Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-npwhs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T04:26:23.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Fezzan Project 1997: methodologies and results of the first season

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

David Mattingly ,
Mohammed al-Mashai ,
Philip Balcombe ,
Simon Chapman ,
Hugh Coddington ,
Jim Davison ,
David Kenyon ,
Andrew Wilson  and
Robert Witcher
David Mattingly
Affiliation:
School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester
Mohammed al-Mashai
Affiliation:
Department of Antiquities, Tripoli
Philip Balcombe
Affiliation:
School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester
Simon Chapman
Affiliation:
School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester
Hugh Coddington
Affiliation:
Oxfordshire County Council
Jim Davison
Affiliation:
Grenoble
David Kenyon
Affiliation:
AOC Archaeology, London
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
Magdalen College, University of Oxford
Robert Witcher
Affiliation:
School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 28 , 1997 , pp. 11 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ayoub, M. S. 1962. Excavation at Germa, the Capital of the Garamantes. Preliminary Report. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M. S. 1967a. Excavations in Germa between 1962 and 1966. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M. S. 1967b. The royal cemetery at Germa. A preliminary report. Libya Antiqua 3–4: 213–19.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M. S. 1968a. Fezzan, a Short History. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M. S. 1968b. The Rise of Germa. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M. S. 1968c. The Cemetery of Saniat Ben Howedy. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Barich, B. E. (ed.) 1987. Archaeology and Environment in the Libyan Sahara. The Excavations in the Tadrart Acacus 1978-1983. BAR S 368, Oxford.Google Scholar
Barker, G. W. W. 1989. From classification to interpretation: Libyan prehistory 1969-1989. Libyan Studies 20: 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G., Gilbertson, D.Jones, B. and Mattingly, D. 1996a. Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey, vol. 1 Synthesis, (ed. Barker, G.). UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Barker, G., Gilbertson, D., Jones, B. and Mattingly, D. 1996b. Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey, vol. 2 Gazetteer and Pottery (ed. Mattingly, D.). UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Barth, H. 1857. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa. London (reprint 1965).Google Scholar
Bates, O. 1914. The Eastern Libyans. London (reprint 1970).Google Scholar
Birebent, J. 1962. Aquae Romanae. Recherches d'hydraulique romaine dans l'est algérien. Algiers.Google Scholar
Brett, M. and Fentress, E. 1996. The Berbers. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E. and Ubelaker, D. H. 1994. Standards for Data Collection for Human Skeletal Remains. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Res Series 44. Arkansas.Google Scholar
Camps, G. 1980. Berbères. Aux marges de l'histoire. Toulouse.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1968. Garamantian excavations: Zinchecra 1965-1967. Libya Antiqua 5: 113–94.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1969. The Garamantes. In Kanes, 1969: 31–52.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1970a. The Garamantes of Southern Libya. London.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1970b. The Garamantes of Fezzan, excavations on Zinchecra 1965–1967. Antiquities Journal 50: 37–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1971a. The Garamantes of Fezzan. In Gadallah, F. F. (ed.), Libya in History. Proceedings of a conference held at the Faculty of Arts, University of Libya 1968. Benghazi: 261–85.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1971b. Excavations at Saniat Gebril, wadi el-Agial, Fezzan. Libyan Studies 2: 6–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1973. The Garamantes of Fezzan, an interim report of research. Libyan Studies 4: 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1975. An ancient people of the Libyan Sahara. In Bynon, J. and Bynon, T. (eds), Hamito-Semitica, Mouston, 1975: 249–65.Google Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1977. Garamantian excavations (Germa) 1977. Libyan Studies 8: 5–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, C. M. 1989. Excavation and fieldwork amongst the Garamantes. Libyan Studies 20: 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desanges, J. 1962. Catalogue des tribus africaines de l'antiquité classique à l'ouest du Nil. Dakar.Google Scholar
