New fieldwork at the Severan fort ofMyd(…)/Gheriat el-Garbia on thelimes Tripolitanus

Abstract

The most outstanding oasis fort of the limes Tripolitanus, Myd(---)/Gheriat el-Garbia, saw the deployment of various military units between AD 198/201 and 275/80. Archaeological research in 2009/10 focussed on the fortifications, particularly the main and rear gates, the northern angle tower and interval towers 2 and 4 as well as the curtain wall at its south corner. The towers of the porta praetoria have been reconstructed theoretically with three storeys, at an overall height of c. 12.5 m. Of the headquarters building two of the rear rooms, including the shrine, were excavated. A monumental inscription of a length of c. 9.0 m and corresponding architectural elements suggest the existence of a groma building. Completely unexpected by archaeologists as well as ancient historians and rather spectacular is a late Roman reoccupation of the military site: after a hiatus of c. 80+ years building activities were undertaken within the fort and repairs and the blocking of the main gate could be observed and probably attributed to the deployment of a unit of limitanei between AD 360/80 (at the earliest) and 430/55. The reoccupied fort might be identified with the so far unknown castra Madensia, where the milites munifices were garrisoned (Notitia Dignitatum Occ. 31, 30). Further evidence of occupation, possibly of a Libyan chieftain and his tribe, has been assigned to the second half of the fifth century, continuing thereafter until AD 540+.

New Roman milestones and other Latin inscriptions from Bani Walid, Tripolitania

“…The evidence of the new funerary column suggests that this agricultural development may have been led by Latin-speaking farmers connected with the Romano-Punic élite of Lepcitan society. The possible dating of the third milestone to AD 268 suggests a continued interest in the route through Bani Walid that is consistent with the numismatic evidence for the continued occupation of the Severan fortlet at Abu Njaym into the mid-270s (Mackensen, 2021a, 236–237).…”

New perspectives on the Roman military base at Bu Njem

“…Perhaps the largest source of new information on the frontier in the region is provided by the recent publication of the 2009–2010 campaign at Bu Njem's contemporary, Gheriat-el-Garbia (Mackensen 2021). This has provided a breadth of new evidence regarding this important legionary vexillation base.…”

“…The new evidence suggests occupation of the fort until AD 275/280, with a phase of late antique reoccupation, from AD 390/400 until the middle of the fifth century AD. Geophysical prospection and laser scanning provided new information regarding the topography of the base and the temple plateau (Mackensen 2021). Modern finds recording methods paired with a revised chronology for pottery provide a wealth of information regarding the supply to the garrison, particularly the analysis of amphorae and red slip ware (Mackensen 2021).…”

“…Geophysical prospection and laser scanning provided new information regarding the topography of the base and the temple plateau (Mackensen 2021). Modern finds recording methods paired with a revised chronology for pottery provide a wealth of information regarding the supply to the garrison, particularly the analysis of amphorae and red slip ware (Mackensen 2021). Gheriat-el-Garbia is unusual in that it has been subject to modern excavation.…”

The origins and development of Zuwīla, Libyan Sahara: an archaeological and historical overview of an ancient oasis town and caravan centre

“…Archaeological survey elsewhere in the heartlands of the Garamantes, in the Wādī al-Ajāl, the Wādī ashShāṭ ī and the Murzuq Basin, have shown an increasing emphasis on defensive structures at Garamantian settlements; in the Murzuq area at least this was linked to an expansion of settlement (Edwards 2001;Sterry and Mattingly 2011;Merlo et al 2013). Further north in the Libyan pre-desert the gradual withdrawal of Roman forts and of the garrison settlements of al-Qurayyāt al-Gharbīya (Mackensen 2012) and Bū Nijīm (Mattingly 1995: 95-97) was accompanied by a general thinning of increasingly fortified farming settlements in the Libyan valleys (Barker 1996: 166-167). It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there was a reduction in population and cultivated areas, even a wholesale abandonment of some regions, during late antiquity.…”