya in the period as a whole. This imbalance is very clear in the present survey.

The extent of the increase in knowledge of the Islamic archaeology of Libya becomes immediately clear by referring to K. A. C. Creswell'sA Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam to 1st Jan. 1960and the Supplements to it (Creswell 1973; Pearsonet al.1984). In his originalBibliographyCreswell found nothing on Libyan architecture except for some studies on Tripoli. Even in the 1960s, very little further research on the Islamic period was published, although it was in this period that Ajdābiyah and Madīnah Sulṭān were initially investigated: this work formed the foundation of that which was to follow after 1969. Bys the time that the latestSupplementto Creswell'sBibliographyappeared in 1984, a plethora of published material had emerged as a result of the sharp rise of interest in Islamic Libya during the period from 1969 onwards. As a result, no comprehensive survey of Islamic archaeology and architecture in North Africa written in the future will be complete without giving some account of the information that has been accumulated during the period 1969 to 1989.
Colonial and Early Post-Colonial Libya
Authors: Wright J.
Published: February 2016

Libya at the beginning of this century had little to offer the would-be imperialist and coloniser. The true value of Turkey's last remaining African possessions was not — despite the insistence of the Italian nationalist lobby — as a settler-colony or as a gateway to the largely illusory wealth of central Africa, but as a strategic base on the central Mediterranean. The general poverty of Ottoman Tripolitania and Cyrenaica was reflected indeed in the poverty of the literature in any language on contemporary Libya.

But growing Italian interest in these territories, by 1900 almost the last parts of Africa unclaimed by any European power, generated a series of books and articles by an imperialist-nationalist lobby eager to prove the case that Italy's political, strategic, economic and social wellbeing depended on the immediate possession of Turkish North Africa. Such writings naturally generated a rather less voluminous counter-flow of material, mainly from socialist sources, putting the opposite and (as events were to prove) essentially more realistic case.

The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish war in September 1911 and the subsequent Italian occupation of bridgeheads at Tripoli, Horns, Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk first brought Libya to the notice of the international press. The British correspondents who reported one or other side of the conflict subsequently produced a number of surprisingly partisan books about the war and their own adventures in it, but had very much less to say about the little-understood country and its people. With the sudden end of the war in 1912 and the outbreak of more serious fighting in the Balkans, interest in Libya quickly waned. For the next 30 years nearly all the relevant literature was to be provided by Italians, in Italian and written from a purely Italian point of view — some of it later to be destroyed in the antifascist and anti-imperialist reaction from 1943 onwards.
Water Resource Evaluation and Development in Libya — 1969–1989
Authors: Allan J. A.
Published: February 2016

Water is a familiar resource and one which is rarely properly valued, and worse, frequently treated as if it were a ‘free good’. In a country such as Libya, which has no perennial surface-runoff and where no permanently flowing stream reaches the Mediterranean Sea, the value of its available water is proportionately important. At the same time Libya has some deeply rooted attitudes to resources, often culturally based, which have militated against the optimum long term use of its none too abundant renewable and non-renewable water. In addition Libya has undergone some remarkable changes in economic circumstances in the past twenty years. These changes of circumstance have been of particular importance because they stimulated expectations and water demand much more effectively than they brought about changes of attitude at national and local levels to regulate water allocation and inform water utilisation policies. The changes have been especially powerful where they have resulted from the deployment of new technologies which have had significant environmental impacts.
ULVS XVII: Palaeoecology and Agriculture of an Abandonment Phase at Gasr Mm 10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania
Authors: Hunt C. O. , Gilbertson D. D. , Jenkinson R. D. S. , van der Veen M. , Yates G. , Buckland P. C.
Published: February 2016

This study documents the sediments, pollen, seeds, molluscs, vertebrates and mineral magnetism of deposits found in an abandoned water supply system atgasrMm 10 in the Wadi Mimoun in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. These new data suggest (1) at or close to an episode of probable abandonment of thatgasr, the growth of cereals (and perhaps general agricultural activity) still occurred on the wadi catchment upstream of thegasr, and (2) the vegetation of the adjacent wadi floor was richer in species (which included olive) than occurs today.
ULVS XVIII: The Quaternary Geomorphology and Calcretes of the Area around Gasr Banat in the Pre-desert of Tripolitania
Authors: Gilbertson D. D. , Hunt C. O. , Briggs D. J. , Coles G. M. , Thew N. M.
Published: February 2016

This paper describes the Quaternary geology of the area around Gasr Banat which lies near the confluence of the Wadis N'f'd and N'fed in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. The site is of interest because of its aridity, the notable archaeological remains that occur in the region and the opportunity it offered to map the surficial deposits of an area otherwise largely unknown. The survey revealed that two Pleistocene cobble and gravel units laid down by ‘torrential’ rivers could be distinguished: the older of which had been cemented by calcrete. Polyphase slope deposits occur. Thin section studies of the calcrete suggests it is possible to recognise two arid and two humid episodes from its micromorphology.

The Holocene period is represented by water-lain and aeolian deposits on the wadi floodplain, and climbing and barchan dunes on the adjacent hills. The period immediately prior to the construction of major cross wadi barrages may have been characterised by larger or more frequent floods than occurred immediately prior to the 1984 survey; the palaeoclimatic significance of this observation is unclear. One major barrage in the area is shown to have been built on substantial earth foundations. The assumed Romano-Libyan date of these barrages still remains to be proven, but, conversely, it is now demonstrated that they were not constructed or reconstructed in the 1950s.
The ‘Market Theatre’ Complex and Associated Structures, Cyrene
Authors: Ward-Perkins J. B. , Gibson S. C.
Published: February 2016

This is a summary account, based on a detailed report first published in Libya Antiqua, of the so-called ‘Market Theatre’ complex. This complex comprises a number of closely linked structures situated near the heart of ancient Cyrene and was excavated by the late R. G. Goodchild in the 1950s. After his death, it was resurveyed for publication in 1971. The various component structures (the ‘Market’, the Stepped Street, the ‘Forehall’, the Valley Street frontage, the Propylon, the Building with the Windswept Capitals and the Theatre) are described in the context of three broad periods of construction observed in this area.

Goodchild's original interpretation of the main porticoed building as a market, rather than as a temple precinct is defended, as is his belief that the late Roman theatre exhibited only one period of construction. The single closely datable structure is the Severan propylon, but, from observed structural relationships and architectural similarities, some suggestions are made as to the chronology of development in this quarter of Cyrene.
‘Tripolitanian Sigillata’: North African or Campanian?
Authors: Soricelli G.
Published: February 2016

In this article Campania is proposed as the provenance for a class of terra sigillata, somewhat frequent at Berenice and on other North-African sites, which was recently termed by Kenrick ‘Tripolitanian Sigillata’.

Particularly frequent on Campanian sites, above all at Pompeii and Naples, it was present in this region from the end of the first century BC, occurring with high percentage values in assemblages of fine pottery from excavations. This new evidence for its distribution would appear to exclude a North African provenance. A Campanian origin, in the area of the Bay of Naples, is, moreover, supported both by the results of thin section analyses of the clay and by the discovery of possible kiln wasters at Naples.
ULVS XV: Radio-Carbon Dates from the Libyan Valleys Survey
Authors: Dore J. N. , van der Veen M.
Published: February 2016

This short note presents a preliminary list of 21 radio-carbon dates obtained from field samples. The samples came from a variety of types of context (charcoal from hearths or middens, fragments of original timbers) from different types of site (farms,gsur, villages) of varying date (Roman, Byzantine/early Arab, Medieval). The results have been calibrated to present the dates in calendar years to one and two standard deviations. Some preliminary comments are advanced on the comparison between these dates and those derived from the study of the fineware pottery assemblages from the sites.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey IX: Anhydrite and limestone karst in the Tripolitanian pre-desert
Authors: Hunt C. O. , Gale S. J. , Gilbertson D. D.
Published: February 2016

Active karst landforms (poljes, dolines, sinkholes, caves and rillenkarren) and hydration and weathering phenomena on anhydrite and limestone are described from the Tripolitanian pre-desert. Rainfall in the study area is considerably less than the 250–300 mm a−1 previously suggested as the minimum precipitation threshold for the development of karst landforms. These findings suggest that the presence of karst land-forms in an arid region cannot necessarily be taken as evidence for higher precipitation levels in the past.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey X: Botanical evidence for ancient farming in the pre-desert
Authors: van der Veen Marijke
Published: February 2016

This report discusses the first results of the botanical analysis of 182 samples from seven Romano-Libyan and two Islamic sites situated in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. Nine different crop plants have been discovered: barley, wheat, peas, lentils, olives, grapes, figs, dates and almonds. The likelihood of local production versus import, and of subsistence farming versus production for a market is discussed. No significant difference was detected between the range of crops found on the earlier open farms and those found on the later gsur.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XI: Preliminary Lithic Report
Authors: Hivernel F.
Published: February 2016

This interim report describes a representative sample of the lithic material recovered during the fieldwork of the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey. Some of the problems relating to the dating of prehistoric artefacts in Libya are described (lack of detailed regional studies, patination). Material from three areas is described in detail; these areas being Wadi Tabunia near Gheriat el-Garbia, the Wadi N'f'd system (including its tributaries, the Wadis N'fed and Umm el-Kharab) and part of the Mizda corridor between Mizda and Gharian. Some preliminary comments are made on the date of certain sites and on the possible implications in relation to the prehistoric pattern of settlement.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Problems of Deteriorating Historic Centres
Authors: Kezeiri S. K.
Published: February 2016

