This paper describes the Quaternary geology of the area around Gasr Banat which lies near the confluence of the Wadis N'f'd and N'fed in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. The site is of interest because of its aridity, the notable archaeological remains that occur in the region and the opportunity it offered to map the surficial deposits of an area otherwise largely unknown. The survey revealed that two Pleistocene cobble and gravel units laid down by ‘torrential’ rivers could be distinguished: the older of which had been cemented by calcrete. Polyphase slope deposits occur. Thin section studies of the calcrete suggests it is possible to recognise two arid and two humid episodes from its micromorphology.

The Holocene period is represented by water-lain and aeolian deposits on the wadi floodplain, and climbing and barchan dunes on the adjacent hills. The period immediately prior to the construction of major cross wadi barrages may have been characterised by larger or more frequent floods than occurred immediately prior to the 1984 survey; the palaeoclimatic significance of this observation is unclear. One major barrage in the area is shown to have been built on substantial earth foundations. The assumed Romano-Libyan date of these barrages still remains to be proven, but, conversely, it is now demonstrated that they were not constructed or reconstructed in the 1950s.

This report summarises the aims and methods of the Fezzan Project, a new interdisciplinary investigation of human settlement in the Saharan environment of southern Libya. The work follows up earlier British work by Charles Daniels on the Garamantes and focuses on the Wadi el-Agial in the vicinity of Germa (ancient Garama). The time frame of the project is the last 12,000 years. A variety of methodologies has been employed, including topographic survey, standing building recording, excavation, field walking, palaeobotanical and faunal sampling, geophysics and human bone analysis.

The methodology of Mediterranean pottery study (for all periods, but especially for the Roman period) has developed considerably over the past fifteen years, and the range of questions asked of it has been greatly extended. Alongside the traditional approach to pottery studies, which concentrates on typology and chronology, there has been an increasing emphasis on the characterization and determination of the origin of pottery using scientific methods, and also a growing awareness of the importance of pottery quantification (i.e. expressing the relative frequency of different pottery types or styles).

It is as a result of these latter two developments that coarse, functional wares can now be used convincingly to complement and greatly extend the economic information provided by fine, decorative wares. Cyrenaica has been in the fore-front of this research (see summary in Humphrey 1979), and it is the purpose of this article to provide a preliminary examination of one aspect, namely the contribution of petrological analysis to our understanding of Cyrenaican local pottery fabrics, and of coarse ware imports.

Before a satisfactory typology of pottery from any area can be established, and before that pottery can be used most effectively as evidence for the resolution of economic problems, it is essential that the local fabrics should be recognised. Although visual classification of pottery fabric types is often possible on the basis of subjective factors such as general appearance, texture, hardness, nature of inclusions, etc. (as described in Young in press), there are often problems when attempting to establish their origin. This is normally best done by scientific analysis, using either geological or chemical techniques. It is rapidly becoming the routine practice to analyse fabrics, in the first instance, by geological methods (to identify the major inclusions within the clay), and then, if necessary, by chemical methods (which analyse the elemental composition of the clay).

This paper uses the Southern Necropolis of Cyrene as a source of information about Cyrenean society and its evolution through time. The vitality of the aristocratic class produced, already by the sixth century BC, a tradition of monumental tombs using both, conventional, or foreign models according to the identity that each Cyrenean wanted to show. Tombs defined land holdings and the Southern Necropolis is an optimal setting to study their relationships with sanctuaries, roads and quarries. The continuing prosperity of the city increased the number and elaboration of tombs, especially in Classical/Hellenistic times when the Archaic territorial divisions became invisible in a landscape overcrowded by sepulchres. A tradition particularly focused on external façades was developed, possibly underlying a focus on funerary rituals held outside the tombs. After the Ptolemaic and Roman conquests this tradition was challenged by external models and Cyreneans tried to adapt foreign customs into their ancient ritual systems, for example through portrait-busts. With time the foreign models prevailed and the tombs displayed elements shared with a wider Roman cultural elite, nevertheless, already from the third century AD onwards, the regional crises sign the end of the monumental necropolis' phenomenon.

