This paper presents the first study of phytoliths from the Saharan region. Phytolith analysis shows the potential of reconstructing grassland dynamics during the Holocene, refining our knowledge of palaeoecosystems in the Ubari sand sea, Libya. The lake sediments studied range in age between 3,273–9,440 cal. BP. Tree cover was very low around 3,273–3,436 cal. BP and 6,678–6,796 cal. BP, and the landscape was dominated by C4 grasslands around 6,678–6,796 cal. BP, shifting to a more mixed C3-C4 grassland community around 3,273–3,436 cal. BP. These differences may be caused by the older sample being deposited during the onset of a brief arid period, but a similar phytolith assemblage could arise due to a more pronounced seasonality in the climate, with C3 grasses dominating late and early in the growing season when the climate is cooler and less arid, and C4 grasses becoming dominant in the hot, dry summer season.

Excavations at Jarma, associated with the ancient capital of the Garamantes, Garama, in the Fazzan, southern Libya, have recovered a long sequence of charred and desiccated plant remains. The archaeobotanical analysis of the samples have provided an insight into the crop plants cultivated by the Garamantian period occupants of Jarma, and the nature of crop processing activities, plant use and disposal. A broad range of cereal, fruit and fibre crops have been identified which demonstrate both winter and summer season cultivation in the region from the end of the first millennium BC. A sophisticated arable regime relying on foggara irrigation was practised.

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.

This tomb, recorded by Jean-Raimond Pacho in 1825 and partially excavated in 1848 by Vattier de Bourville, contained four decorated marble sarcophagi, three of them placed in large recesses, the fourth on the floor of the central hall. It was next mentioned in 1949 by Morgan, the Antiquities Officer, and recorded by Cassels in 1954. In 1958 Goodchild and Ward-Perkins partially cleared it, but left no known account of their findings. In 2000 James Thorn found that the interior walls were originally clad with marble veneer and the floor was mosaic, evidently a tomb of imperial grandeur.

This brief paper has been prepared to shed light on four qsur located in close proximity to one another on three different sites overlooking an important Haj and caravan route between Soluq in northwestern Cyrenaica and Tamimi to the east, on the Gulf of Bomba. Massively built in mudbrick and faced with stone, each qasr was positioned to dominate an adjacent cultivated wadi crossed by the caravan route. The qsur, with many constructional details in common but in various states of dilapidation, were built on the site of previous settlements and have yet to be conclusively dated. Two possible construction dates are suggested. The buildings may have been constructed in the later Roman period to form part of a system of defence similar to the limes Tripolitanus in that they were built not only to protect the settlements and roadway that they undoubtedly served but as frontier outposts (and defence ‘in depth’) for the cities of the Pentapolis on the south side of the Gebel Akhdar. It is equally possible that the qsur may be of post-Roman date, being built not only for a local defensive purpose, but to provide security and hospitality for those travelling the most direct route between Soluq and Tamimi, south of the Gebel.

Over the past few decades the Higher Education system in Libya has witnessed a rapid growth in student numbers and a massive expansion in its programmes and services. Despite the contribution of Higher Education provision in the development and progress of Libyan society, the large increase in the number of Higher Education institutions has considerably exceeded the actual needs and demands of the country. Past and present studies highlight several shortcomings and limitations that significantly impede the overall performance and operation of the Higher Education system in Libya. This study supports the need for a comprehensive and critical evaluation of Higher Education provision in order to understand better its current status and role in modern Libyan society.

The main factors to be tackled if environmental sustainability becomes Libya's national goal are: first, to base desalination and pumping on renewable energy (e.g., solar, wind); second, to invest oil receipts to export solar electricity; and third, to achieve these two before oil or water are depleted. Because water is paramount for sustainability and economic development, if pumping fossil water and desalination become based on renewable energy, then low-cost freshwater can become the basis for sustainability. As Libya is so well placed to generate solar electricity, the most sustainable choice is to accelerate the transition to renewables before international climate treaties force coal and, later, oil to be left unused in the ground. Libya could lead in making Europe carbon-neutral through massive exports of solar electricity. This would be highly profitable for Libya and at the same time would help achieve sustainability. Quasi-sustainability of non-renewable resources (e.g., oil) could be achieved by investing oil receipts in Libya's sovereign funds, so that by the time hydrocarbons are exhausted a sustainable income is generated for Libyans in perpetuity. This could also provide social safety nets, create jobs and increase human capital formation.

A new Neo-Punic inscription from the region of Lepcis Magna region is discussed in detail, and its wider context outlined. Not only does this inscription attest to the prevalence of the Punic language in the suburbs of Lepcis Magna, but it also provides evidence for the diffusion of Phoenician religion in this area. The inscription also sheds more light on the history of Tripolitania and indicates, by the use of Libo-Phonecian personal names, that at least some of the inhabitants of the city of Snpba were of Libo-Phoenician origin.

In the 1986 publication of the British excavations at Sabratha, a photograph was inadvertently included of a grave with faked burial goods: an explanation of this is now given. The posthumous volume by John Ward-Perkins on the Severan buildings at Lepcis Magna appeared to refer to a drawing of marble veneer decoration which was not found at the time: this has now been located, and has drawn attention to a surprising solution to an architectural problem.

