DMP II: 2008 fieldwork on burials and identity in the Wadi al-Ajal

Mattingly, David; Dore, J. N.; Lahr, Marta Mirazón; Ahmed, Muftah; Cole, Franca; Crisp, Jon; Rodriguez, Mireya Gonzalez; Hobson, Matt; Ismayer, Misbah; Leitch, Victoria; Moussa, Farès; Nikita, Efthymia; Reeds, Ian; Savage, Toby; Sterry, Martin

doi:10.1017/s0263718900010086

Cited by 10 publications

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References 9 publications

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“…Excavation of a single tomb in the Watwat area, of the first half of the second century AD, yielded 17 glass vessels (Mattingly et al 2009, 128). In addition to the large number of finds of Roman pottery and amphorae in tombs, all along the c. 160 km of the Wadi al-Ajal between al-Abyad in the east and Tin Abunda in the west are numerous Garamantian settlement sites where the sherds of Roman amphorae and imported finewares litter the ground (Figure 2; Mattingly 2007;Mattingly et al 2007Mattingly et al , 2008Mattingly et al , 2009Mattingly et al , 121Á130, 2010b. South of the Wadi al-Ajal, survey to the east of Murzuq has revealed an entire landscape of late Garamantian fortified villages, with field systems, where again Roman imported pottery was frequent, and found on most sites .…”

Section: Long-distance Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

Wilson

2012

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This paper examines the evidence for Saharan trade in the Roman period in the light of recent fieldwork in the Libyan Sahara by the Fazzan Project and the Desert Migrations Project and by the Italian Mission in the Acacus. The results of these projects suggest that trade between the Roman world and the communities of the Sahara was substantially greater than believed a few years ago and highlight the transformative effect that contact with the ancient Mediterranean had on Saharan society, especially on the Garamantes of Fazzan. But this paper also argues that in focusing chiefly on trans-Saharan commerce, much previous research has misunderstood the nature and importance of Saharan trade in antiquity. Relatively few types of goods were traded all the way across the Sahara from south to north or vice-versa in the Roman period. Rather, we should be thinking principally in terms of a network of interdependent sub-systems, of short-, medium-and long-distance exchange; the trans-Saharan traffic was only one part of this network. Moreover, Saharan trade * and especially the shortand medium-distance subsystems * also provoked transformations in the frontier zones of Roman North Africa. The abundant evidence of Roman imports to Fazzan discovered by British fieldwork there also calls into question the universal assumption that trans-Saharan trade in the medieval and modern periods exceeded the scale of trans-Saharan trade in antiquity; this is based on no good evidence at all and may be entirely false. Comparison with better documented periods suggests that the Roman world was capable of absorbing a trans-Saharan slave traffic at least as large as that of the medieval period and the evidence of Roman imports points to a substantial trade, of which slaves were probably a major component, via the central routes across the Sahara. Saharan trade in antiquity was organised around a set of drivers that were very different from those of the medieval trans-Saharan trade, with a key role played by the development of a substantial agriculturally-based trading state within the Sahara itself, the Garamantes. The collapse of Saharan trade in late antiquity is related to the decline of Garamantian authority and is linked in part to the emergence of new tribal conglomerations in the frontier zones between the fourth and sixth centuries AD.Cet article examine les données relatives au commerce trans-saharien pendant la période romaine à la lumière de travaux récents effectués dans le Sahara libyen par Le Projet Fazzan, le Desert Migrations Project, et la mission italienne dans l'Acacus. Les résultats de ces projets indiquent que les échanges entre le monde romain et les communautés du Sahara étaient de nettement plus grande envergure qu'on ne le supposait il y a quelques années. Ils illuminent par ailleurs le rôle *

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Section: Long-distance Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

Wilson

2012

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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“…The date of the material spanned the entire Garamantian period, from the Early to the Late phase, and was excavated at several sites around Garama since the 1950s. Specifically, some of the material was excavated by a Sudanese archaeologist, Mohammed Ayoub (1968a,b), but was very poorly recorded, while the bulk of the skeletons under study came from a number of excavations conducted by Charles Daniels (Daniels, 1989;Nikita et al, 2010) and by the Desert Migrations Project (Mattingly et al, 2008(Mattingly et al, , 2009(Mattingly et al, , 2010.…”