The purpose of this paper is to study one of the most regrettable problems associated with rapid urban growth – the deterioration and destruction of the fabric of the historic medina. It is also the aim, to highlight the importance of our architectural heritage and to suggest the need for a national cultural policy to conserve the urban heritage of the country. Three small towns from Libya were chosen as case studies.
A hypothetical answer to the decline of the Granary of Rome?
Authors: B. A.  , Chatterton L.
Published: February 2016

In an earlier paper, we argued that medic pasture was probably an important component of the ancient farming regime in Libya. The success of modern experiments which have reintroduced medicago pasture was also described.

In this paper, the analysis is taken further and the results of different types of crop rotation are compared. The Waite experiment in Australia has shown that the most intensive systems of cereal cultivation are not necessarily the most productive, when soil exhaustion and long term decline in yields are taken into account. In fact, the highest profits and best returns of both cereals and livestock are obtained from low intensity systems.

It is possible that increased emphasis on cereal production in the Roman period may have led to a diminuation of the medic pasture, to the exhaustion of the soils and falling yields. By its own initial success, Romano-Libyan agriculture may have contributed to its own decline.
The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VII: An Interim Classification and Functional Analysis of Ancient Wall Technology and Land Use
Authors: Gilbertson D. D. , Hayes P. P. , Barker G. W. W. , Hunt C. O.
Published: February 2016

Interpretations of ancient wall-technologies in the Libyan pre-desert are briefly reviewed. The forms, patterns, distributions and geological/geomorphic/hydrologic relationships of walls in a series of study areas are described and interpreted with the aid of a new, non-genetic, ‘wall-technology’ classification. The remarkable hydrological and geomorphic insights of their constructors are clear. Several wall types are shown to have been primarily concerned with functions other than water control, although this aspect is usually dominant. In some cases the location of the walls appears to have been likely to exacerbate the perennial problems of soil erosion and gullying, in others walls appear to have been constructed specifically to control soil erosion. These data have implications for reconstructing past land use and evaluating the degree of success or failure experienced in particular situations.
The Problems of Defining a Small Urban Centre in Libya
Authors: Kezeiri S. K.
Published: February 2016

The problems of how to define small urban centres are considered and different criteria are assessed (size, function, status, etc). The evidence derived from Libyan censuses is examined and a classification of urban centres in Libya is proposed.
Use of Satellite Imagery in Archaeological Surveys
Authors: Allan J. A. , Richards T. S.
Published: February 2016

One of the problems faced by archaeologists engaged in field surveys is the need to gain an overall view of a study area together with data on the character of its terrain. Air-photographs have for 50 years or more provided a valuable source of such data but they are often difficult to obtain or too expensive to commission. Satellite imagery has since the early 1970s been available and it is suggested that such imagery together with well tried methods of terrain analysis and land evaluation could provide the basis of economical strategies for archaeological surveys. It is also demonstrated that such an approach can help in predicting the level of settlement in different types of terrain.
The Re-interpretation of Latino-Punic Inscriptions from Roman Tripolitania
Authors: Elmayer A. F.
Published: February 2016

Five Latino-Punic inscriptions from Tripolitania are discussed in detail, and their wider context discussed. Not only do they attest the prevalence of the Punic language in Roman Tripolitania, but also survival of Punic political and religious institutions. A particularly graphic example is provided in inscription IRT 893, which suggests that human sacrifice attested among the Carthaginians was also practised in Tripolitania. The inscriptions attest a flourishing economy in the region during the Roman period.
The Laguatan: A Libyan Tribal Confederation in the Late Roman Empire
Authors: Mattingly D. J.
Published: February 2016

The tribal grouping known as the Laguatan, Leuathae and Lawata in various late Roman and Arabic sources are identified as a powerful confederation of Libyan tribes. The confederation comprised two main types of tribes. On the one hand there were neo-berbers who migrated from the east to the west through the Libyan desert in late antiquity; on the other, there were the original inhabitants of the desert oases, of Cyrenaica and of Tripolitania who formed alliances with the newcomers. The growth of the confederation had a destabilising effect on the Roman frontiers and severe raids were made against the more Romanised areas, notably the territoria of the coastal cities.

