I am grateful to Dr. Soricelli and to the Editor for the opportunity to see this interesting article in advance of publication. The evidence presented here of chronology, distribution and petrology seem to me to offer compelling reasons for supposing the ware discussed to have been produced in Campania, and this is further supported by the names of the potters and their occasional use of the Greek alphabet. (This was a factor to which I had not given adequate weight in suggesting an origin in Punic North Africa). As to the precise origin of the ware within the region, I am dubious of the significance of two wasters found on their own in separate excavations: an accident in the later life of a vessel may on occasion be indistinguishable from an original fault in firing, and a greater concentration of wasters would be necessary to have the force of definite proof. Besides which, the foot of the cup illustrated in Figure 3.24 is not typical for Production A/‘Tripolitanian’ Sigillata. Soricelli is undoubtedly right in suggesting that a plurality of similar wares was produced in different parts of Campania (and probably other parts of Southern Italy and Sicily) during the first centuries BC and AD. Their individual characterisation will depend on the publication and study of a great deal more material from the region and the present article represents an important step along that road. And as we know that the products of Campania could so readily find their way into distant markets throughout the Mediterranean, so the identification of more of these products is likely to be of relevance to excavators working in many different parts of the Roman World.

This 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 possible piscina, 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.

En 1953, j'avais exprimé le voeu que les antiquités de la Cyrénaïque, que les archéologues italiens avaient si remarquablement étudiées entre 1912 et 1942, fussent à nouveau l'objet de recherches régulières, dès que les épreuves dues à la guerre auraient été surmontées. Ce voeu a été pleinement exaucé. Dès la fin des hostilités, comme j'avais pu le constater sur place en janvier–février 1946, puis en mai–juin 1947, l'Administration militaire britannique avait pris en charge la sauvegarde des monuments et des sites. L'oeuvre réalisée par les responsables successifs de cette administration, à travers mille difficultés et avec des moyens modestes, fut fort efficace. A partir de 1953, elle fut poursuivie et développée par R. G. Goodchild, nommé Controller of Antiquities pour la Cyrénaïque dans le cadre du nouvel Etat libyen. Il suscita et contrôla la reprise des recherches sur le terrain, en même temps qu'il créait de toutes pièces un Service des antiquités dont les jeunes archéologues libyens, en grande partie formés par lui, fournirent les cadres. Avec leur concours, il exécuta lui-même des fouilles, des restaurations de monuments, des prospections à travers le pays, conduites avec une méthode exemplaire, en particulier à Cyrène et à Apollonia. Les missions étrangères, accueillies avec faveur, ouvrirent des chantiers: les Britanniques à Benghazi et à Tocra, les Américains à Ptolémaïs, les Français à Apollonia. Mais surtout la mission archéologique italienne, animée par S. Stucchi, revint travailler à Cyrène à partir de 1958 et, depuis trente ans, accomplit un admirable travail de publication dans tous les domaines, exploitant à Cyrène les fouilles antérieures, en les complétant par des sondages, et procédant parallèlement à la reconstruction des monuments quand l'état des ruines le permet.

This paper aims to show a general panorama of the Palermitan ceramic products circulating from the end of the ninth to the eleventh century. During this period Palermo was the capital of Islamic Sicily and covered an important role in the Mediterranean from a political, economic and cultural point of view. This has also impacted on pottery production. A new morphologic, technologic and decorative panorama is present during this phase, to face the new needs of a crescent population. Palermo developed a proper pottery language which is the result in part of the previous traditions and in part of the new contributions from the Islamic lands. The volume of Palermitan ceramic production increased considerably, not only to meet the metropolitan demand but also for the growing extra-urban (insular and extra-insular) requests.

This paper addresses itself to the study of population growth of the small towns in Libya. The Libyan small towns have grown rapidly and it is expected that the majority will continue to grow in the future. Their growth can be attributed to natural increase, internal migration, the influx of foreigners, all of which have been stimulated by the State.

