bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Garamantes of Fezzan Revisited: publishing the C.M. Daniels archive
Authors: Edwards D. N. , Hawthorne J. W. J. , Dore J. N. , Mattingly D. J. 
Published: February 2016

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

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

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

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

AbstractThe North African region is experiencing water scarcity that is getting more severe with time. The regional annual average per capita water availability has been reduced from 2285 cubic meters in 1955 to 958 cubic meters in 1990 and is expected to reach 602 cubic meters by the year 2025. To meet the present and future water demands of the region the available options are limited to either long distance water transfers from the southern aquifers to the coastal areas or to investing in large scale seawater desalination technology. Economic analysis revealed that the cost of long distance water transfer can escalate to more than 0.83 US Dollars per cubic meter. When sustainability considerations are taken into account this figure may reach up to 2.35 US Dollars per cubic meter. While these figures were competitive with the cost of seawater desalination twenty years ago, the situation has been recently shifted in favor of seawater desalination which dropped from 5.5 US Dollars in 1979 to less than 0.55 US Dollars in 1999. It is concluded that sustainable development of North Africa will depend in the future on large scale desalination as a last resort. Presently, planned water transfer projects should be substituted by this fast growing technology as the best option.
The ruins at Virginia Water (part 1)
Authors: Lane Andrew 
Published: February 2016

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

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

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

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

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

AbstractThis article reports on the results of the 2008 and 2009 field seasons to survey and record rock engravings in the Wadi al-Hayat. The project started in 2004 with the intention of systematically surveying a 160 km long section of the wadi, centred on the Garamantian settlement at Jarma. This was completed in 2009 in collaboration with the Desert Migrations project. Over 600 previously unrecorded engraved panels were identified in 2008–9. These appear to range in date from the early Pastoral period to the post-Garamantian period. Clear links have been noted in previous seasons in the distribution of the engravings with respect to specific topographic and cultural features. The 2008–9 survey showed that rock carvings also mark patterns of movement through the wadi, and that these patterns appear to shift over time between the Pastoral and post-Garmantian periods. Some of the areas investigated provide relatively easy access into the Wadi al-Hayat from the south and may have represented important corridors for the migration of people and animals for thousands of years.In tandem with the systematic survey, a targeted survey of selected Late Pastoral and Garamantian cemetery and settlement sites was undertaken during the 2008 season. No positive relationship was found between rock engravings and Garamantian burial or settlement sites. However, a definite association was demonstrated between rock art and Late Pastoral burials and temporary camp sites.
Reconnaissance investigation of the palynology of Holocene wadi deposits in Cyrenaica, Libya
Authors: Hunt Chris , Elrishi H. A. , Hassan Abd T. 
Published: February 2016

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

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

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

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

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

AbstractThis article reports on survey work carried out in December and January 2004/5 to identify and record rock engravings in the Wadi al-Hayat (previously called the Wadi al-Ajal). This work builds on previous surveys carried out under the aegis of the Fezzan Archaeological Project (FAP) (Barnett 2002; Barnett and Roberts 2003; Mattinglyet al.2003).During this season, systematic survey identified over 300 engraved panels which included all stylistic ‘phases’ known to be present in the wadi (Barnett in Mattinglyet al.2003). When these engravings are incorporated into the spatial distribution model derived from previous field seasons, the preliminary patterns this model describes are no longer wholly applicable. Instead, a more complex and subtle spatial distribution is indicated, in which there appears to be the interplay of several separate relationships between die engravings and die cultural landscape. To avoid misleading interpretation, detailed analysis of die rock art and integration with cultural and environmental data will be attempted only once a full dataset has been gathered on completion of the fieldwork. In the meantime, this paper describes what has been achieved this season. It presents a broad overview of the patterns of rock art distribution as they appear so far with an incomplete dataset and points die way to future fieldwork.One of the key additional aims of the fieldwork this season was to develop an appropriate recording ʿtoolkitʾ. This included piloting state-of-the-art digital technology to establish its accessibility and value in this environment. Working in collaboration with a team from the University of Bristol, die project applied surface laser scanning to capture 3-dimensional digital data from 14 separate engraved panels. This is die first time this technique has been used to record rock art in North Africa and this provided an unprecedented opportunity to explore its potential for future heritage applications.
Holocene climatic changes in an archaeological landscape: The case study of Wadi Tanezzuft and its drainage basin (SW Fezzan, Libyan Sahara)
Authors: Cremaschi Mauro 
Published: February 2016

AbstractRecharge of aquifers in the SW Fezzan dates back to the last millennia of the Late Pleistocene and to the very beginning of the Holocene, with a consistent delay between the mountain area (at the beginning) and the ergs. Since that period and up to the end of the fifth millennium BP, the whole area of the Wadi Tanezzuft and of its basin, including mountain ranges and low lands (ergs and pediments), consisted of a wet savannah, and in the low lands displayed a continuous belt of ponds and lakes. During this period, all the physiographic units of the landscape were exploited by hunters and collectors and later, much more intensively, by pastoral communities. Apart from two minor dry episodes, the whole area dried out around 5000 years BP. The wadi Tanezzuft was substantially reduced in discharge and size, but its main course was still fed with water for about three millennia, and during the third millennium BP it was a green oasis about one hundred kilometres long; and for this reason it was intensively settled by the Late Pastoral communities and later by the Garamantes. The different behaviour of the Tanezzuft valley in comparison with the surrounding areas is to be attributed to the fact that it is the main outlet of the Eastern Tassili hydrographic basin, whose water reserve was recharged during the wet Holocene and reduced, but not exhausted by the onset of aridity at 5000 years BP.During the first centuries AD the size of the oasis was strongly reduced as a consequence of the final depletion of water reservoirs. However strong wind erosion, which is the present dominant geomorphic process, began in the late medieval period.
Megalithic architecture and funerary practices in the late prehistory of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Authors: di Lernia Savino , Bertolani Giovanni B. , Merighi Francesca , Ricci Francesca R. , Manzi Giorgio , Cremaschi Mauro 
Published: February 2016

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