This article discusses some of the results of the fieldwork which has been carried out since 1994 by Liverpool University at the site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (Mersa Matruh). In particular it concentrates on how the epigraphic and archaeological evidence recovered from this Ramesside fortress-town has produced new insights into Egypto-Libyan relations, and especially how Egypt operated its short-lived imperial administration of the Marmarican coast during the Late Bronze Age. Egyptian inscriptional evidence from the fortress names the specific Libyan groups against which it was directed, while adding to the debate regarding the areas of operation of these groups by locating itself within “Tjemeh-Land”. Both inscriptional and archaeological evidence indicate that Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham was intended to be, and became, a major fortress-town like those known from Egypt's Nubian and Levantine empire. Evidence for food-processing and the production of linen cloth makes it clear that Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham was largely self-sufficient rather than being reliant on supplies from the Nile Valley. However, this self-sufficiency could only be maintained with the goodwill of local Libyan groups, suggesting some level of economic symbiosis between those groups and the fortress' garrison. On a wider level, the desire to protect Egyptian economic interests, in particular international maritime trade routes, was undoubtedly a major factor behind the construction of this (and other) fortresses on the Mediterranean coast during the reign of Ramesses II.

Finds of significant quantities of foreign (Canaanite, Aegean, Cypriote) material at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham are a clear indicator of this role, while it is suggested that the Libyan groups against whom this trade route needed to be protected were not the ‘local’ Tjehenu and Tjemeh Libyans but the newly-appeared Meshwesh and Libu.

It is becoming increasingly clear that, beginning from the Late Bronze age, links between the Aegean world and the North African coast remained unbroken except perhaps for a brief interlude immediately after the foundation of the Phoenician colonies in the area between the Gulf of Syrte and what is now Tunisia. The example of Cyrene, which has not received the attention it merits outside the narrow circle of Libyan experts, is one of the most clear-cut and eloquent. Even though the paucity of finds and their provenance from infill call for caution, reanalysis of the archaeological record—which has recently gained an important new component—sheds fresh light on the Phoenician colonial process as a whole. The reanalysis, whatever one's point of view, should not be restricted by conventional chronology, and should encourage us to reconsider other accepted ideas about the growth of the original settlement and the links between the Battiad royal family and other members of the Cyrenaican community.

This article examines the particularities of Ptolemaic power outside Egypt through the religious activities of the Ptolemies in Cyrenaica. Since evidence is scarce on the direct administration of this Ptolemaic possession between 321 and 96 BC, the study of the royal cult and the relations between the Ptolemies and traditional cults of the city provides valuable insight on the nature of the dialogue between the king and the cities. It is clear from the available evidence that cult structures already existing in Egypt strongly included Cyrenaica in the Ptolemaic space. But the participation of the city in the royal cult and the flexibility of the royal language of power show that imperialistic views fail to fully explain both the longevity of Ptolemaic power in Cyrenaica and the necessity for the Ptolemies to legitimise their power even in a territory under direct administration.

This article presents a number of joins and associations recently made in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum on sculpture excavated by Robert Murdoch Smith and Edwin Augustus Porcher during their expedition to Cyrene in 1861. The connections were made during an on-going programme within the Greek and Roman Department to provenance and, wherever possible, join the large collection of fragmentary sculpture originating from the big excavations of the 19th century. In addition, some tentative associations between sculpture in the British Museum and others still at Cyrene will be proposed, and some recent epigraphic discoveries made during a visit to the site will also be presented.

The present contribution considers Italic imports into Tripolitania between the end of the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD with special reference to the city of Lepcis Magna and its territory. The imports consist mainly of fine ceramic tableware and amphorae. The archaeological context is varied and highlights the diverse use of Italic goods. A wealth of information has been derived from the study of subterranean tombs excavated in the suburbs of Lepcis by the Libyan Department of Antiquities and by the University of Rome III mission. The assemblages consist of grave goods dated to between the middle of the first century BC and the 3rd century AD. Here we consider a sample of ten subterranean tombs not all of which have been published. They are located in the necropolis of the western suburbs of Lepcis with the exception of a tomb at Gelda, in the southern suburbs, and the Ganima tombs in the countryside to the east of Lepcis. Burial in subterranean tombs apparendy was reserved for the nobility while the majority of the population were buried in surface cemeteries often nearby. A contextual study of the early and middle Imperial period of the villa of Wadi er-Rsaf—excavated between 1995 and 1998—provided more data. Further surface reconnaissance surveys of various sample areas near Lepcis were carried out by the same mission in 1999-2000. Special emphases is placed on the survey in the Silin area on the coast some 15 km west of Lepcis and another inland in W Tareglat, now semi-desert, 40 km SE of Lepcis. The quality of the documentation is uneven but good enough to reveal the presence of Italic goods in different contexts: the ritual setting of a necropolis, everyday life in a prosperous suburban home, and rural settlements in the hinterland.