L'intérêt qu'offre l'oeuvre de Procope de Césarée pour la connaissance de l'Antiquité tardive et protobyzantine est évident pour quiconque est familier avec cette période, et l'ouvrage récent, et excellent, que lui a consacré Av. Cameron (Oxford, 1986) est venu opportunément mettre en lumière cet auteur, d'ailleurs beaucoup plus lu dans le monde anglo-saxon qu'en France. Il valait la peine, dans le cadre du 2e Colloque International de Cambridge sur la Cyrénaïque, d'étudier le témoignage que Procope nous a laissé (De Aedificiis, VI, 2, 1–23) sur ‘les Deux Libyes’, puisqu'aussi bien au 6e. s. le découpage administratif ne coïncide pas avec les données de la géographie naturelle.

Les rapports qu'entretiennent la réalité littéraire et la réalité archéologique ne pouvaient constituer l'essentiel de cette étude, car, comme l' a bien montré Av. Cameron, on ne saurait lire l' oeuvre de Procope comme un guide touristique: en effet l'information que fournit l'écrivain est déformée, tant en raison du caractère inéluctablement rhétorique des ouvrages littéraires de l'Antiquité qu'en vertu de la tendance certaine de Procope à la propagande, ce qui ne saurait surprendre chez un historiographe officiel. On a donc commencé par resituer le passage étudié dans l'ensemble de l'oeuvre, puis, après avoir proposé une traduction française du texte — traduction qui n'est en fait qu'un fragment de la traduction complète (achevée, mais non encore publiée) du texte —, on a tenté de définir successivement les sources, la structure et la signification du témoignage de Procope, avant d'étudier en dernier lieu la relation du texte avec les réalités archéologiques actuellement connues.

Alan Rowe excavated on four campaigns in the Cyrene necropoleis from 1952–1957, but his final publications were incomplete and misleading, and the original records were apparently lost prior to his death in 1968. This is an account of the attempt to re-assess what he found, and of the project to present his discoveries in a more useful form.

The importance of Rowe's work is that he was the first person to make an extensive archaeological study of the monuments and tombs of the four necropoleis of Cyrene. His predecessors in the 19th century limited their activities to a few individual tombs mainly around Wadi Haleg Shaloof and Wadi Bel Gadir. The first archaeological excavation this century, undertaken by Richard Norton in 1911 on the western slope of Wadi Haleg Shaloof (Norton 1911, 160), its extent unmatched until Rowe's campaigns forty years later, received only preliminary publication and the material found is mainly lost. The only other archaeological work undertaken in the necropoleis was by Oliverio in 1925 on Tomb N.1, whose artifacts are also now lost, and by Burton Brown who excavated two sarcophagi and a Roman burial in 1947 on the slopes of the Northern Necropolis; the artifacts discovered then have not been seen since publication (Burton Brown 1948, 148–152 figs. I–II). After Rowe's campaigns, Professor Beschi excavated two tombs in 1963 (Beschi 1972, 150–168, 186–196). There has been some survey since, but no formal excavation.

The 2006 rock art survey continued the systematic identification and recording of rock art panels in the Wadi al-Hayat, started in 2004–5. Over 350 carved panels, comprising well over 1000 engraved images, were recorded and added to the digital database for the project. Anecdotal accounts of rock paintings were also followed up, and some meaningful observations were made.

As the concentration of known carvings in the wadi grows, trends in their content and distribution begin to demonstrate some interesting patterns. Detailed analysis of the distribution patterns is currently hampered by an unreliable chronological sequence, and discoveries this season have cast doubt on the validity of the established sequence for this area, with wider implications for Saharan rock art.

This inscription was found over the door of wadi el-Bir near Shemech (Wadi Soffegin) and is now in Lepcis Museum. It consists of three lines and it reads:

The inscription has been treated previously by Goodchild (1950, 137), Sznycer (1965, 100–101), Vattioni (1966, 45–46; 1976, 550–555), Levi della Vida (1967, 263), Krahmalkov (1973, 61–64), Polselli (1976, 237–238) and Elmayer (1983, 90–91).

