Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T14:42:06.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XXI: Geomorphological Studies of the Romano-Libyan Farm, its Floodwater Control Structures and Weathered Building Stone at Site Lm4, at the Confluence of Wadi el Amud and Wadi Umm el Bagul in the Libyan Pre-desert

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

D. D. Gilbertson  and
C. O. Hunt
D. D. Gilbertson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield
C. O. Hunt
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of London, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Romano-Libyan farm Lm4 includes a ‘barrage’, water control walls and farm buildings. These were built as part of an agro-hydrological farm system at the confluence of the Wadi el Amud and the Wadi Umm el Bagul in the Libyan pre-desert. The farm appears to have functioned in a geomorphological environment not dissimilar to that which prevails today — with occasional rain storms producing overland flow and floods interrupting a dominance of aeolian processes. Field mapping revealed that substantial scatters of midden made up of abraded pottery, bone, and animal dung occur around the buildings. Animals appear to have been kept near to these buildings, which lead to coprolites becoming a very important component of these anthropogenic sediments. Such activity gave rise to significant bioturbation of the sediments, and a notable former vegetation cover. The petrology of the building stones used in the farm buildings is described using petrographic thin section studies. Cavernous weathering and case-hardening are shown to have developed after the stone was incorporated within the building. The size and distribution of these features are shown to relate to the nature of the bedrock used — especially the form and distribution of joints and sedimentary parting planes — as well as the distribution and thickness of the surficial soils and sediments, and the shape and form of the building.

Type
Research Article
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 21 , 1990 , pp. 25 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1990

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.)

References

Barker, G. W. W. and Jones, G. D. B. 1981. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey, 1980. Libyan Studies 12: 9–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G. W. W. and Jones, G. D. B. 1984. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VI: Investigations of a Romano-Libyan Farm, part 1. Libyan Studies 15:1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G. 1986. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XIV: archaeozoological evidence for stock-raising and stock management in the pre-desert. Libyan Studies 17:69–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conant, L. C. and Gourarzi, G. H. 1967. Stratigraphie and tectonic framework of Libya. American Association of American Petroleum Geologists' Bulletin 51: 719–730.Google Scholar
Dore, J. N. and Van der Veen, M. 1986. Radiocarbon dates from the Libyan Valleys Survey. Libyan Studies 17:65–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbertson, D. D. 1986a. Runoff farming (floodwater) farming in rural arid lands. Applied Geography 16(3): 5–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbertson, D. D. (ed.) 1986b. Runoff Farming in Rural Arid Lands: an ‘Applied Geography Theme Volume’. Applied Geography 6(1/2), 122 pp.Google Scholar
Gilbertson, D. D., Hayes, P. P., Hunt, C. O. and Barker, G. W. W. 1984. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey VII: An interim classification and functional analysis of ancient wall technology and land use. Libyan Studies 15:45–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbertson, D. D. and Hunt, C. O. 1988. A reconnaissance survey of the Cenozoic Geomorphology of the Wadi Merdum, Beni Ulid, in the Libyan Pre-desert. Libyan Studies 19: 95–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, C. O., Mattingly, D. J., Gilbertson, D. D., Barker, G. W. W., Dore, J. N., Burns, J. R., Fleming, A. F. and Van der Veen, M. 1986. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XIII: Interdisciplinary approaches to ancient farming in the Wadi Mansur, Tripolitania. Libyan Studies 17: 23–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, C. O., Gilbertson, D. D., Jenkinson, R. D. S., Van der Veen, M., Yates, G. and Buckland, P. C. 1987. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XVII: Palaeoecology and agriculture of an abandonment phase of Gasr MM10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania. Libyan Studies 18:1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. J. 1978. The origin and geomorphic implications of cliff-foot recesses and tafoni on limestone hamadas in the north-west Sahara. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 22(1): 21–43.Google Scholar
Van der Veen, M. 1985. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey X: Botanical evidence for ancient farming in the pre-desert. Libyan Studies 16:15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar