The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey 1980

Abstract

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.

The periphery of Lepcis Magna: new data related to the ancient road network and land partition

“…This archaeological lack was already noted by Goodchild (1948, 28–29), who indeed proposed the existence of a track between Lepcis and the area of Beni Ulid. Moreover, as shown by different surveys (Barker et al 1996; Mattingly 1995, 77–88, 144–53; Munzi 2004), the area between Wadi Taraglat and Wadi Soffegin basins revealed a rich and agriculturally well-developed territory in ancient times with additional significance in terms of Roman military control, all factors that necessitated a direct and safe connection with the coast and with the city.…”

“…Even if the archaeological traces of this route are limited to only the very first sector, the recent and unpublished discovery of a milestone base in itself would suggest the importance of the road and that it probably continued for a considerable length, at least until the Msellaten area, probably towards the quadriburgus known as Gasr Bularkan (Barker et al 1996, II, Md2; see also Figure 1). It seems strange, however, that no traces of other milestones have been found along or near the supposed route in the further sections.…”

Hydrology of the combination irrigation system in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

“…Indeed archaeological work in the Wadi Faynan has revealed evidence of a complex field system associated with these settlements dating back to around 4000 BC (Barker and Jones, 1982;Barker, 2007;Hunt et al, 2007;Bar-Yosef, 2008).…”

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“…Thus the monumental hilltop gsur of the Tripolitanian predesert in Libya were interpreted as fortified settlements erected by discharged legionaries, guarding the southern frontier of the Roman world, until survey and excavation showed that they were components of a complex floodwater-farming settlement system which supplied agricultural products to the Imperial market. The imposing gsur and their associated tombs seem to have been simply a way for the local elites to compete (Barker et al, 1996). Dryland settlement systems challenge many of the assumptions possessed by those who live in temperate latitudes.…”