This contribution explores a key dimension of the work of the Society for Libyan Studies concerning the archaeology of Libya's Protohistoric and early historic periods (broadly first millennium BC and first millennium AD). This primarily concerns the archaeology of rural landscapes (including the desert) and the investigation of the ancient Libyan populations that inhabited them. Taking an autobiographical approach, I review the contributions to developing research agendas made by a number of research projects that I have been involved in. The results collectively have advanced knowledge and understanding not only of this aspect of ancient Libyan society, but also have important implications for the construction of Libyan identity and the management of its heritage today. More broadly, they constitute an important contribution to wider re-evaluation of Maghribian and Saharan societies in the Iron Age and Roman periods.

In the last ten years the Archaeological Mission of Chieti University in Cyrenaica has investigated, through intensive field surveys and excavations, several contexts of the Cyrenaican chora. Among the many recorded settlements, Lamluda is the most interesting because of its urban organisation, productivity and location at the intersection of the main road network. Our aim is to present the preliminary data from the mapping, survey and excavation of the site, including the results of the archaeometric analysis and the epigraphic study. Among the copious ceramic finds the Roman coarse wares and amphorae are particularly numerous, dating mainly to the Imperial, Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The pottery illustrates not only the longevity of the settlement, which lasted until the eighth or ninth century AD, but also helps to trace the evolution of agricultural wealth and trade. Through archaeometrical and archaeological research it is possible to identify the main local products and their circulation, as well as the imported or exported amphorae and hypothesise on the nature of their contents.

The area encompassing the Acacus and Messak mountains in South Western Libya, similarly to the other central Saharan massifs, is characterized by a deeply eroded landscape where Quaternary geo-archaeological archives are rare, especially Pleistocene ones, making it difficult to understand and contextualize past human dynamics within a solid chrono-paleoenvironmental framework. Except for the few caves and open-air contexts where Pleistocene sedimentary sequences are preserved, the vast majority of archaeological evidence from the region is represented by lithic artefacts found on the surface of deflated open-air sites. Nonetheless, artefacts still stand as the main references used to build a rough framework for population dynamics through time. Although the evidence is not as solid as we would like, it allows us to at least reconsider connecting the human presence solely to ‘green’ phases, as a number of population dynamics related to arid landscapes have inferably occurred in the late Middle Pleistocene and in the Late Pleistocene. Coping with changing or difficult ecological settings could have been a driver at different times for behavioral adjustment, large scale displacement, increased interactions between populations and diffusion of technological innovations.

Libya's further economic development depends on the careful use of its coastal aquifers and the economic exploitation of the substantial but remote groundwater resources of the south. The former have been seriously impaired by over-use and the Libyan government has decided to assure water supplies for agriculture, industry and for urban use by moving up to 3 km3 per year of fossil groundwater to the Gulf of Surt and later to the Gefara Plain. The article discusses the scope and significance of the plans and comments on the agricultural implications and the likely ultimate use of the water.

Water is a familiar resource and one which is rarely properly valued, and worse, frequently treated as if it were a ‘free good’. In a country such as Libya, which has no perennial surface-runoff and where no permanently flowing stream reaches the Mediterranean Sea, the value of its available water is proportionately important. At the same time Libya has some deeply rooted attitudes to resources, often culturally based, which have militated against the optimum long term use of its none too abundant renewable and non-renewable water. In addition Libya has undergone some remarkable changes in economic circumstances in the past twenty years. These changes of circumstance have been of particular importance because they stimulated expectations and water demand much more effectively than they brought about changes of attitude at national and local levels to regulate water allocation and inform water utilisation policies. The changes have been especially powerful where they have resulted from the deployment of new technologies which have had significant environmental impacts.

This paper is the sequel to an earlier article published in this journal and gives revised interpretations of the results of stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of samples of marble from Lepcis Magna in the light of subsequent refinements to the isotopic data base. Ten results have been changed, and 16 results, unassigned in 1984, may now be identified.

Recent work on the highly significant Donatist religious schism in late Roman Africa is reviewed, supported by an Appendix tabulating a draft chronology of Donatism. Particular attention is paid to the controversy surrounding the date and origins of the schism. The ‘revolutionary fringe’ of the Donatist movement, the Circumcellions, is also discussed, with specific reference to arguments concerning the social status of this group. A third section outlines the participation of Tripolitanian bishops of both Catholic and Donatist persuasion at the great Conference of Carthage in AD 411. The social historical importance of the extensive documentation is illustrated at several points by reference to illuminating insights into life in late Roman Africa.