Little is known about late Holocene environmental change in Cyrenaica. The late Holocene sequence in the Haua Fteah, the key regional site, is highly discontinuous and characterised by stable-burning deposits. The geoarchaeology of the late-Holocene cave fill of a small cave, CP1565, located close to the Haua Fteah, is described. The well-stratified sequence, dating from the fourth century AD to the present day, provides a glimpse of life at the bottom of the settlement hierarchy and of changing environments over the last 1600 years, with degraded vegetation and aridity in the ‘Little Ice Age’.

This short note presents a preliminary list of 21 radio-carbon dates obtained from field samples. The samples came from a variety of types of context (charcoal from hearths or middens, fragments of original timbers) from different types of site (farms, gsur, villages) of varying date (Roman, Byzantine/early Arab, Medieval). The results have been calibrated to present the dates in calendar years to one and two standard deviations. Some preliminary comments are advanced on the comparison between these dates and those derived from the study of the fineware pottery assemblages from the sites.

This article reviews some aspects of the interesting history of a briefly held Norman Kingdom in Africa in the mid-twelfth century. The question of whether or not the Norman rulers of Sicily ever adopted a formal Arabic title for their African kingdom (malik Ifrīqiya) is discussed in detail, with attention drawn in particular to multilingual inscriptions set up in 1148 by Grizant, priest of King Roger. The significant date of these inscriptions, being the very year at which the African conquests became firmly established, suggests an official title which was experimented with and discarded (at least in formal use, since it occurs in private documents later). The reasons why the style was not more widely adopted are examined in the second part of the article, focusing on the changing pattern of relations between the Norman court in Sicily and the Fāṭimid administration in Egypt.

This article presents a preliminary report on the post-excavation analysis of excavations conducted between 1985 and 1992 by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Garyunis (Benghazi) at the ancient city of Tocra. The construction and design of the buildings excavated are analysed, with particular emphasis on the late antique phases; and descriptions of pottery, other artefacts (including two early Islamic coins) are given. The area appears to have been an artisan district, as evidenced by the finds of a pottery kiln, ovens, vats and other structures associated with manufacturing activities. Mortar and plaster samples were analysed to help phase the structures, and to compare the excavated vats with their counterparts at another site within the city. A limited study of the faunal remains gives some insight into diet at the site in late antiquity.

The study shows clearly that Tocra remained inhabited after the Arab conquest (AD 640s), confirming suggestions of previous excavations at other sites within the city wall.

This paper, based on an Olwen Brogan Memorial Lecture presented to the Society for Libyan Studies on 4 May 2005, reviews the Italian archaeological research started in 1955 with the pioneering work of Fabrizio Mori in the Acacus Mountains and surroundings (Libya, Central Sahara). In particular, the article explores the theoretical and methodological shifts of the last fifteen years, from an ‘adaptionist’ point of view to a ‘new vision’ based on cultural landscape and local knowledge. The paper ends with a call for a new ‘African’ approach to Saharan archaeology, underlining the necessity of international projects—able to link Mediterranean, Saharan and sub-Saharan regions—for some particularly endangered segments of the archaeological record, i.e. rock art and funerary monuments.

The classification/chronology system which Mori put forward in 1965 for the rock-drawing sequence of the Acacus mountains has not since then been modified. It now needs re-examination, taking into account the recently acquired archaeological, palaeoclimatological and archaeozoological data and also the rock-drawing sequence of the Tassili. Indeed, several schools are found in both massifs. Firstly, this article summarises the archaeological results from recent excavations, mainly from Ti-n-Torha; the 14C dates relevant to rock-pictures are set within their context and evaluated. Secondly, a new classification/chronology system is proposed, which matches the data provided by the other disciplines and the Tassilian sequence. Only some of Mori's initial units have been kept. Among the Acacus engravings, some have slight traits belonging to the ‘Naturalistic Bubaline’. Other engravings are considered unclassifiable. As for the paintings, the Round Heads are represented by their final phases only. A ‘Uan Amil Herders’ group corresponds to the ‘Final Bovidian’, not to the Early Bovidian. Finally the ‘Ti-n-Anneuin Herders’ group is the most strongly represented in the Tassili as well as in the Acacus mountains. It is contemporary with the Horse Period. Some sets of paintings also appear as unclassifiable. Whether the Garamantes are to be linked with the most recent schools remains questionable.