Through the sedentary agriculture of the allied Libyans, based on settlements such as Ghirza, and new conquest and exploitation, the Laguatan established an economic and agricultural regime largely independent of Rome. It is inappropriate, therefore, to view the Laguatan simply as camel-riding nomads as has been done in the past, nor was the diffusion of the camel a decisive factor in the timing of the onset of their raids. It is argued, on the contrary, that the camel was present at a much earlier date, that it was mainly used as a pack- and farm animal in pre-Islamic times and that the horse was the main instrument of the Laguatan in warfare and raiding. The Laguatan were the instigators of a Libyan cultural, religious and political revival and their history is of great importance to an understanding of the late Roman and Islamic eras.
Hellenistic and Roman Sites at Marsa Gezirah, near Misurata
Authors: Arthur P.
Published: February 2016

This paper describes material recovered over the last few years from sites at Marsa Gezirah, near Misurata, in an attempt to assess their nature. Site A, which has recently suffered severe damage, appears of particular importance as a small port on the edge of the Sebkha, with evidence of brisk commercial activity for the last two centuries BC.
Roman Faience from the Vicinity of Germa, Wadi el Agial, Fezzan
Authors: Tagart Charlotte , Daniels C. M.
Published: February 2016

This paper discusses Egyptian faience vessels of the Roman period from Fezzan. The nature and characteristics of Roman faience are discussed together with a petrological analysis of the material. The different vessel forms from Fezzan are recorded. Parallels in glass and pottery suggest a late first or second century AD date for most of the material.
A Geographical Investigation of the Wadi Derna Project
Authors: Kezeiri S. K.
Published: February 2016

The purpose of this article is to investigate the agricultural potential for a selected area in the northeast of Libya. The area is Wadi Derna which lies in the eastern slope of Jabel El Akhdar. The agricultural project is a multi-purpose scheme involving several inter-linked aims. The main ambition is to increase the total percentage of land under crops and to do this by replacing shifting cultivation by settled farming under irrigation.

A modified Penman formula was used to calculate the potential evaporation and the deficit of water in the area and to suggest the need for supplementary irrigation.
The Libyan God Gurzil in a Neo-Punic Inscription from Tripolitania
Authors: Elmayer A. F.
Published: February 2016

The name of the Libyan god Gurzil has been discovered in a neo-Punic inscription found in Tripoli in the last century. The importance of this new evidence for the religion of the ancient Libyans is discussed.
Three Soldiers of the Cohors Hispanorum in Cyrenaica
Authors: Reynolds Joyce
Published: February 2016

I give below the texts of two new military inscriptions from Cyrenaica with one published earlier and now reread. They are of some interest both for the history of the Roman army and for the history of the province.

1. Limestone stele (width 0.61 m × height 1.35 m × depth 0.27 m) inscribed on one face which is very worn on the lefthand side, where it has been exposed to the weather. Found in 1970 by Mr. Abdussalem Bazama, half-buried on the east bank of the Wadi Kambish just west of the city of Ptolemais, beside the road which leads from the city through the surviving gate in the west wall. Left in situ.

Letters, probably Augustan/Julio/Claudian: 1. 1, 0.07; 11.2, 3, c. 0.05; 1. 4, 0.075. A gable is outlined in relief above the text.

C(aio) Sempronio C(aii) f(ilio)

Longo duplicar(io)

c(o)hortis Hispanor(um)

vacat

vac. Venusta lib(erta) vac.

2. Limestone stele (width 0.45 m × height 1.07 m × depth 0.35 m) inscribed on one face. Photographed at Cyrene in 1929, but without record of the fmdspot; now in Cyrene Museum.

Letters, probably Augustan/Julio/Claudian, 0.05.

M(arcus) Aemiliu[s]

M(arci) f(ilius) Macer

Turanicu[s]

ỊẠṚỊ me(n)s(or) c(o)h[o]-

rtis Hispan-

orum an(n)o-

[r]um XXXX aer-

a XIIX frạ[ter]

vac. hie [posuit]

1.4 the first four letters are enigmatic (for suggestions on their meaning see p. 00); 1.5 it is just possible that the figure I stands between cohortis and Hispanorum, but 1 think it unlikely.
Some Beechey Plans of Buildings at Apollonia
Authors: Bailey Donald M.
Published: February 2016

InA Hole in the Heavens, the history of Cyrene which he had under preparation at the time of his death, and now published in its unfinished state in his memorial volume, Richard Goodchild, writing about the Beechey Brothers expedition to Libya in 1821–2, stated “Unfortunately a large number of their drawings had to be omitted from the published volume for reasons of economy, and if these unpublished drawings still exist, their present whereabouts are not known”. Further on, on the same page, Goodchild added “The modern investigator of ancient Cyrene would gladly sacrifice nine-tenths of the Beecheys' narrative in return for those plans and drawings which were omitted from the published report”. A small packet of some of these plans and drawings has come to light in the library of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum; it is not known how or when they were acquired. Which of the Beechey brothers was the main draughtsman of these documents is unclear: the packet is labelled “Wm. Beechey's Monus. of the Pentapolis Cyrenaica — Africa”; one brother was Frederick William and the other was Henry William. Most of the drawings are plans, and it seems that Frederick Beechey was more concerned with that aspect of che work than his more artistically inclined brother.
Conference 13–15 July 1981: The Economic and Social Development of Libya in the Late Nineteenth and the Twentieth Centuries
Authors: Allan J. A.
Published: February 2016

