Studies of ceramics in North Africa often favour the analysis of wheel-made over handmade pottery. However, the handmade ceramics are particularly important if we attempt to explore technological transfers within the trans-Saharan region. This chapter presents the ceramic evidence of the Wadi al-Ajal and the Wadi Tanzzuft, two areas of the Libyan Sahara, in order to define the technological characteristics of Garamantian handmade pottery between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD. After a discussion of the raw materials, shapes and decorations of the pots, the chronological and geographical variations within the Garamantian assemblage are presented. These traits are then compared to pottery from other sites across the Sahara, including some of earlier dates. Finally, drawing on workshop discussions with experts in pottery from across Saharan and West African sites, an attempt is made to analyse the potential transfer of certain traits in a Trans-Saharan perspective, as well as the social context of this transfer. An important result is the identification in Garamantian pottery of roulette decoration, not previously observed so far north. Although connections might be traced between the Sahara and the Sahel from the late pastoral period, experts remain cautious as to their exact nature.

This chapter reports analysis of glass from the Garamantian heartlands in the central (Libyan) Sahara, including several fragments of imported Roman vessel glass. Results are contextualised within those of other published studies to develop a broader picture against which new analyses can be interpreted. The chapter aims to demonstrate the crucial importance of moving beyond a simple association between composition and provenance. Less archaeologically ‘visible’ practices such as recycling, which may take place periodically, in small installations, often leave subtle traces in the glass chemistry. The potential of data from trace element analyses in investigating these effects is explored. In addition, the possibilities of local African glass production, recycling and reworking are discussed.

This chapter introduces the larger themes of the volume. Connections and barriers within the Trans-Saharan region (and the interrelationship between these two aspects) form one focus. The introduction presents an overview of crucial themes and considerations which cross-cut all or many of the contributions. Fundamentally, this book seeks to explore what defines technology, how technological knowledge spreads and how technological change has happened in Saharan societies. After reviewing how the Sahara serves as a linking space for the wider Trans-Saharan region, the chapter discusses broad issues of technological mobility and transfers and foregrounds the coming discussing on issues relating to farming technology (plants and animals), textiles (further discussed in Part II), metals (Part III), glass (Part IV) and pottery (Part V).

This chapter first reviews the evidence for metal and metalworking recovered in Fazzan (Libyan Sahara) and presents the results of an analytical program carried out by the Trans-SAHARA Project. This evidence is then considered in relation to other Saharan, North African and West African sites dating from a similar period. The Garamantes seem to have used both copper alloys and iron for ornamental as well as utilitarian purposes. Chemical analysis of the copper-base fragments indicates that at least part of the metal was imported from the Roman world. However, the recovery at Garamantian sites of a certain amount of metalworking debris (slag, hearths and ingot moulds) dating to the second half of the first millennium BC to the beginning of the first millennium AD, shows that metal was also worked and transformed in the oases. Moreover, evidence for trade and possible shared technological choices between Fazzan and sites on the southern edge of the desert is starting to emerge. These choices would have been influenced by environmental constraints such as the scarcity of fuel and copper ores and impacted by the entanglement of metallurgy with other technologies such as agriculture.

The concluding discussion in this chapter addresses several issues. In the first place it draws together the threads of discussion that run through the individual chapters relating to the nature of technology and technological transfer in the Sahara. It reflects on ‘what is a mobile technology?’, ‘how to study technology in the Sahara’, ‘difficulties and solutions’ and ‘connections’. The second half of the chapter broadens the discussion to consider further the implications of Saharan technology transfer in relation to the ‘and beyond’ part of our title. Finally, it examines some of the ramifications of the combined results of the four volumes of the Trans-Saharan Archaeology series for archaeologists, historians and related researchers. It presents some ideas about how the conclusions of this series offer a fresh perspective on the Trans-Saharan region and necessitate a fundamental reshaping of future agendas of study of the ancient Sahara and beyond.