This note reports on a paper presented at the American Institute of Archaeology 107th Annual Meeting (Montreal January 2006). The theme of the American Institute of Archaeology Annual meeting was ‘Management and Preservation of Cultural Heritage’. The Euesperides Project presented a paper on Euesperides (Sidi Abeid, Benghazi), the Archaic Greek settlement founded in the sixth century BC. Although the site was declared a protected area for its historical and archaeological importance, it still lacks effective protection. The site, important also from a naturalistic point of view, is used as an illegal rubbish dumping area and is awaiting a long-promised wall to prevent indiscriminate access to it.

The paper stressed that many sites in Libya are in need of preservation and protection, even more so after the opening of the country to tourism. The need to develop new infrastructure, if not carefully planned in respect of the cultural heritage, may result in indiscriminate development, as witnessed at Apollonia, where a harbour was being built near the site, obliterating the ancient port. The paper discussed also the Project's proposal presented to the local authorities, concerning the realization of an archaeological park and museum of the history of Benghazi. These projects are important not only to attract tourists, but above all for the local schools and educational programmes directed to inform the younger generations about the importance of their past.

This paper examines the impact on Cyrene of the Jewish Revolt of AD 115/6. Cyrene was particularly vulnerable to attack because of its status as regional capital and its inland location. The task of regeneration fell to Hadrian. Besides reconstructing buildings key to the resumption of Roman public life, Hadrian sent colonists to Cyrenaica, and exhorted the surviving population to assume the burden of reconstruction. By the late Antonine era, the population was restored and Cyrene entirely redeveloped in a striking amalgam of the latest fashions in architectural design and a deliberately conservative evocation of the city's Dorian origins.

The recent history of Middle Eastern new town formation and the concepts which underlie it are briefly outlined. New town developments in Libya are reviewed, from the colonial experiments of Italy, through the oil industry expansion in the 1960s, to the recent government sponsored schemes. A number of case studies are provided to illustrate the specific environmental and social factors which planners need to take into account in Libya. Some preliminary comments are offered on the success and failure of twentieth century new towns in Libya.

Drawings made in 1958 of the Beida Sanctuary peristyle afford a basis for comment on characteristic architectural developments in Cyrenaica, seen as part of the Oriental Hellenistic world.

Since this complex is dated epigraphically to Hadrianic times it offers information on the chronological compass of forms and motifs which are well established at a much earlier period (3rd century BC). Notable features are the mixing of elements from different orders and the use of the cordiform angle pier often in association with the Rhodian-type peristyle.

The emergence of these devices can be seen in the Apollo Temple at Bassae, and they are subsequently formalised in the so-called Argolid School. This style was spread about the Hellenised Orient in the wake of Alexander's conquests. It can be seen particularly in Ptolemaic Alexandria, but owing to the destruction of almost all the free-standing building at Alexandria the bulk of the evidence comes from the Ptolemaic provinces, notably Cyrenaica, Cyprus and Southern Palestine/Arabia.

The details of the Balagrae peristyle also show the retention of some old established Cyrenaican regional manners (Doric Capital with moulded abacus, simplified Ionic Capital, etc) and the complete absence of any specifically Roman innovations either of design or construction.

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.

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.

It has been known since 1954 that a pottery kiln site is situated about 100 metres to the North West of the West Gate of Roman Tocra, in the area known locally as ‘Howa El-Faquar’ (Area of Potsherds).

While looking for tombs in the East face of the small quarry in this area (see Fig.l), Wright discovered in 1954 part of a wastage dump from a kiln. The general direction of the tip lines led him to consider that one of the kilns was situated on a ‘small but salient mound’ (see Pl.1) nearby. He published a selection of pottery from the dump and, after some discussion, based on lamp evidence, he placed the date of the group at around A.D.100.

As this area is now outside the area controlled by the Department of Antiquities and is being ploughed by local farmers, it was thought expedient to examine the area through limited excavation for several reasons. A date of around A.D.100 seemed too early in the light of a study of the coarse pottery from the recent excavation at Sidi Krebish in Benghazi: a late second or early third century A.D. date seemed more appropriate. It was hoped that further excavation at Tocra would shed more light on this. In addition, few kilns have been excavated anywhere in North Africa to date and the potential of the Tocra site for structural and organisational information about the pottery industry is very great. It was also considered an excellent opportunity to study in detail a large group of contemporary pottery and to quantify the relative proportions of the different types.