This paper deals with the location of the springs of the river Cinyps in Tripolitania by comparing literary sources with topographic and archaeological data provided by explorers and by geoarchaeological studies carried out by the University of Rome III mission in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities between 1998 and 2000.

Although the Cinyps may be identified with the drainage basin of Wadi Taraglat, some 80 km long, its springs were located within a strip 3.6 km (20 stadia) from the coast in a reach known as Wadi Caam. These were the springs that supplied the Hadrianic Baths of Lepcis Magna in all probability by means of the scheme put in place by Q. Servilius Candidus in AD119-120.

Field reconnaissance and cartographic analysis rule out the presence of springs any further inland. The claim by Herodotus (IV, 175) that the springs of the Cinyps were located near the Hill of the Graces 200 km (36 km) from the coast may thus be considered an error in the tradition handed down in the text.

The subject of this paper is the presentation and argument of a case for the millennium old record of an apparent steady migration of Berber Saharan nomads, who, at a later stage in their history, have came to be recognized as the principal tribes, federations and Sultanates of the Tuareg people whom we know today. These Berber speakers, who are variosly mentioned as the Lamṭa, Lamtūna, Ilemtin, Dag Elemtei and Azgar (Ifoghas), were the acknowledged ancestors of the so-called ‘Sanhaja’ peoples in the Western, the Central and the Eastern Sahara.

The Fazzān contains the remains of the ancient city of Jarma (Garama) and from the evidence which has been found from Tifinagh inscriptions which have been discovered at that site, this ‘capital of the Garamantes’ played a significant role in shaping the linguistic and cultural identity of the Tuareg peoples. This identity is especially centered around the city of Ghāt, which borders both the Algerian and Libyan Sahara. This entire region, the Tassili -n- Ajjer and including Akakus, would appear to correspond to Jabal Ṭanṭāna, a toponym which finds a mention in the writings of a number of Arab geographers and historians. Its location made it pivotal for trans-Saharan trade.

Tribal immigration into and out of Libya has been largely unexplored. This study, based on Arabic and Libyan sources, begins to rectify this. It aims to examine the causes that have led tribes to flee the country voluntarily or by force and will follow the hardship of immigrants during the Qaramanh rule (1711-1835) and their establishment in neighbouring countries.

Based on the author's own fieldwork and that of others, the methodology focuses on primary Arabic sources including interviews and oral traditions to establish a chronology of tribal movements to Egypt, Tunisia and Chad. Once settled outside Libya, these ex-patriot Libyans were involved in key events in their host countries.

Over the past thirty-nine years, the Libyan maʾluf musical tradition undergone through several changes in order to ensure its existence. Most of these changes and/or innovations had generated new performance practices that changed the more familiar and traditional sonority of this musical genre as it used to be experienced by the Libyans in the context of the zāwīya (Sufi meeting place). These innovations were being proposed by a newly established ensemble that in 1963 was set up by the renowned Libyan musician Hassan Araibi as to revitalize a musical tradition which at that time was on the verge of extinction. At first, the people could not accept, for instance, the inclusion of “modern” instruments such as the violin and cello in a maʿlūf ensemble because such instruments were considered as not belonging to Arabic instrumentation. But then the same people began realizing that such innovative practices were not only stimulating a new interest in this musical tradition but were also assisting in the continuation and preservation of the same tradition. This article presents a case in which “modern” practices of performance and dissemination had guaranteed the existence of an “old” musical tradition to the extent that nowadays this same tradition is still enjoyed in both its “authentic” and “modern” forms.

The North African region is experiencing water scarcity that is getting more severe with time. The regional annual average per capita water availability has been reduced from 2285 cubic meters in 1955 to 958 cubic meters in 1990 and is expected to reach 602 cubic meters by the year 2025. To meet the present and future water demands of the region the available options are limited to either long distance water transfers from the southern aquifers to the coastal areas or to investing in large scale seawater desalination technology. Economic analysis revealed that the cost of long distance water transfer can escalate to more than 0.83 US Dollars per cubic meter. When sustainability considerations are taken into account this figure may reach up to 2.35 US Dollars per cubic meter. While these figures were competitive with the cost of seawater desalination twenty years ago, the situation has been recently shifted in favor of seawater desalination which dropped from 5.5 US Dollars in 1979 to less than 0.55 US Dollars in 1999. It is concluded that sustainable development of North Africa will depend in the future on large scale desalination as a last resort. Presently, planned water transfer projects should be substituted by this fast growing technology as the best option.