Section: Osteological Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity patterns in the Sahara Desert: An interpretation based on cross‐sectional geometric properties

Nikita

Siew

Stock

et al. 2011

American J Phys Anthropol

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The Garamantian civilization flourished in modern Fezzan, Libya, between 900 BC and 500 AD, during which the aridification of the Sahara was well established. Study of the archaeological remains suggests a population successful at coping with a harsh environment of high and fluctuating temperatures and reduced water and food resources. This study explores the activity patterns of the Garamantes by means of cross-sectional geometric properties. Long bone diaphyseal shape and rigidity are compared between the Garamantes and populations from Egypt and Sudan, namely from the sites of Kerma, el-Badari, and Jebel Moya, to determine whether the Garamantian daily activities were more strenuous than those of other North African populations. Moreover, sexual dimorphism and bilateral asymmetry are assessed at an intra- and inter-population level. The inter-population comparisons showed the Garamantes not to be more robust than the comparative populations, suggesting that the daily Garamantian activities necessary for survival in the Sahara Desert did not generally impose greater loads than those of other North African populations. Sexual dimorphism and bilateral asymmetry in almost all geometric properties of the long limbs were comparatively low among the Garamantes. Only the lower limbs were significantly stronger among males than females, possibly due to higher levels of mobility associated with herding. The lack of systematic bilateral asymmetry in cross-sectional geometric properties may relate to the involvement of the population in bilaterally intensive activities or the lack of regular repetition of unilateral activities.

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“…Three separate areas of work were undertaken: Geomorphology and Geochronology; Human Prehistory in the Sahara; Burials and Identity in the Wādī al-Ajāl (for previous work see 2008;2009). Three separate areas of work were undertaken: Geomorphology and Geochronology; Human Prehistory in the Sahara; Burials and Identity in the Wādī al-Ajāl (for previous work see 2008;2009).…”

Section: By David Mattinglymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Desert Migrations Project (or DMP) held its fourth season of fieldwork in January 2010, involving almost 40 specialists in archaeology, palaeoanthropology and geography from the UK, Libya, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Tunisia. Three separate areas of work were undertaken: Geomorphology and Geochronology; Human Prehistory in the Sahara; Burials and Identity in the Wādī al-Ajāl (for previous work see 2008;2009). This report on excavation, and the following one on survey results (DMP X), concern solely the work of the Burials and Identity team in the Tāqallit area.…”

Section: By David Mattinglymentioning

confidence: 99%

DMP IX: Summary Report on the Fourth Season of Excavations of the Burials and Identity team

et al. 2010

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The fourth season of the Burials and Identity component of the Desert Migrations Project in 2010 focused on completion of excavation work at two main cemeteries (TAG001 and TAG012) and smaller-scale sampling work at a number of nearby cemeteries. The investigation of a number of burials in a semi-nucleated escarpment cemetery TAG063 produced interesting new information on Proto-Urban Garamantian funerary rites, dating to the latter centuries bc. The excavations at TAG001 were extended to two areas of the cemetery characterised by different burial types to the stepped tombs that were excavated in 2009. A second type of fairly monumental burial was identified, but these had been heavily robbed and it was not possible to demonstrate conclusively that these pre-dated the stepped tombs. Most of the other burials excavated were simple shaft burials and were relatively sparsely furnished with imported goods, in comparison with the larger tombs, though quite a lot of organic material was identified (matting, wood, gourds, textiles and leather). At TAG012, a series of additional mudbrick tombs was emptied. All had been robbed, but pockets of the original fill and associated finds survived intact, yielding some interesting assemblages. The majority of these tombs appear to be Late Garamantian, though some contained artefacts from much earlier times.

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DMP II: 2008 fieldwork on burials and identity in the Wadi al-Ajal

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

Activity patterns in the Sahara Desert: An interpretation based on cross‐sectional geometric properties

DMP IX: Summary Report on the Fourth Season of Excavations of the Burials and Identity team

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