A group of handmade pottery from the Eastern Marmarica (north-west Egypt) can be associated with the indigenous population of the region, subsumed as nomadic Libyans. A discussion of its type and fabric – mainly shell-tempered – leads to questions about its chronology as well as the ethnic and cultural background of the producers and users of these wares. Stratified finds and a diligent assessment of the reliability of associated pottery from surface find-spots will seek to fix the chronology of Northern Libyan Desert Ware (NLDW).

The existence of a Roman military fort at the town of Mizda, about 150 km south of Tripoli, has long been assumed, in spite of scarce archaeological indications. A field survey, conducted recently in the area around the old town of Mizda, yielded an assemblage of pottery dating to the mid and late Roman periods. The pottery provides the first unequivocal evidence for a Roman settlement around (and beneath) the old town, most probably in the form of a fort and vicus.

The most outstanding oasis fort of the limes Tripolitanus, Myd(---)/Gheriat el-Garbia, saw the deployment of various military units between AD 198/201 and 275/80. Archaeological research in 2009/10 focussed on the fortifications, particularly the main and rear gates, the northern angle tower and interval towers 2 and 4 as well as the curtain wall at its south corner. The towers of the porta praetoria have been reconstructed theoretically with three storeys, at an overall height of c. 12.5 m. Of the headquarters building two of the rear rooms, including the shrine, were excavated. A monumental inscription of a length of c. 9.0 m and corresponding architectural elements suggest the existence of a groma building. Completely unexpected by archaeologists as well as ancient historians and rather spectacular is a late Roman reoccupation of the military site: after a hiatus of c. 80+ years building activities were undertaken within the fort and repairs and the blocking of the main gate could be observed and probably attributed to the deployment of a unit of limitanei between AD 360/80 (at the earliest) and 430/55. The reoccupied fort might be identified with the so far unknown castra Madensia, where the milites munifices were garrisoned (Notitia Dignitatum Occ. 31, 30). Further evidence of occupation, possibly of a Libyan chieftain and his tribe, has been assigned to the second half of the fifth century, continuing thereafter until AD 540+.

Based on an analysis of the Islamic literature and a comparison with the toponyms and archaeology of the region, this article contributes to the topography of Lepcis Magna by identifying the location of the village of Banu Hassan ten kilometres to the west of Lepcis, in the territory of Silin. A survey of the site, still known as Qaryat Banū Hassan, confirms its potential as the road station mentioned by both al-Idrīsī and al-‘Abdarī, though erroneously located by al-Idrisi to the east of Lepcis.

In the grounds of Windsor Great Park stands an elaborate folly in the form of an idealised classical ruin. Built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the ruins are constructed almost entirely from reused material. This includes an important assemblage of antiquities from the Roman site of Lepcis Magna, in Libya. Whilst the origin of the collection has never been forgotten, there has been no attempt to establish the provenance of the individual elements. Through a process of comparison, this article establishes where most of the antiquities originated. Increasing our knowledge of both this important folly and the collection of incorporated antiquities, this article also explores the nature of Warrington's work at Lepcis Magna.

This is a contribution to a reassessment of colonial archaeology in Libya, based on the academic and political/ ideological portraits of the archaeologists serving in the Tripolitanian and (from 1936) Libyan Soprintendenza. Italian colonial archaeologists were, often deliberately, instruments of political strategy. They searched for traces of Rome in the nationalistic context of the Libyan War, and sought to reconstruct an idealised vision of the Roman cities during the Fascist Ventennio. The essential continuity between nationalist archaeology of the Liberal period (1910–1922), characterised by the central idea of the civilising force of Rome as a tool of colonial expansion, and the Fascist archaeology of 1922–1943, in which the integration of archaeology with political aims touched on the extreme, sometimes with grotesque results, will be stressed and a chronological overview presented. Negative judgment should be nuanced by placing the colonial archaeology in its historical context, analysing its structure, remembering that its methodological backwardness was shared by metropolitan archaeology, noting the high quality of the restoration work and finally by comparing Italian fieldwork with that of other European excavations in North African or Near Eastern protectorates and colonies. It is not a case of presenting a revisionist interpretation, but of approaching the subject without prejudice.

On the 15th of February 2011 a series of peaceful protests in Libya was met with excessive military force by the ruling regime. These protests escalated into an uprising that spread across the whole country. My name is Salah Suhbi, Assistant Director Partnerships at the British Council in Libya. I joined the rebels (Tuwar) fighting for freedom from Colonel Gaddafi's regime in the western mountains of Libya. This is our story.

The paper reports on the fifth (2012) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project. The primary focus of the season was the continuation of the excavation of the prehistoric occupation layers in the Haua Fteah cave. A small trench (Trench U) was cut into Holocene (Neolithic) sediments exposed on the south wall of Charles McBurney's Upper Trench. Below this, the excavation of Trench M was continued, on the southern side of McBurney's Middle Trench. In previous seasons we had excavated Oranian ‘Epipalaeolithic’ layers dating to c. 18,000–10,000 BP (years before the present). In 2012 the excavation continued downwards through Dabban ‘Upper Palaeolithic’ occupation layers, one of which was associated with a post-built structure and likely hearths. There are indications of an occupational hiatus separating the oldest Dabban from the youngest Levallois-Mousterian (Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age) lithic material. The Deep Sounding excavated by Charles McBurney in 1955 was cleared of backfill to its base, and its south-facing wall was recorded in detail and sampled extensively for materials for dating and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. McBurney believed that he had reached bedrock at the base of the Deep Sounding, but a small sounding (Trench S) cut into the sediments below this level found further, albeit sparse, evidence for human occupation. Whilst the antiquity of ‘Pre-Aurignacian’ human occupation at the site still needs to be resolved, it seems likely to reach back at least to Marine Isotope Stage 5e, the beginning of the last interglacial (c. 130,000–115,000 BP). Important finds from the 2012 excavations in terms of the behavioural complexity of the human groups using the cave include a possible worked bone point from a Pre-Aurignacian layer and a granite rubbing stone in a Dabban layer from a source over 600 km from the cave.

This article concerns a series of 20 samples submitted for AMS radiocarbon dating from historic sites in the Libyan Sahara. The sites had been identified initially from remote sensing analysis, then visited on the ground in 2011 and organic samples suitable for a dating programme obtained. With the help of an award from the NERC-AHRC National Radiocarbon Facility, this initial suite of dates has been provided. The results are important in several ways. They demonstrate very clearly that settlement in this hyper-arid desert landscape reached its densest pattern in the late Garamantian era, broadly the fourth-fifth centuries AD. In the Islamic era that followed, though the overall population appears less dense, our dates throw light on several possible phases of settlement renewal.

In October-November 2010 a pilot survey was carried out along the coastal landscape west of Lepcis Magna from the Villa of the Odeon. Intensive new building activities, in particular the development of tourist villages and luxury villas, made this archaeological survey particularly urgent. Earlier plans for a longer programme of research over several years were interrupted by the revolution in Libya; however, it is hoped that work can resume in the near future, and in the meantime the first overview of the season is given here. The survey revealed 52 ancient sites, including productive villas, ceramic kilns, sites equipped for oil and/or wine production and fish processing installations. This survey adds to previous archaeological work in the area and highlights the importance, wealth and economic role of the coastline of Lepcis Magna within the Roman Empire: not only do we see dense occupation, but also a wide range of activities, whether agricultural or the exploitation of marine resources. These results are significant for developing our knowledge of the coastal economy of Tripolitania and for helping to characterise the nature of production and how this may be linked to wider Mediterranean trading networks.