Desert oases are undergoing rapid changes in response to environmental, economic and social pressures. The Wādī al-Hayāt, in the Libyan Fazzān, illustrates these changes and exemplifies some of the processes at work. Human activity in the area is dependent on groundwater extraction. Introduction of mechanical pumps and modern irrigation technology has enabled significant expansion of irrigated area, but environmental problems have arisen as a result. Geoarchaeological studies have demonstrated that groundwater levels have fallen over the latter half of the Holocene. Large decreases have occurred since 1970 as a result of abstraction for agricultural, domestic and industrial use. This study uses aerial photographs from 1958 and Landsat imagery from 1987, 1999 and 2000 to map changes in the area under irrigation in the Wādī al-Hayāt. We find a general southwards migration of oasis agriculture within the Wādī, as vegetation has died in the northern part of the Wādī and irrigation extended to the south. A significant amount of inter-annual change in vegetation cover is identified, indicating the need to account for seasonal cropping practices when monitoring for longer-term changes.

Some years ago when a tribute to Richard Goodchild was planned to appear in Libyan Studies, the writer prepared a short note on memories of Cyrene by the 19th century founders of Cyrenaean Archaeology. At that time he was unable to obtain information as anticipated concerning Capt. E. A. Porcher R. N., and reluctantly omitted Porcher from the assembly. Recently, by a curious coincidence, information concerning Porcher's career has come to his notice via two unpublished collections of documents. Accordingly, the following brief record is supplied as a supplement to the note in Libyan Studies 1999, 30: 98-108.

Until the end of the 19th century, the camel road from Kukawa near Lake Chad in Northern Nigeria to Tripoli in Libya was essentially a slave route. Only the most robust slaves survived the desert march which usually ended in the great slave market of Murzuk in central Libya. Prior to John Hare in 2001/2002, the last foreigner known to have followed the road in its entirety was the Swiss-born, British national Hanns Vischer, in 1906.

This article, which quotes from the Vischer family archive, highlights and compares the differences that have arisen in undertaking this journey with camels after a lapse of 100 years. It reveals how Vischer was attacked by Tuaregs at Tajirhi in southern Libya and his encounters with imprisoned Turkish and Bulgarian revolutionaries and miscreants in Murzuk. It also highlights the dangers to a foreigner of undertaking this journey at a time when the Ottoman empire was crumbling and the French and the British were striving to carve out their colonial territories in the vast Saharan and sub-Saharan regions of Africa.

The Society for Libyan Studies (SLS), in concert with the Libyan Environment Agency (EGA), the Biruni Remote Sensing Agency, the British Council and the British Embassy, Tripoli, organised a major international and interdisciplinary conference on the Sahara desert, held in Tripoli and southern Libya in December 2002. This marked the culmination of two years' planning and preparation after the idea was initiated by David Mattingly, whilst Chair of the SLS. On the Libyan side, the organising committee was chaired by Dr Ehtuish F. Ehtuish (Secretary of Natural Resources, Environment and Urban Planning), with the main organisational work being carried out by Dr Khaled Gadgood and Dr Ahmed Tawangi of the EGA, along with Dr Yahya al-Fasatwi of the Biruni Remote Sensing Centre. The conference received strong backing from successive British Ambassadors, Richard Dalton and Anthony Layden, and the role of Tony Jones, British Council Director in Tripoli was crucial in finalising all the practical arrangements. Anthony and Josephine Layden kindly hosted a reception to welcome conference delegates on 14th December. The British Council and British Embassy also provided financial support towards travel costs of external speakers and the hire of facilities in Tripoli. Additional sponsorship for the conference was received from Shell, BAE Systems, the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. British Council staff worked tirelessly during the conference to ensure close liaison with our Libyan hosts. The southern tour (see below) received considerable practical support from the local government agencies (shaʿabiyāt) in Fazzan. The general organisation of the conference was superb, for which our Libyan hosts were much congratulated.

This article reports on the fifth season of the ongoing project at Euesperides (Benghazi). Excavation in Area P'confirmed a date of 261-250 BC for the destruction of the penultimate phase and the construction of the final phase, with mosaics of mixed pebble and irregular tesserae. An inscription was discovered on the mosaic of the penultimate phase; and some rooms of the preceding phase were investigated. In Area Q the dismantling of the street sequence continued, together with the investigation of houses fronting the street, and the evidence for the lines of different phases of the city defences. Outside the line of the latest defences, excavation in an ancient quarry ditch revealed a refuse deposit rich in ceramics and organic materials. In Area R the rooms surrounding the courtyard were defined, and the latest phases of Murex purple dye production were investigated. At the request of the Municipality and the Department of Antiquities of Benghazi, evaluation trenches were cut to assess the impact of proposed developments on the archaeological remains south and east of the city.

Study of the finds also continued. Work began on reconstructing the design of the final phase mosaic in Area P, the central motif of which was probably a dolphin, within a wave-crest surround. Analysis of the coarsewares demonstrated that between 40-60% of third-century BC coarsewares at the site were imported, many from areas of the Punic world; this suggests active and regular trading networks. Study of the amphorae revealed that forms of Corinthian B amphorae were produced at Euesperides.