This paper, prepared at the request of the Department of Antiquities of Benghazi, reports on severe erosion of the exposed seaward escarpment of the ancient site of Tocra after recent winter storms. A brief measured survey by the authors and comparison with a plan of the site made in 1966, demonstrated that up to 20 m of the coastline has been lost in 40 years. A photographic survey made at the same time records a number of new discoveries, exposed as a consequence of increasing erosion of the escarpment.

The authors believe that continuing annual erosion of the seaward facing part of the town is a serious problem requiring urgent action by the highest authorities.

The first reconnaissance survey of the Wadi ash-Shati, the northernmost line of the oases of the Fazzan, was carried out in 2007 and 2008. This survey aimed to locate archaeological sites of the Garamantian and historic periods in a region that, despite being on record as the most populated of the Fazzan in the historic period, was never previously systematically surveyed. Following the field survey, further examination of high-resolution satellite imagery was carried out. This allowed for the discovery of more sites and the detailed tracing of a number of cemeteries that were only partially surveyed during fieldwork. The report presents the first cross-chronological map of the Wadi ash-Shati and some interpretations of the history of occupation of the area. The future investigation of specific sites, a structured dating programme and further, more detailed, study of historic sources will provide a fuller understanding of this region.

This article reports on the third season of the current project at Euesperides (Benghazi). A programme of geological augering has begun to investigate the presumed location of the ancient harbour and the process by which the harbour and neighbouring lagoon silted up during antiquity. Continued excavation in Area P has revealed two phases of buildings, with a plain pebble floor of the fourth century BC and mixed pebble and irregular tesserae floors of the late fourth/early third century BC. In Area Q work has identified buildings either side of a street, and two phases of city defences; outside the defences excavation has confirmed the continuation of a linear quarry ditch. In Area R the occupation sequence has been elucidated and it seems that the two main phases of purple dye manufacturing activity, using Murex trunculus shellfish, follow the abandonment of a courtyard house. Comprehensive study and quantification of coarsewares and transport amphorae has begun alongside continued study of the finewares, and confirms a wide range of trading contacts. The excavations have also produced evidence for the minting of silver coinage at Euesperides.

The 2009 season of the Western Marmarica Coastal Survey continued to document the settlement profile of the coastal area east of Tobruk, focussing upon the area around Marsa Lukk. Rock art was documented in the Wadi el-'Ayn and a number of Early-Mid Holocene sites were located there and to the west of Marsa Lukk. The survey continued to locate kiln sites of the Mid-Late Roman period. Two fortified sites were documented, spanning the Late Roman to Early Islamic period.

A historical monument may be vulnerable to earthquakes but it will be at no risk unless there is a finite probability of such an event occurring at the site during the lifetime of the structure. We define earthquake risk as follows:

Equation (1) expresses earthquake risk as a function of the seismic hazard, that is of the probability of occurrence of a damaging earthquake, or earthquakes, during the lifetime of the structure and of the vulnerability of the structure to damage or destruction by an earthquake, or earthquakes, of damaging intensity.

Seismic hazard is obviously beyond human control, but an accurate knowledge of it from seismicity studies over a long period of time is possible.

The vulnerability of modern buildings to earthquake forces is the subject-matter of engineering; it is determined by the physical characteristics of structures and it can be assessed, controlled and reduced by appropriate action, though sometimes at a cost which must be justified by a diminished probability of loss.

The vulnerability of old buildings, non-engineered structures and of historical monuments, whose dynamic characteristics are unknown and cannot easily be discovered, is difficult and quite often impossible to assess without irrecoverable intervention in the fabric of the structure.

Let us first examine the practical implications of the earthquake hazard in Libya.

