Euesperides 2005: Preliminary Report on the Spring 2005 season

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary report on the Spring 2005 season of the excavations at Euesperides (Benghazi). Work continued in Areas P and Q, and on the processing of finds from the 2005 and previous seasons. In Area P a series of domestic deposits dated to the last quarter of the fourth or first quarter of the third century BC was excavated, including a hearth, a probable domestic altar and associated votive deposits, and a series of post-holes perhaps connected with furniture and a loom. Two small external yard areas seem to have been used for purple dye production. In Area Q late occupation to the west of the street is dated to the late fourth century BC; to the east of the street, the latest stratigraphy appears to have been truncated and the occupation levels so far excavated here date from 470 down to 300 BC.Selected finewares from the excavations are presented, ranging in date from the sixth to the third centuries BC. Work on the coarse pottery and amphora assemblages has begun to distinguish products of different production centres within Cyrenaica. Besides demonstrating the quantities of imported coarsewares from Corinth, the Aegean and the Punic world, we can now recognise four classes of Cyrenaican amphorae, including exports present at Punic Sabratha. The study of the wall plaster, environmental remains and other finds are also briefly discussed.Euesperides is a site both of archaeological importance and of considerable scientific interest for its rare wetland vegetation, but both of these aspects remain vulnerable to ongoing damage as a result of urban development, uncontrolled rubbish dumping and a lack of effective protection of the site.

Pottery and trade at Euesperides in Cyrenaica: an overview

“…For the foundation of the city, see also, Wilson 2003, 1650. For pottery of the first half of 6th century BC, see Zimi, in Wilson et al 2005, 160, fig. 18; Zimi in Wilson et al 2006, 148–150, figs.…”

Conserving and managing mosaics in Libya (CaMMiL): the final project review

“…The project has its origins in the early 2000s when Andrew Wilson and Paul Bennett invited Will Wootton to join their excavation of the Hellenistic site of Euesperides in Benghazi (see, for example, Bennett et al 2001; Wilson et al 2004; Wilson et al 2005). At this time Wootton became aware of the disastrous deterioration of the Roman mosaics of Berenice, testament to the devastating combination of now defunct conservation techniques, the desire to display the mosaics outside and no systematic monitoring.…”

Reburial of a mosaic floor discovered at Tocra (Taucheira)

“…Seasonal rainfall caused serious damage to the discovered floors and subsequently undermined the exposed southern section of the floors. A temporary retaining wall along the southern side of the discovered mosaics was built and the gap in between was backfilled to stabilise the mosaic floors, which were also covered with a thin layer of the excavated decomposed mud-mortar from the antepenultimate phase beneath (Wilson et al 2005).…”