A three day conference jointly sponsored by the Society and the Middle East Centre of the School of Oriental and African Studies was held in London in July. The main purpose of the meeting was to review the development experience of the past century and to discuss the economic and social impact of the policies and investments of the numerous governments of Libya in the period. A secondary purpose was to bring together students of modern Libyan studies many of whom had not met each other before.

Some 33 papers were prepared for the meeting including an inaugural lecture delivered by Professor Emrys Peters (University of Manchester) and a contribution by Dr Graeme Barker representing the Society, which placed current development experience in a broad historical context. The range of topics treated in the formal sessions was extremely wide and if there was one theme which emerged it was that there has been a tendency for Libyan administrations, new to their role in managing natural resources, to overestimate the country's agricultural potential. Over ninety people attended the meetings including twelve from Libya and most attended the dinner on the final evening kindly provided by the Libyan Bureau in London.

Copies of the conference programme and abstracts are available from the secretary, and a limited number of the papers can be provided for members as long as stocks last. Arrangements are being made to publish most of the papers in English in London and it is hoped that papers for the third day of the conference, dealing with the period after independence, will also be published in France.
Libyan Valleys Survey
Authors: Jones Barri , Barker Graeme , Hayes Peter
Published: February 2016

This project began in 1979. Its objectives are to locate, survey and analyse the extensive remains of ancient agricultural settlement that can be found in the wadis of the hinterlands of Tripolitania, Sirtica and Cyrenaica. Within this framework, established by the Department of Antiquities of the Libyan Arab Republic and UNESCO, is the archaeological aim of recording the evidence for periods when extensive areas of the pre-desert were, for whatever reason, cultivated in ways that are not immediately possible today, and in the longer term of assessing those areas where modern farming might be re-established. Archaeology is thus brought into direct line with the aims of the modern world. This paper presents some preliminary comments on the findings of the 1979 survey, which (as we conclude) have raised questions about ancient settlement and land use rather than provided answers; we hope that our full report on the project in Libya Antiqua will be able to offer a reasoned assessment of these issues, understanding which is surely critical for modern agricultural planning.

The first season of fieldwork by the UNESCO-sponsored Anglo-Libyan team under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities, Tripoli, occupied the period from late August to early October. The succeeding months have been taken up with the assimilation, processing and plotting of the initial results. The group was led on the British side by Dr Graeme Barker, of the University of Sheffield, and Professor G. D. B. Jones, of the University of Manchester. Their grateful thanks are due to Dr Salaheddin, at the time President of the Department of Antiquities, and his successor Dr Abdullah Shaiboub, who was at the time in Britain and took an active part in the preparations for the 1979 programme. Mr Abdul Wahab, Controller of Antiquities for Tripolitania took part in the original preliminary survey conducted by Mr Charles Daniels, Chairman of the Society for Libyan Studies, and Professor Jones late in May 1979. Mr Omar Marjub, Controller of Antiquities for Leptis Magna, kindly provided the base for the team at Homs and helped in a variety of ways, both at Leptis and during his visit with Dr Salaheddin in the field. The day-to-day work in the field was organised by Mr Abdullah Ahmed and Mr Muhammed Shitewi, Assistant Controller of Leptis Magna, to whom the Directors are deeply grateful. In Tripoli, the British Ambassador and his wife, Mr and Mrs A. Williams actively fostered the work on the project, not least through their hospitality to members of the team. A particular debt of thanks is due to Olwen Brogan for her constant advice, encouragement and active presence in the field, as well as to Miss Tina Watson.
Excavations in the North-East Quadrant. 1st Interim Report
Authors: Little J. H.
Published: February 2016

The background to the Society's involvement with the part of the site of Ptolemais known as the North-East Quadrant has been outlined in a previous report in this Journal. (Annual Report of the Society for Libyan Studies 1977–78)

Following a short two week season in 1978, under the overall direction of J. B. Ward-Perkins, to assess the problems of the site, the Society sent out an expanded team over a period of six weeks in May and June 1979 to commence, inter alia, a programme of excavation in the North-East Quadrant. It did not prove possible to complete the programme in 1979 and it was expected that a further, and probably final, season's work would take place in August and September 1980. In the event, however, this has not proved possible, but it is hoped that the work on site can be concluded in 1981. Meanwhile this short interim report on the results of the 1979 excavations is presented to the Society.