A suggested translation is as follows:

This contribution explores a key dimension of the work of the Society for Libyan Studies concerning the archaeology of Libya's Protohistoric and early historic periods (broadly first millennium BC and first millennium AD). This primarily concerns the archaeology of rural landscapes (including the desert) and the investigation of the ancient Libyan populations that inhabited them. Taking an autobiographical approach, I review the contributions to developing research agendas made by a number of research projects that I have been involved in. The results collectively have advanced knowledge and understanding not only of this aspect of ancient Libyan society, but also have important implications for the construction of Libyan identity and the management of its heritage today. More broadly, they constitute an important contribution to wider re-evaluation of Maghribian and Saharan societies in the Iron Age and Roman periods.

Majoura, an unpublished rural site in south-west Tunisia, is characterised by a wealth of archaeological remains including waste from ceramic production. The ceramic material allows us to better understand the nature of the site, which produced amphorae, finewares and cooking wares. Nevertheless, it is more or less impossible to differentiate the local productions from other workshops in the region, notably Sidi Aïch, without scientific analyses. However, the diversification of this workshop gives the site an important place, as much in studies of the economy of the region of south-west Byzacena as in the economy of antiquity in general.

Over thirty years of Italian rule in Libya (1911–1942), while leaving a considerable infrastructure of roads, schools and other public buildings, provided only a poor legacy in terms of skilled and educated Libyan manpower. This is attested by the fact that in 1951, there were only five graduates of Italian universities and perhaps ten from the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Cairo. Moreover, there were no Arab directors of elementary schools or persons qualified for the non-Islamic professions or trained as agricultural experts. On the other hand, apologists of Italian rule emphasise that by 1942 Italy had made an important contribution towards solving some of Libya's most chronic problems. Although official statistics must be treated with caution, it is likely that by 1939 around 9676 pupils were enrolled in the halo-Arab schools, even if only 50% attended regularly. A further 147 students were said to be attending the School of Islamic Studies or al-Madrasah al-Islamiyya al-ùlyá at Tripoli which trained Islamic lawyers, school teachers and minor officials. 22 Moslem girls were also receiving training as nurses at the school of Princess Maria Pia originally set up in January 1936. The object of this paper, however, is not to narrate the achievements and defects of Italian rule in Libya, but to ask, what possible problems in the political, as opposed to the economic or other related fields, might have contributed to such a state of imbalance. Was it, for instance, some kind of “apartheid” policy on the part of the colonial regime that prevented Libyans from attending the excellent system of Italian secondary schools and so going on, like their Italian contemporaries, to become skilled artisans, technicians, engineers, doctors or administrators? Or was it because the mass of the Libyan population were so basically opposed to the Italian regime that they regarded attendance at the schools, whether elementary or secondary, as an act of collaboration with the hated oppressor? These are just two of the areas that would have to be explored by the historian before any explanation could be put forward of what can be termed the “central dilemma” of educational development in Libya under Italian rule.

This is a summary account, based on a detailed report first published in Libya Antiqua, of the so-called ‘Market Theatre’ complex. This complex comprises a number of closely linked structures situated near the heart of ancient Cyrene and was excavated by the late R. G. Goodchild in the 1950s. After his death, it was resurveyed for publication in 1971. The various component structures (the ‘Market’, the Stepped Street, the ‘Forehall’, the Valley Street frontage, the Propylon, the Building with the Windswept Capitals and the Theatre) are described in the context of three broad periods of construction observed in this area.

Goodchild's original interpretation of the main porticoed building as a market, rather than as a temple precinct is defended, as is his belief that the late Roman theatre exhibited only one period of construction. The single closely datable structure is the Severan propylon, but, from observed structural relationships and architectural similarities, some suggestions are made as to the chronology of development in this quarter of Cyrene.

Rock paintings and engravings form a significant component of the archaeological record in Libya. Working in tandem with other disciplines, the study of rock-art can help provide a perspective on the past that can not be derived from archaeology alone. Following on from the work of the Fazzan Archaeological Project, recent research in the Wadi al-Ajal has identified a number of previously unrecorded rock-art sites in relation to their physical context, and these are reported here. The engravings display distinct distribution patterns in relation to specific topographic features in the wadi, and these are discussed with particular reference to the Maknusa Pass. Finally, the relationship between the rock-art and the landscape in this region is implicated in cultural development and transition.

