Geoarchaeological surveys were conducted in northern Cyrenaica in 2009 as part of the TRANS-NAP project. A major objective of the project is to understand the relationship between regional environmental changes and human occupation patterns in northern Cyrenaica over approximately the past 200,000 years. This paper focuses on the results of surveys of the pre-desert and desert ecological zones in the south of the project's study region. The type, density and distribution of Palaeolithic sites were a particular focus of field research in the area. We report data from 42 archaeological sites in the pre-desert and desert zones, concentrating in particular on sites associated with palaeolakes and fan deposits. Analysis of the data reveals several patterns whereby particular archaeological signatures are associated with particular landforms. There is also a broader pattern across the region where sites assigned to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) period are considerably more common than those characteristic of the Late Stone Age (LSA). It is argued that this geographic area is particularly sensitive to changes in global climate and that past occupation patterns during the Palaeolithic were strongly driven by changes in the region's hydrological regime.

A set of monumental stone stairs on the hillside south of Cyrene's Wadi Bel Gadir Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone were first detected by Shi'mon Applebaum during World War 2 on a now lost aerial photograph. Today his theory that the stairs connected a hilltop structure (now partially covered by a modern farm installation), with the still unidentified Demeter Sanctuary and that all three elements belonged to a Jewish temple complex is no longer sustainable, at least as far as the Demeter Sanctuary goes. But the stairs still exist, still unexcavated and largely unrecorded. What remains visible suggests that they may have been partially covered with a wooden roof and that they served as a ceremonial link between two important components of the suburban city analogous to that played by the porticoed Via Sacra leading to Cyrene's Sanctuary of Apollo. A plea is made for their excavation.

This paper discusses the deep transformation of the monumental funerary culture of Cyrene during the Roman period. For the first time the problem is analysed in its complex entirety, identifying elements of Roman tombs and looking for possible dating clues. The quantitative data from a survey in the Southern Necropolis are used for a statistical analysis, looking for the relationship between portrait-busts/niches and other burial features. A chronological view of this period in the necropolis is attempted, together with a discussion of the evolution and the cultural significance of tomb-types. The picture is also contextualised within what we know of the socio-historical framework from other sources.

The identification of a headland anchorage at Janzur and the finding of ceramic material offshore in 2009 led the Department of Antiquities in Tripoli to agree to an underwater scoping survey, the results of which are discussed. The site adjacent to the anchorage was subject to a large waterfront development and during groundwork a number of kilns and other structures related to the anchorage were revealed. The implications of this and neighbouring sites are discussed in regard to trade and industry in antiquity. Concerns regarding modern development are discussed and some proposals are mooted.

As a consequence of the importance of the Sanūsiyya in Libyan history the literature on Sufism has shown a scarce curiosity for other Libyan brotherhoods. One of the reasons for this is the fact that, being characterised by a lack of central authority, these orders were considered unorganised entities that could not sustain the comparison with the Sanūsiyya. The article problematises this view by concentrating on the 'Isāwiyya, a Libyan brotherhood constituted by local leaders who do not recognise a common authority. In particular, the paper heavily relies on the recent re-conceptualisation of the idea of ‘Sufi order’ put forward by Rachida Chi, who suggests that Sufi brotherhoods could be best understood as ensembles of different local patronal rerlationships. The article discusses the weaknesses and strenghts of Chih's framework in an attempt to propose a set of preliminary conclusions for the study of the Libyan 'Isāwiyya.

A coastal survey carried out in the area of Lepcis Magna in November 2010 located a ceramic kiln site, which seemed to be mainly producing Tripolitania II amphorae. Archaeometric analysis was carried out on samples recovered from the site to characterise the fabrics and confirm this hypothesis.

Excavations at the village of Erythron/Latrun near Apollonia in Cyrenaica uncovered a potter's rubbish dump in an abandoned Roman bath complex, thought to be linked to the nearby potter's kiln. Common wares and lamps were produced here and of particular note were Mid Roman 1 amphorae. These amphorae were thought to have been produced mainly in Sicily but also North Africa, and with the new discovery at Latrun we can now also add Cyrenaica to the list. Archaeometric (thin section) analysis on samples from the site confirms this theory.

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’.

Survey and excavation by the Burials and Identity team of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focused in 2011 on the so-called Royal Cemetery of the Garamantes close to the Jarma escarpment, a few km south of Old Jarma. This Late Garamantian cemetery contains two distinct zones (GSC030 and GSC031) of monumental rectangular stepped tombs, which were plaster-coated and fronted by massive offering tables and stelae. Previous dating evidence has suggested they span the fourth to sixth centuries AD. However, many questions remain about the cemetery and the overall recording of the monuments had hitherto been left incomplete. The 2011 work focused on the excavation of one of the larger monuments in GSC030 and several of the smaller tombs in the neighbouring GSC031, along with an overall survey of both cemetery areas and a detailed record of the stelae and offering tables still present in considerable numbers. In addition, the team made a survey along the escarpment between the Royal Cemetery and Zinkekrā, completing and uniting the various surveys carried out by the DMP around Zinkekrā, Watwāt and the Jarma Escarpment. A survey of foggaras and settlement in the ad-Dīsa embayment was also undertaken.