While the main excavation effort was concentrated in the North-East Quadrant a number of sondages were made in the House of the Triapsidal Hall in an attempt to establish the date of the original building as well as that of the East Avenue (and thus that of the city's Hellenistic street grid) onto which it fronts. A trench 1.5m. wide and 4.0m. long was put down through the central room of the western range between the peristyle and the street wall. This revealed two surviving floor levels of which the upper retained traces of mosaic while the lower, which proved to be the original floor level, was of smooth plaster. The footings of the house's west wall were also revealed, set into the natural sub-soil. These levels produced a quantity of fine ware sherds which, when studied, should yield a date for the construction of the original building, as well as, by implication, the laying down of the Hellenistic street grid.
The Excavation at Tocra 1974: additional observations in the light of the Berenice excavations
Authors: Riley John
Published: February 2016

It is the purpose of this article to provide a convenient summary of the full report of the Tocra kiln site excavation (appearing in Libya Antiqua: Riley, in press 2) to incorporate fresh information which has now become available as a result of the Berenice excavations (Lloyd 1977), and to present, in summary, a revised format for the quantified figures.

A considerable quantity of coarse pottery (over 12,000 sherds, weighing nearly 700 kg) was excavated in the course of the limited two week excavation. The range of forms was very similar to that occurring in stratified deposits at Berenice dating from the late second to the mid third centuries A.D. As a detailed publication of this Berenice material is soon to appear (Riley, in press 1), the pottery from Tocra is here reproduced according to the Berenice typology, in order to facilitate the standardisation of coarse pottery classification between the two sites, and within Cyrenaica in general.

The pottery from the various tip levels is consistent and, as fine wares datable to the first half of the third century A.D. were present in both the lowest and uppermost tip levels, the whole excavation appears to represent one period (see Riley 1976). For this reason, while the quantified results of the individual layers are presented in full in the final report, an amalgamation of these results for the whole excavation is here presented in the format subsequently devised for Berenice and Carthage (see Humphrey 1976, 125–156).
Industrial Exploitation of Murex Shells: Purple-dye and Lime Production at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice)
Authors: Reese David S.
Published: February 2016

Since time immemorial attractive colours have held man's attention. Occasionally he has assigned to them symbolic significance, often as religious or status insignia. The various shades of reds and purples have been especially chosen; some see in them the colour of blood, the sun or fire. The presence of ochre and haematite in Palaeolithic burials may be the first instance of the high regard for these colours.

Probably the most famous red–purple colour associated with religion, status and general elitism is the shell-based purple-dye of the ancient Mediterranean, known variously as Royal purple, Tyrian purple or Imperial purple. The recent discovery of crushed purple-dye producing shells at Berenice provided a welcome addition to this field, a study which Alexander Dedekind, in the 1890s, termed “Pourprologie”.

Before examining the Berenice shells and their context a brief survey will be made of the world-wide usage of shell purple-dye, its Mediterranean origin and distribution, the basic method of production and the contemporary Mediterranean history of the Berenice finds.

Purple-dye is obtained from the hypobranchial gland found in the mantle cavity of living Murex and Thais (or related Purpura and Nucella) marine snails. The purpose of this gland is unclear, though it may be the reason such shells are avoided as food by marine life (and are thus not a useful fish bait). The dye might also be ejected by the mollusc as a defence mechanism, much like the black ink of the octopus or squid.
Wadi Bel Gadir Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone, Cyrene
Authors: White Donald
Published: February 2016

Systematic excavation in the grounds of Cyrene's extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone has taken place on a syncopated annual basis since 1969 (non-seasons in '70, '72, and '75), and while this activity has not been conducted under the auspices of the Society for Libyan Studies, the original idea to clear the site owes much of its inspiration to the encouragement of Richard Goodchild, who had generously agreed to share in its responsibility before his death in 1968 brought about the postponement of its pilot season scheduled for later in that same year. Moreover, the University Museum Expedition was fortunate to obtain a research grant from the Society in 1976 for one of its staff. For these reasons I am happy to contribute the following what otherwise might appear exogenous remarks.