The Quaternary deposits of the Gefara Plain are comprised of three major facies – alluvial fan facies of sands and gravels which blankets the base of the Jebel Nafusa escarpment; floodplain facies of fluvial sands and silts with aeolian dunes which underlies most of the Gefara Plain and, aeolian coastal dune facies, predominantly calcarenitic, which is confined to a narrow coastal zone. Well exposed sections in the eastern part of the plain allow sub-division of the floodplain deposits into a number of mappable units defined and bounded by surfaces of stratigraphic discontinuity. The lithologies of these units are described and compared from selected type sections. The relationships between the units, their geometry, and the nature of the surfaces of stratigraphic discontinuity are discussed. It is proposed that, the lithostratigraphic sequence displayed by the Quaternary floodplain deposits of the eastern Gefara region provides a firm basis for correlation, not only with floodplain deposits in other parts of the plain but also with the other major facies developed in the area. In addition, the recognition of significant stratigraphic breaks in the sedimentary sequence combined with facies analysis lays a firm foundation for an interpretation of the geological history of the region.

Pollen assemblages from the base of silty alluvium in three wadi-fills in Cyrenaica are described. They show evidence for forest clearance and cultivation, including the likely cultivation of olive. This suggests that the samples are broadly of Graeco-Roman age, and that the silty alluvium started to accumulate in these wadis as the result of the landscape impact of agricultural expansion.

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+.

The January 2009 fieldwork season conducted geomorphological and palaeoenviromental surveys in as yet unexplored parts of the Lake Megafazzan Basin, as well as continuing research in the Wadi al-Hayat and Ubari Sand Sea. Lake Megafazzan sediments were investigated at two sites on the eastern margin of the basin. At the first site, east of Tamessah, 24 m of stratigraphy was investigated and found to consist of a lacustrine carbonate unit at the base progressing into a fluvial unit and then an upper carbonate unit. The sediments were sampled for magnetostratigraphy and cosmogenic nucleide dating in order to determine their age. Similar studies were undertaken in the vicinity of the Arial Agricultural Project, where 31 m of section were logged and sampled. Here the sediments were quite different, being composed of a deltaic sequence consisting of stacked channels and palaeosols, thought to represent the outflow delta of the palaeolake. Many new Holocene lake sediment deposits were discovered and sampled in the Wadi al-Hayat and the Ubari Sand Sea, including a 5 m section through Jarma Playa that appears to record the last arid-humid cycle. Lake Gabr 'Awn and the moat round Old Jarma were cored in order to gather a detailed picture of recent palaeoenvironmental change. Finally, we implemented a pilot geophysical survey to test the ability of state-of-the-art Ground Penetrating Radar (UltraGPR) technology for detecting and mapping buried palaeolake sediments under the dunes of the Ubari Sand Sea. The UltraGPR was found to be very effective, detecting palaeolake sediments as much as 60 m beneath the surface. Preliminary results suggest such sediments underlie much of the region.

Cyrene offers one of the largest and most spectacular necropoleis of the Mediterranean basin and, owing especially to its vastness, it is particularly difficult to control and protect. It reveals an extraordinary patrimony of rock-cut architecture, monumentally built around the ancient site, and also represents a zone at major risk of damage and destruction as a result of continuous looting, uncontrolled urbanisation and vandalism. Recent studies by Jim and Dorothy Thorn have presented a preliminary view and gazetteer of the architectonic monumentality, especially of the rocky chamber tombs, showing the need for survey projects in the area. A joint team of Libyan and Italian archaeologists, geologists, topographers and technicians of the local Department of Antiquities and Chieti University started in 1999 a project of surveying and mapping the southern and eastern parts of the necropolis, giving birth to a GIS using differential GPS and Robotic total station for the positioning and recording of the tombs, as well as multispectral HD satellite images, previously orthorectified and georeferred, combined with old maps and RADAR data for a highly detailed topographic base, up to DEM and DTM. From 2004, the survey and the GIS have been extended to the western and northern parts of the necropolis, at the moment counting more than 2,000 mapped and recorded tombs. An important step in the last two years has been the use of remote-sensing and photo-interpretation analysis in order to map the damages of urbanisation and modern construction in the areas of the necropolis. Using images covering the development of the situation every two to three months, mainly shots coming from Google Earth archives, in combination with further satellite images specifically bought for a more complete view of the last two to three years, it has been possible to start drawing a map of the areas under threat from building works and urbanisation. The aim of this paper is to present the main problems of this huge necropolis, which is at the moment one of the most threatened areas of Cyrene, every day at risk from the destruction of its monumental buildings.