Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T21:11:27.915Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Excavations at El Merj (Ancient Barca) – A First Report on the 1990 Season

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

J. N. Dore
Affiliation:
Newcastle upon Tyne

Abstract

Trench 330. Below recent structures the remains of two (possibly related) complexes of buildings were uncovered. Building I was a sunken, probably rectangular, courtyard bounded by a colonnade. Building II was mud brick. Seven major phases were identified. Pottery suggests a terminus post quem in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries AD.

Trench 340. Below very recent features was a brick barrack block, which probably dates to the 1930s. Below this was a building constructed on mud brick, of at least two principal phases, probably of similar date to Buildings I and II in Trench 330.

The Finds. Twenty-three coins were recovered. Two are probably comparatively early in date (Abbasid or Fatimid). Considerable quantities of pottery were recovered (see Appendices I and II). Other finds of note were a glass weight, probably of Fatimid date, and a small head carved in bone.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1991

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

Abdussaid, A., Shaglouf, M., Fehevari, G., King, G. R. D. and Chin, E. 1978. Second season of excavations at El-Medeinah, Ancient Suit. Libyan Studies 9: 1318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berti, G. and Tongiorgi, L. 1981. I Bacini Ceramici Medievali delle Chiese di Pisa. Rome.Google Scholar
Blake, H. 1984. The medieval incised slipped pottery of north-west Italy. Atti del III Congresso Internazionale ‘La Ceramica Medievale nel Mediterraneo Occidentale’, Siena: 317353.Google Scholar
Dore, J. N. 1990. El Merj (Ancient Barca) – A Summary Report on the 1989 Season. Libyan Studies 21: 1922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pesez, J. M. 1984. Brucato, Histoire et Archeologie d'un habitat medieval en Sidle. Rome.Google Scholar
Philon, H. 1980. Early Islamic Ceramics. Athens, Benaki Museum.Google Scholar
Riley, J. A. 1979. The coarse pottery from Berenice. In Lloyd, J. A. (ed.), Excavations at Sidi Khrebish Benghazi (Berenice) Vol. II, Tripoli: 91467.Google Scholar
Riley, J. A. 1982. Islamic Wares from Ajdabiyah. Libyan Studies 13: 85104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitcomb, D. S. and Johnson, J. H. 1979. Quseir al-Qadim 1978, Preliminary Report. American Research Center in Egypt Reports.Google Scholar
Whitcomb, D. S. and Johnson, J. H. 1982. Quseir al-Qadim 1980, Preliminary Report. American Research Center in Egypt Reports: 7.Google Scholar