The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey IV: The 1981 Season

Abstract

The final season of the three-year programme to survey the central Tripolitanian pre-desert examined the region to the west of the regions of the Wadis Sofeggin and Zem Zem, casting important light on the route between the interior of Libya and the coast during the prehistoric and Roman periods. In particular, a detailed account is given of the archaeological sites of the Bir Scedua Basin and of the Severan fort at Gheriat el-Garbia.

The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VI: Investigations of a Romano-Libyan farm, Part I

“…Our preliminary work was designed to locate and map the major zones of ancient settlement, especially the Romano-Libyan fortified farms (gsur) and other sites associated with water-control farming, and to establish the nature and duration of such settlement in each major wadi (Jones and Barker 1980;Barker and Jones 1981). Later work concentrated on the investigation of the water-control systems of farming: mapping the water-control walls of selected farms, and integrating this work with geomorphological studies investigating the key problems of whether the climate in Romano-Libyan times differed from that of today, and whether the system of ancient farming had a harmful effect on the landscape (Barker and Jones 1982;Jones and Barker 1983). In addition, small scale excavations were conducted at the selected farms to establish whether the food refuse of the communities (animal bones and plant remains) were preserved sufficiently to warrant fuller investigation in the future.…”

Buried in the archives: cemeteries and mausolea in Tripolitania

“…Pottery from the first century AD was found between the burials but the earliest mausoleum dates to the mid-third century and was placed at the edge of this cemetery, 2 km south of the main settlement (Brogan and Smith 1984, 100–18, 185). Here, the cemetery probably functioned as a territorial marker, and the owners of the obelisk mausoleum strived to form a connection with the earlier inhabitants of the settlements (Jones and Barker 1983, 53; Mattingly with Flower 1996, 188–89).…”

Pottery and the History of Roman Tripolitania: Evidence from Sabratha and the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey

“…The work of the second and third seasons was concentrated on sampling the types of settlement available across the whole extent of the area (Barker and Jones 1981;Barker and Jones 1982;Jones and Barker 1983). In the fourth season certain of what were considered key components of the system were examined in more detail, the main effort being expended on a large opus africanum farm site in Wadi el-Amud (Lm 4) with work also being carried out on gsur in Wadi Mimoun and Wadi Ghirza and, to a lesser extent, on structures in Wadi Mansur (Barker and Jones 1984;Hunt et al 1986).…”