While the site athwart the south slope of Wadi Bel Gadir (pl. 1, fig. 1) appears to have been scarcely noticed by the early travelers, R. Norton (1910–11) followed by E. Ghislanzoni (1915) are known to have retrieved a number of sculptures and terracottas from its soil. In fact, some of the more burdensome of the marbles first discovered and then abandoned by the former were subsequently recovered by the latter, only to turn up in the same locus more than half a century later, re-buried in shallow fill containing broken wine (?) bottles and spent cartridges. Some time between 1915 and 1929 the Italian authorities were motivated to lay railway track along the wadi drain and to carry out an extensive clearance of the sanctuary's lower two terraces, leaving a gaping hole in its NW corner still visible today. Nothing is known of what prompted this considerable effort, which was never published, but already by the time of Anti's article the area is referred to as a Demeter sanctuary mainly on the basis of random discoveries of fragmentary inscriptions eventually published by Oliverio. By 1969 the site exhibited only the bare outlines of its main wall features and betrayed few outward signs of previous digging.
Lunch at Cyrene in A.D.106 and the closing incidents of Trajan's Second Dacian War
Authors: Reynolds J. M.
Published: February 2016

Among the inscribed stones brought from Cyrene to London by R. M. Smith and E. A. Porcher, and now in the British Museum, is a group of four marble fragments which deserve renewed consideration. They were found in ruins to the north of the Temple of Apollo, which must either be the Temple of Artemis or a structure closely associated with it. They concern the activity of a priestess of Artemis during the reign of Trajan. As A. Wilhelm was the first to notice, the future tense of the verb ἀριστιϵῖ in A, l. 21 shows the text to be an invitation to ἂριστον (= approximately lunch), issued by the priestess to the maidens of the city and its territory. In view of its subsequent inscription the occasion must have been one of unusual importance; certainly no similar text has been found in Cyrene.

The last full edition was by F. H. Marshall in 1916; a re-examination of the stone suggests some new readings and restorations:
A Statuette of Marsyas at Cyrene
Authors: Wanis Saleh
Published: February 2016

The torture of Marsyas was represented in many sculptures and paintings of the classical period, and indeed one such statuette is at present located in the Cyrene Museum (Inv. No.C14255; Archive No.30). This unpublished statuette, which is made of Pentelic marble and has a total height of 0.82 m (including base), was found near the Forum of Proculus (Caesareum) at Cyrene.

Pindar relates how Marsyas found the cursed flute which the vain Athena had discarded and how he later challenged Apollo (playing the lyre) to a musical contest. Apollo agreed on condition that the winner might do as he chose to the loser. Marsyas lost the contest and as a result was tied to a pine tree and flayed alive. The basis of this legend is undoubtedly the contrast between the music of the lyre employed in the worship of the Ionian Apollo and that of the flute used in the religion of Southern Phyrgia.

This statuette at Cyrene portrays the sufferings of Marsyas. It is a splendid composition, full of action and yet beautifully harmonious. The hair and the beard are carefully and naturally rendered; the expression of the face is powerful, and Marsyas' despair has been shown most effectively by the distorted features of the face, as indicated by the long upward curve of the eyebrows. The grooves on the forehead and the oblique setting of the eyes enhance the effect. Marsyas has been given a shaggy horse tail and probably also horse ears, and the veins of his body stand out as if they are going to burst, while the muscles are stretched to breaking point. The head has thick hair, which is slightly tangled and seems to be drenched in sweat.
The Journey of al-Tijānī to Tripoli at the beginning of the fourteenth century A.D./eighth century A.H.
Authors: Brett Michael
Published: February 2016

Al-Tijānī was a highly-placed scholar and man of letters at Tunis. At the beginning of the fourteenth century A.D., the eighth century A.H., he made a devious and slow journey from Tunis to a point between Tripoli and Misurata, returning much more directly. On the way he employed his considerable leisure to correspond with his acquaintances, often in verse, and still more to collect, by diligent inquiry, the material for the account which he wrote of his adventure. The journey itself became the thread upon which were strung descriptions of each place he visited, first the topography, then the history, the men of religion, and finally the poets illustrated by generous quotations from their works. In this way he managed to provide a great deal of information, at first and second hand, about the route and its interest, contemporary and antiquarian, for an educated gentleman with a taste for literature and literary composition. Some of this information is known to us from other sources; al-Tijānī belonged to the classical Arab literary tradition of the Maghrib as it grew by constant repetition. Some of it is new, because the author drew on works which have not otherwise survived. The rest is al-Tijānī's own contribution, his invaluable tale of what he did and saw. The resultant work, known as the Riḥla or Journey of al-Tijānī, was published in a French translation by Alphonse Rousseau in the Journal Asiatique in 1852–3; this excluded the poetry and a great deal of anecdote, which the translator considered to be ‘sujet de nul intérêt’. The translation itself is not always accurate; nevertheless it is valuable as a guide. The full Arabic text was published at Tunis in 1927, and in a critical edition in 1958.
Septimius Severus at Lepcis Magna and Cyrene
Authors: Strong D. E.
Published: February 2016

Lepcis and Cyrene in Roman times were two very different cities, each typical of the province to which it belonged—Lepcis to Africa Proconsularis, one of the most successfully ‘Romanized’ provinces of the Roman Empire, and Cyrene to the province of Crete and Cyrene which always remained part of the Greek-speaking world and retained much of its Greek character and institutions. Architecturally, Lepcis today is one of the most impressively Roman cities, with its splendid public buildings, which include the grand Severan Forum and Basilica and the massive Hadrianic Thermae, and its spacious streets. Cyrene, in contrast, preserves an image that is severely Greek, dominated by austere Doric architecture. Even in quite late Roman times there seems to have been a determined effort to preserve the old forms, so that the Capitolium, for example, on the edge of the old Agora, was re-built under Antoninus Pius as a Greek building.