The second (2008) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project has significantly advanced understanding of the Haua Fteah stratigraphy and of the archaeology and geomorphology of the landscape in which the cave is located. The excavations of the McBurney backfill have reached a total depth of 7.5 m below the present ground surface, the depth at which two human mandibles were found in the 1950s excavations. Reconnaissance at the Hagfet ed-Dabba established that the sediments associated with the Upper Palaeolithic ‘Dabban’ industry were more or less entirely removed by the McBurney excavation. Exploratory excavations in the Hagfet al-Gama, a coastal cave west of the Haua Fteah, found evidence of Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Hellenistic occupation. The initial results from the study of botanical remains, both macroscopic and microscopic, obtained in the 2007 season at the Haua Fteah confirm the potential of the site to yield a rich suite of materials to inform on climatic and environmental change, and on human activities in the cave.

The second season of the Desert Migrations Project took place in January 2008, with work following several substrands. The Burials and Identity component of the project is the subject of this report. Excavation and survey work were concentrated in the Watwat embayment, expanding on, and completing the work begun in 2007. Forty burials have now been excavated from the approximately 2,500 surveyed by the project team in a series of different cemeteries and burial zones within the closed valley that cuts back into the escarpment of the Massak, approximately 3 km southwest of Jarma. The most exciting discovery this year was the recovery of two mummified bodies from the UAT008 cemetery, along with further well-preserved textiles, including some exquisitely woven multi-coloured fragments. Another major discovery was a richly furnished Garamantian burial (UAT050.T5), containing numerous imported vessels (fineware, glass and amphorae) from the Roman world. Additional excavations included two child burials from GSC048, located in a modern quarry due south of Jarma, and a preliminary investigation of one of the Taqallit cemeteries, located approximately 30 km to the west (to be the subject of the main excavation effort in 2009).

The palaeoanthropological and geomorphological sub-projects of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focus on the Pleistocene and early Holocene environment and prehistory of Fazzan so as to assess the timing and extent of hominin and human movement across the Sahara through time. This paper reports on the findings of the 2008 field season, with a focus on the prehistoric evidence along the northern margin of the Ubari sand sea.

The geomorphological record of the area preserves evidence of at least five past episodes of lake formation. The exact chronology of these, as well as the spatial extent of these lakes, remains the focus of further study.

The archaeological record of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan prior to the establishment of the Garamantian civilisation is extraordinarily rich. Between 2007 and 2008, the DMP palaeoanthropological project surveyed thirty-five localities along the northern margin of the Ubari sand sea, recording a range of assemblages spanning all Palaeolithic industries. Most of the archaeological remains found consisted of stone-tools, while grinding stones were comparatively restricted geographically. Mode 1/Oldowan tools were found at two localities, contrasting with the widespread presence of Mode 2/Acheulean, Mode 3/Middle Stone Age and Mode 5/microlithic artefacts. This indicates that, although hominin presence in the area is probably earlier than previously thought, populations were comparatively sparse until the Middle Pleistocene. Twenty-one localities within the Ubari sand sea, as well as seven south of the Messak Settafet were also surveyed between 2007 and 2008. The detailed study of the lithics from these areas will be carried out next year, but preliminary results stress the different nature of the assemblages found within interdune corridors — very low frequency of cores, no Mode 1 and extremely rare Mode 2 lithics (found at a single locality).

The 2009 field season will focus on obtaining further samples of palaeolake sediments for dating, on the evidence of Mode 1 assemblages south of the Messak, as well as on the refining of the archaeological indicators that may distinguish the different phases of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan during the Later Pleistocene and Holocene.

The second season of fieldwork on the historic settlement in the Wadi ash-Shati and the Dawada lake villages was undertaken in January 2008, completing the first stage of survey began during the Desert Migration Project 2007. The fieldwork combined geomorphological observations with the recording of historic settlement to understand how hydrology has influenced human management of the wadi in the past. A number of major Garamantian sites were located in the western Zallaf, in Wadi Dabdab and near the modern settlement of Birgin. Visits were also made to sites of pre-Garamantian and Islamic date, and a preliminary survey of the Dawada village of Gabr’Awn completed. While many of the sites recorded in the Wadi ash-Shati are extremely well-preserved, a number of sites appear threatened, while others have already been extensively damaged.

This paper reports the preliminary results of a brief survey east of Tobruk over Easter 2008. The survey concentrated upon two areas: between Wadi Qseirat and Wadi Gabar, north of Kambut and around Marsa Lukk. Thirty-four sites were identified, ranging from larger settlements near good harbours (one each at Wadi Duma and Marsa Lukk), to farmsteads, farms and larger inland villages. Eleven sites provided evidence of industrial activity through the presence of kiln waste and at four of them, of the kilns themselves. Dated sites belong to the Early and Late Roman periods, Iron Age and Hellenistic sherds are present in small quantities. Marmaric ware, first identified along the coast of the western desert of Egypt, is shown to extend into this area and may be associated with cairn and enclosure burials.