In 1881 the Italian explorer Giuseppe Haimann and his wife made a two-month journey through the Gebel Akhdar from Benghazi to Derna, travelling under the auspices of the Società d'Esplorazione Commerciale of Milan and Haimann's report first appeared in the Bollettino della Società Geografica in 1882. Haimann's sober assessment of Cyrenaica's potential contrasts favourably with the later accounts of Italian journalists and other visitors who in the early twentieth century had their own reasons for presenting Turkish North Africa to the Italian public as a veritable Paese di Bengodi – a Land of Cockaigne. But 30 years before the Italian intervention of 1911, Haimann had come to the conclusion that Cyrenaica – ‘in ancient times so civilised and prosperous’ – might be restored to new life if agriculture, industry and commerce ‘were to be given an effective impulse’.

One of the problems faced by archaeologists engaged in field surveys is the need to gain an overall view of a study area together with data on the character of its terrain. Air-photographs have for 50 years or more provided a valuable source of such data but they are often difficult to obtain or too expensive to commission. Satellite imagery has since the early 1970s been available and it is suggested that such imagery together with well tried methods of terrain analysis and land evaluation could provide the basis of economical strategies for archaeological surveys. It is also demonstrated that such an approach can help in predicting the level of settlement in different types of terrain.

Libya is one of the few countries in the Middle East to have a full coverage of Urban Plans and two generations of Master and Layout Plans have been provided by foreign consultants. The aim of urban planning in Libya is to provide urban amenities and infrastructures to all towns large or small and this article reviews how this has developed.

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.

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 sedimentological properties of samples collected from exposures in wadi floors are reported. These studies emphasise the natural variability of erosional and depositional processes in this environment. Some of the sedimentological changes observed appear to be of archaeological significance. They indicate that in the recent geological past, either increased flooding occurring as a result of natural environmental fluctuations, or irrigation practice, has caused the elevation of saline groundwaters in the wadi floor sediments to levels which might have had deleterious effects on the contemporary agricultural system. Sites at the margins of the wadis are more sensitive to such changes than those more centrally located on the wadi floor. No evidence for significant climatic change at the times of the extensive Romano-Libyan occupation of the pre-desert region has been detected. There is, however, evidence of much wetter periods in the more distant past, which have left a legacy of mature soils on the basalt plateaus, which may have been extensively used in the Romano-Libyan period.

Five Latino-Punic inscriptions from Tripolitania are discussed in detail, and their wider context discussed. Not only do they attest the prevalence of the Punic language in Roman Tripolitania, but also survival of Punic political and religious institutions. A particularly graphic example is provided in inscription IRT 893, which suggests that human sacrifice attested among the Carthaginians was also practised in Tripolitania. The inscriptions attest a flourishing economy in the region during the Roman period.

The tribal grouping known as the Laguatan, Leuathae and Lawata in various late Roman and Arabic sources are identified as a powerful confederation of Libyan tribes. The confederation comprised two main types of tribes. On the one hand there were neo-berbers who migrated from the east to the west through the Libyan desert in late antiquity; on the other, there were the original inhabitants of the desert oases, of Cyrenaica and of Tripolitania who formed alliances with the newcomers. The growth of the confederation had a destabilising effect on the Roman frontiers and severe raids were made against the more Romanised areas, notably the territoria of the coastal cities.

Through the sedentary agriculture of the allied Libyans, based on settlements such as Ghirza, and new conquest and exploitation, the Laguatan established an economic and agricultural regime largely independent of Rome. It is inappropriate, therefore, to view the Laguatan simply as camel-riding nomads as has been done in the past, nor was the diffusion of the camel a decisive factor in the timing of the onset of their raids. It is argued, on the contrary, that the camel was present at a much earlier date, that it was mainly used as a pack- and farm animal in pre-Islamic times and that the horse was the main instrument of the Laguatan in warfare and raiding. The Laguatan were the instigators of a Libyan cultural, religious and political revival and their history is of great importance to an understanding of the late Roman and Islamic eras.

Preliminary results of survey and limited excavations at Euhesperides (Benghazi) and Tocra are discussed. At Euhesperides part of one residential insula was excavated and a mosaic discovered. Evidence is presented that the insula and the city defences are contemporary, dating from the early fourth to the third centuries BC. The earliest stratified levels beneath the floors of the insula date to the early sixth century BC. The work at Tocra comprised a full survey of all visible archaeological remains. In particular, close study and limited excavation of the Byzantine Fortress suggest that the structure survived long beyond the Arab invasions of AD 642.

This paper describes material recovered over the last few years from sites at Marsa Gezirah, near Misurata, in an attempt to assess their nature. Site A, which has recently suffered severe damage, appears of particular importance as a small port on the edge of the Sebkha, with evidence of brisk commercial activity for the last two centuries BC.

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.

This paper discusses Egyptian faience vessels of the Roman period from Fezzan. The nature and characteristics of Roman faience are discussed together with a petrological analysis of the material. The different vessel forms from Fezzan are recorded. Parallels in glass and pottery suggest a late first or second century AD date for most of the material.

The methodology of an on-going study of the desert grass, Panicum Turgidum Forsk, at Wadi Zigzah, near Brack, is described. The emphasis is on making an integrated study of the grass to establish its role in the local ecosystem.