Reconnaissance survey in the Murzuq area, some 150 km south-east of Jarma, was carried out as part of the 2011 field programme of the Desert Migrations Project, with separate funding from the Leverhulme Trust for this element of work entitled the ‘Peopling the Desert Project’. This survey was designed to provide field verification of details of settlement systems identified and mapped from high-resolution satellite images in an area of c. 600 km2 immediately east of the oasis town of Murzuq. Examination of high-resolution QuickBird and Ikonos satellite imagery has permitted identification of a large dossier of more than 200 sites (fortified buildings known as qsur, other settlements, cemeteries, wells, fields/gardens and linear irrigation works called foggaras). The majority of these sites have never been previously noted or mapped and the date of the sites was unknown at the outset, though they clearly pertained to the historic periods. While further study of the finds and scientific dating evidence is required, the initial results of the brief field visit have major implications for our understanding of Garamantian and early Islamic settlement in south-eastern Fazzan.

This paper reports on the fifth season of fieldwork for the Palaeoanthropology part of the Desert Migrations Project. Previous seasons established an extensive archaeological map based on a wide survey of the rich record along the edges of the Ubari Sand Sea, a small area of the Messak Settafet, the Wadi al-Ajal, the Wadi ash-Shati and the Wadi Barjuj. These surveys, complemented with small excavations, demonstrated a deep prehistory to the Fazzan, with Mode 1 technologies, Acheulean, Mode 3 (classic Levallois, large blade technologies, and Aterian), and Late Stone Age and Neolithic assemblages, some with pottery and grinding stones. The focus of the 2011 season was the Wadi Barjuj. This is an extensive wadi system to the South of the Messak, running along the northern edge of the Murzuq Sand Sea, and draining towards the east. Geomorphologically, it comprises old channel cut and fill gravels, usually finely graded, with areas of ancient lacustrine duricrusts, some of which are elevated significantly above the landscape. Surveys, complementing those of 2008, revealed a particularly rich and extensive Holocene series of sites, with microliths, pottery and grinding stones. These sites indicate a dense early Holocene occupation which seems associated with both hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. In addition, there was a low frequency of MSA lithics (compared to other survey areas), although one extremely rich site (BJJ4) had a very large number of water-worn, highly diagnostic small bifaces, characteristics of some Africa MSA traditions. Acheulean was relatively rare. One restricted locality (BJJ6) provided further evidence for a Mode 1 presence in the region, similar to that reported earlier from the Messak and Wadi ash-Shati (Mirazón Lahr et al. 2009, 2010). The context for the finds suggests that at various points during the Pleistocene the Wadi Barjuj was a low lying, swampy and/or lacustrine region, possibly riverine at times, and attractive to hominin populations because of its relatively rich resource base. This paper describes the localities and finds underpinning these conclusions.

This paper reports the results of fieldwork conducted in the 2010 and 2011 DMP field seasons and of analysis of samples collected during these and previous years. Research has involved 1) studying palaeolake sediment outcrops, 2) using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to determine their extent under the Dahān Ubārī, and 3) coring palaeolakes in order to determine their palaeoenvironmental records. Research on these samples is continuing but some initial findings are discussed in this paper. The most extensive palaeolake sediments are found within the al-Mahruqah Formation and were deposited by a giant lake system that developed in the Fazzān Basin during past humid periods. Stratigraphic analysis of Lake Megafazzān sediments suggests two different sedimentary successions, a lake margin succession distinctive for its lacustrine and palaeosol carbonates, and a clastic-dominated, intensely rootleted, basin-centre succession which has terrestrial intervals (aeolian and palaeosols) as well as in the upper parts lacustrine limestones. Both basin margin and basin centre successions are underlain by fluvial deposits. Magnetostratigraphy suggests that the formation may be as old as the mid-Pliocene. After the Lake Megafazzān phase, smaller palaeolakes developed within the basin during subsequent humid periods. One of the largest is found in the Wādī al-Hayāt in the area between Jarma and Ubārī. Similar deposits further west along the Wādī at progressively higher altitudes are interpreted as small lakes and marshes fed by springs issuing from aquifers at the base of the escarpment, last replenished during the Holocene humid phase. Dating of sediments suggests that this was between c. 11 and c. 8 ka. The Wādī ash-Shāţī palaeolake core also provides a Holocene palaeoclimate record that paints a slightly different picture, indicating lake conditions until around 7 ka, whereupon it started oscillating until around 5.5 ka when sedimentation terminates. The reasons for the differences in these records are discussed.