On the occasion of the Libya exhibition, I have tried to find a theme to bring together these two very diverse provinces that both form part of the modern Libyan Arab Republic. The choice of Septimius Severus, emperor from A.D. 193–211, needs some explanation. He was, of course, born at Lepcis probably in 146; he was there again as legatus of his uncle, the Proconsul of Africa; he may have gone there as Emperor in A.D. 203 during a grand tour of Africa and personally planned the great building programme which transformed his home-city. There is, on the other hand, no record of his ever having been at Cyrene, though he might have gone there as a boy. It is generally believed, indeed, that his first experience of the Greek-speaking empire was when he went to Syria to serve under Pertinax in A.D. 180. He does, however, provide a suitable link in that he was commemorated by sculptured monuments in both places, and the attitudes of mind which these monuments reflect, help us, I think to understand the underlying unity as well as the diversity of the two provinces.
The Garamantes of Fezzan - an Interim Report of Research, 1965-1973
Authors: Daniels C. M.
Published: February 2016

The Garamantes were the inhabitants of Southern Libya. Their capital Garama (‘clarissimum … caput Garamantum’) lies partly under the now deserted mud-brick Arab town of Germa in the Wadi el Agial some hundred miles west of Sebha. The oldest pottery so far recovered from the site dates to the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C., but earlier occupation, stretching back to the ninth century B.C., has been found on the nearby fortified spur-site of Zinchecra. The surrounding escarpment slopes, which form the southern side of the wadi, are dotted with literally thousands of graves, which vary from simple crouch-burials in shallow cists, sometimes covered by a stone cairn, to elaborate stepped ‘chouchet’-type monuments of stone or mud brick, square or circular in shape, mud-brick pyramids 10–15 feet high and even ashlar-built mausolea of which the so-called ‘Germa mausoleum’ is the most complete surviving example. The sedentary agricultural practice of the people is attested by the many hundreds of foggaras (underground water channels with down-shafts, akin to the Qanats of Persia) which tap the aqueous strata against the escarpment side and carry their water into the wadi centre. The foggaras and burials, taken together, show that approximately eighty miles in length of the Wadi el Agial were intensely cultivated and inhabited, and recent work has shown that sites similar to Zinchecra and Garama existed at various points along this eighty-mile length, the Garamanticae Fauces, or Valley of the Garamantes.

Work in the Wadi Bergiug, Murzuch-Zuila area of oases to the south has shown that similar remains exist there, while it can reasonably be argued that the third great band of oases, the Wadi Chatti on the north of the el Agial, almost certainly contained similar occupation.
Early Arabic Inscriptions in Libya
Authors: Lowick N. M.
Published: February 2016

With financial aid from the Society for Libyan Studies I was able to visit Libya on special leave from the British Museum between 21 April and 11 May. The object of the visit was to examine early Islamic epigraphic material, in particular any that might contribute to a knowledge of the archaeology of Ajdabiyah and contemporary sites. One week was spent in Tripoli as a guest of the Department of Antiquities, one week with Dr Whitehouse's team at Ajdabiyah and several days at Cyrene, Tolmeita and in other parts of Cyrenaica.

At Tripoli Museum a fine collection of Kufic gravestones collected in and around the city was examined. These can be divided into two chronological and stylistic groups. The earliest pieces of the period of Aghlabid and Fāṭimid domination (third–fourth centuries A.H./ninthtenth centuries A.D.), are roughly incised rectangular or irregular slabs of stone or marble. The Kufic is plain, ornament being generally limited to bifurcation of the terminals; however, elements of foliation are discernible, notably on an example dated 248/862 (Rossi, Iscrizioni arabi e turchi del museo di Tripoli (1953) no. I). By contrast, those inscriptions which belong to the Khazrūnid and Muwaḥḥid periods (fifth-sixth centuries A.H./eleventh–twelfth centuries A.D.) are carved in relief on finely shaped marble blocks of a distinctive elongated type. The lettering is in the floriated style with additional decorative devices such as loops and right-angled bends in the uprights. Borders are adorned with vine-leaf or geometric motifs. The apparently abrupt transition to this evolved type of funerary monument is striking evidence of the high cultural level attained in Tripoli soon after the rise to power of an independent local dynasty.