Permission was kindly granted by Mr. Masoud Shagluf, Controller of Antiquities for Western Cyrenaica, and a two week excavation took place in August 1974.

The limestone relief, discovered near the motel in New Shahat in 1984, is one of a group of votive reliefs of the later Hellenistic period (2nd-1st centuries BC). The group, from various Libyan sites, depict Libyan sanctuaries, and are of especial interest in reflecting the close relationship between the Greek and native populations of Cyrenaica. The new find is unusual in devoting a large space to two pastoral scenes. They represent an aspect of the cult of a deity, probably Demeter, who was believed to bestow the Libyan people with meat, milk, hair, wool and other products. With these earthly goods Demeter brought the promise of fertility. Women feature prominently in the relief, as in her cult.

Lo stanziarsi dei Greci in terra di Cirenaica nella seconda metà del VII secolo a.C. e la loro ininterrotta permanenza nella regione fino al tramonto della civiltà antica hanno dato luogo ad una mirabile fioritura di civiltà che noi conosciamo grazie alle testimonianze archeologiche, alla letteratura e alla cospicua messe dei documenti epigrafici: uno sviluppo civile tanto più sorprendente, per la sua ampiezza e ricchezza, ove si consideri l'isolamento in cui la popolazione greca è venuta a trovarsi — dal punto di vista geografico — rispetto alla restante nazione greca e ove si pensi alla forte e continua pressione cui la stessa fu sottoposta, d'altra parte, ad opera della popolazione indigena. Infatti i Greci non furono i soli ad abitare la regione: essi occuparono, arrivando, una terra già abitata da una popolazione libica, mentre successivamente — in età ellenistica — sopraggiunse una forte comunità ebraica; infine è da registrare una presenza romano-italica, pure abbastanza consistente, documentata per via epigrafica (vd. sotto) a partire dal I sec. a.C.

La superiore civiltà greca esercitò un forte influsso sulla popolazione libica, o almeno su una parte di essa, e su quella ebraica, che furono più o meno profondamente ellenizzate: tanto che è possibile rintracciare — attraverso l'onomastica — una varia presenza di individui libici ed ebraici nell'epigrafia greca della Cirenaica (Masson 1976; Lüderitz 1983), che ne attesta anche l'avvicinarsi ad alcune istituzioni cittadine. Per contro non abbiamo, almeno finora, una autonoma produzione epigrafica Ubica o semitica dalla regione.

Recent scholarship on North African cities has done much to dispel earlier assumptions about late antique collapse and demonstrate significant continuity into the Byzantine and medieval periods. Yet urban changes did not affect North Africa evenly. Far less is known about the differing regional trajectories that shaped urban transformation and the extent to which pre-Roman and Roman micro-regions continued to share meaningful characteristics in subsequent periods. This article provides a preliminary exploration of regional change from the fourth to the eleventh century focused on a zone in the Central Medjerda Valley (Tunisia) containing the well-known sites of Bulla Regia and Chimtou. We place these towns in their wider historical and geographical setting and interrogate urban change by looking at investment in public buildings and spaces, religious buildings and housing, and ceramic networks. The process of comparison identifies new commonalities (and differences) between the sites of this stretch of the Medjerda River and provides a framework for understanding the many transformations of North African cities over the long late antiquity.

As a contribution to the Society for Libyan Studies’ 50th anniversary, the paper discusses three projects in which the author has been involved, with a focus on their different contributions to our understanding of Libya's landscape prehistory and history. The deep stratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave in three projects are described in chronological order, but they contribute in reverse order to our understanding of how Libyans have changed and been changed by their landscapes. The deep stratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave in Cyrenaica represents an intermittent history of landscape use, and the way people dealt with climate change impacts, from some 150,000 years ago to the Graeco-Roman period. The faunal assemblage from Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi, provides insights into how Graeco-Roman city-dwellers interacted with the people of the countryside. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey changes the perspective, showing how tribal people in the pre-desert were drawn into the ambit of the coastal cities and the economy of imperial Rome, before returning to semi-mobile pastoral/arable lifeways not so dissimilar to the lives of many Libyans before the oil revolution. The principal linking finding is that there are no simple stories from the past in terms of people's relations to their landscape: the mix of structure and agency embodied in the archaeological record can be a record of failures, misguided decisions, bad luck etc. as much as of successful responses and adaptations to opportunities and challenges.