Desanges, J. 1978. Recherches sur l'activité des Méditerranéens aux confins de l'Afrique (Coll.E.F.R. no 38). Rome.Google Scholar
Desanges, J. 1980. (Pline l'Ancien) Histoire naturelle Livre VI–46 (L'Afrique du nord). Paris.Google Scholar
el-Rashedy, F. 1988. Les pratiques funéraires des Garamantes et leurs relations avec celles d'autres peuples d'Afrique du Nord. In Libya Antiqua, Histoire générale de l'Afrique. Etudes et documents III. UNESCO, Paris: 85–114.Google Scholar
Fakhry, A. 1974. The Oases of Egypt, II: Bahariyah and Farfara oases. Cairo.Google Scholar
Fentress, E. W. B. 1979. Numidia and the Roman Army: social, military and economic aspects of the frontier zone. BAR S.53, Oxford.Google Scholar
Fontana, S. 1995. I manufatti romani nei corredi funerari del Fezzan. Testimonianza dei commerci e della cultura dei Garamanti (I–III sec. d. C). In Productions et exportations africaines. Actualités archéologiques. VI colloque international sur l'histoire et l'archéologie de l'Afrique du nord. Paris: 405–20.Google Scholar
Graziozi, P. 1969. Prehistory of southwestern Libya. In Kanes, 1969: 3–19.Google Scholar
Kanes, W. H. (ed). 1969. Geology, Archaeology and Prehistory of the southwestern Fezzan, Libya (Petroleum Exploration Society of Libya, Eleventh annual field conference 1969). Castelfranco-Veneto.Google Scholar
Klitzsch, E and Baird, D. W. 1969. Stratigraphy and palaeohydrology of the Germa (Jarma) area southwest Libya. In Kanes, 1969: 67–80.Google Scholar
Le Quellec, J.-L. 1987. L'art rupestre du Fezzan septentrional (Libye): Widyan Zreda et Tarut (Wadi esh-Shati). BAR S 365, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, J. I. and Roberts, C. 1993. Excavation and Post-excavation Treatment of Cremated and Inhumed Human Remains. Institute of Field Archaeologists. Technical Paper 13.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D. J. 1992. War and peace in Roman Africa. Some observations and models of State/Tribe interaction. In Ferguson, B. and Whitehead, N. (eds), War in the Tribal Zone. Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare. School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series, Santa Fe: 31–60.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D. J. 1995. Tripolitania. London.Google Scholar
Mori, F. 1969. Prehistoric cultures in Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara. In Kanes 1969: 21–30.Google Scholar
Mori, F. 1988. L'art rupestre préhistorique dans le Sahara libyen comme aboutissement d'un long processsus bioculturel. In Libya Antiqua, Histoire générale de l'Afrique. Etudes et documents III. UNESCO, Paris: 157–63.Google Scholar
Muzzolini, A. 1991. Proposals for updating the rock-drawing sequence of the Acacus (Libya). Libyan Studies 22: 7–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pace, P., Sergi, S. and Caputo, G. 1951. Scavi Sahariani. Monumenti Antichi 41: 150–549.Google Scholar
Petit-Maire, N. 1988. Climatic change and man in the Sahara. In Bower, J. and Lubell, D. (eds), Prehistoric Cultures and Environments in the Late Quaternary of Africa. BAR S 405, Oxford: 19–42.Google Scholar
Rose, J. C., Anton, S. C., Aufderhelde, A. C., Eisenberg, L.Greg, L.Neiberger, E. J. and Rothschild, B. 1991. Skeletal Database Committee Recommendations. Paleopathology Association.Google Scholar
RSGI 1937 = Real Società Geographica Italiana. 1937. Il Sahara Italiano. Fezzan e oasi di Gat. Rome.Google Scholar
Ruprechtsberger, E. M. 1989. Die Garamantien. Antike Welt 20 Jahrgang 1989 (special theme issue).Google Scholar
Shaw, B. D. 1976. Climate, environment and prehistory in the Sahara. World Archaeology 8.2: 133–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tagart, C. 1982. A glass fish beaker from Fezzan. Libyan Studies 13: 81–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tagart, C. 1983. Roman faience from the vicinity of Germa, wadi el-Agial, Fezzan. Libyan Studies 14: 143-54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veen, M. van der. 1992. Garamantian agriculture: the plant remains from Zinchecra, Fezzan. Libyan Studies 23:7–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, P. 1968. Touring Libya. The Southern Provinces. London.Google Scholar
White, D. 1994. Before the Greeks came: a survey of the current archaeological evidence for the pre-Greek Libyans. Libyan Studies 25: 31–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Workshop of European Anthropologists 1980. Recommendations for age and sex diagnoses of skeletons. Journal of Human Evolution 9: 517–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar