Hobby metal detectorists search for archaeological finds as individuals and within groups, the latter being the focus of this article. Such groups come together as “clubs” and “meetings,” but also as part of large, often commercially run events typically known as “rallies.” All these activities are attractive to detectorists because they provide them with access to land to search, along with the promise of making interesting (even valuable) discoveries, and they have a social dimension. They are common in England and also well established in several countries in northwest Europe, partly due to changing legislation. Although policies and mechanisms are often in place for collaboration with individual detectorists and even local metal-detecting clubs, larger events (not least, the large-scale commercial rallies increasingly occurring in England) present challenges for professional archaeologists, specifically in relation to the capacity to properly record finds and manage potential damage to the historic environment. To respond appropriately to these changes, a greater understanding of detectorists’ events is needed. For this reason, we explore and define the scale, nature, and diversity of group events, relating them to different legislative and cultural contexts in Flanders (Belgium), England (and Wales), and Finland. Subsequently, we outline challenges associated with group events and identify possible ways forward.

It is generally believed that Tripolitanian historiography began with the chronicle of Muḥammad b. Ghalbūn in the first half of the 12th century AH/18th century AD, before expanding in the 13th/19th. This pattern tends to forget that other players – unfortunately now lost – predated that modern historical writing. The oldest one seems to be related to a Tripolitanian scholar, ʽAlī b. ʽAbd Allāh b. Maḥbūb al-Ṭarābulusī, who lived at the end of the 5th/11th century/beginning of the 6th/12th, who settled in the East and wrote a short chronicle to give an account of the history of his hometown. This article aims to gather all the data related to him and his works, to show the formation of a local memory in the wake of the political autonomy acquired by Tripoli from the beginning of the 5th/11th century.

Evidence for working rock crystal, a rare form of water-clear type of quartz, is occasionally recovered from prehistoric sites in Britain and Ireland, however, very little has been written on the specific methods of working this material, and its potential significance in the past. This paper presents the first synthesis of rock crystal evidence from Britain and Ireland, before examining a new assemblage from the Early Neolithic site of Dorstone Hill, Herefordshire. This outlines a methodology for analysing and interpreting this unusual material, and, through comparison with the flint assemblage, examines the specific uses and treatments of this material. Far from being used to make tools, we argue the distinctive and exotic rock crystal was being used to create distinctive and memorable moments, binding individuals together, forging local identities, and connecting the living and the dead.

This article addresses the lack of literature on grinding and crushing techniques and its equipment in Africa Proconsularis. A new typology is presented, along with their geographical distribution. The types of stones used are also discussed, in relation to provenance, suitability and technological innovations. The conclusion questions what we know and what future research needs to address.

Early Islamic religious architecture in North Africa displays a marked change from earlier Classical and Christian buildings in their general neglect of exteriors in favour of interior (i.e., courtyard) façades. This feature may be due partly to the nature of Islamic worship, as it was common to virtually all early mosques, yet builders in the central and eastern lands of Islam soon began to adopt such exteriorizing features as domes, towers, and colourful decoration. Maghribi builders, however, maintained their preference for modest exteriors for many centuries, mostly focusing decoration on interior façades and spaces, and differentiating it from much Islamic architecture elsewhere.

The Roman town of Mustis (municipium Iulium Aurelium Mustitanum) is near present-day Mest Henshir (Tunisia). Its epigraphic corpus has around 200 inscriptions mainly published at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when the French archaeological campaigns took place. However, a group of Latin inscriptions discovered during the 1960s remained unpublished. In the reorganisation of the archives of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (Paris) the original photographs, negatives, slides and documents revealed new data. In this article I present five new inscriptions (three votive texts, a quadruple funerary epitaph and a new boundary stone) and new data and photographs of three already known inscriptions published by G. Wilmanns in the CIL. All these texts reveal new data about the territory of the res publica Mustitana, the sacred life of the city (including the confirmation of a Capitol) and new onomastic information about its inhabitants.