In the course of the Islamic period excavations at Ajdabiyah during the 1970s, three sondages through the floor of the Islamic mosque, produced a limited amount of pre-Islamic pottery. The pottery ranged in date from the early Hellenistic period through to the seventh century AD, attesting more or less continuous occupation of the area. The suite of pottery shapes resembled those commonly occurring in stratified levels at Berenice (Benghazi), illustrating the regional similarity of local wares.

Short seasons of excavation between 1985 and 1992 were conducted under the supervision of the writer in an open and almost featureless area near the center of the walled city of Tocra. The excavations were part of the Garyunis (Benghazi) University training program, arranged by the Department of Archaeology for undergraduate students.

The excavation uncovered the remains of seven buildings and produced a vast quantity of stratified material. Four periods of occupation, Hellenistic, Roman (early and late), Byzantine and Islamic, were encountered within the excavated area.

The uppermost levels of all buildings excavated are to be dated mainly in the Byzantine period, but show some structural additions and minor modifications probably undertaken during the Islamic period. The floor level of each building produced a large quantity of material which is confidently referred to the 6th and 7th centuries AD. The vast majority of the dateable finds consisted of coarse pottery, including flat-based jugs, some of which were nearly complete, a very distinctive type of cooking ware with a row of finger indentations on the top of the lug, pieces of broken amphorae, mostly necks, bases and handles; one of these handles is stamped with a bust of a Byzantine emperor in a style exactly similar to that of busts on the obverse of Byzantine coins. The legend, however, is not legible (Fig. 13a). Among the finds were also a large quantity of Byzantine lamps, of which more than thirty are either complete or nearly complete, and many Byzantine coins, of which a high proportion belongs to the reign of Heraclius (AD 610–641).

This brief article outlines the history of John Ward-Perkins' involvement with the archaeology of the complex of buildings erected under the Severan dynasty at Lepcis Magna. The detailed survey of those superb monuments by British and Italian scholars has until now not received the level of publication which it merits. As that work finally goes to press, some explanation is given of the problems faced in preparing for publication the archive of drawings.

In the last ten years the Archaeological Mission of Chieti University in Cyrenaica has investigated, through intensive field surveys and excavations, several contexts of the Cyrenaican chora. Among the many recorded settlements, Lamluda is the most interesting because of its urban organisation, productivity and location at the intersection of the main road network. Our aim is to present the preliminary data from the mapping, survey and excavation of the site, including the results of the archaeometric analysis and the epigraphic study. Among the copious ceramic finds the Roman coarse wares and amphorae are particularly numerous, dating mainly to the Imperial, Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The pottery illustrates not only the longevity of the settlement, which lasted until the eighth or ninth century AD, but also helps to trace the evolution of agricultural wealth and trade. Through archaeometrical and archaeological research it is possible to identify the main local products and their circulation, as well as the imported or exported amphorae and hypothesise on the nature of their contents.

Water is a familiar resource and one which is rarely properly valued, and worse, frequently treated as if it were a ‘free good’. In a country such as Libya, which has no perennial surface-runoff and where no permanently flowing stream reaches the Mediterranean Sea, the value of its available water is proportionately important. At the same time Libya has some deeply rooted attitudes to resources, often culturally based, which have militated against the optimum long term use of its none too abundant renewable and non-renewable water. In addition Libya has undergone some remarkable changes in economic circumstances in the past twenty years. These changes of circumstance have been of particular importance because they stimulated expectations and water demand much more effectively than they brought about changes of attitude at national and local levels to regulate water allocation and inform water utilisation policies. The changes have been especially powerful where they have resulted from the deployment of new technologies which have had significant environmental impacts.

Libya's further economic development depends on the careful use of its coastal aquifers and the economic exploitation of the substantial but remote groundwater resources of the south. The former have been seriously impaired by over-use and the Libyan government has decided to assure water supplies for agriculture, industry and for urban use by moving up to 3 km3 per year of fossil groundwater to the Gulf of Surt and later to the Gefara Plain. The article discusses the scope and significance of the plans and comments on the agricultural implications and the likely ultimate use of the water.