GIS of thechoraof Cyrene: fortifications and Christian buildings in Late Antiquity

Abstract

The project of mapping the chora of Cyrene, for the team of Chieti University, started between 1999 and 2001 as a layer of a ‘macro-GIS’ of the area to the east of Cyrene, that is, the transect between Cyrene and El-Gubba/Qubbah. Because of the large scale of the area and the monumentality of the sites, the team is composed of several research units based around a large number of scholars and technicians. The project employs a suite of traditional methodologies for the study of landscape archaeology (surveys, GIS mapping, differential GPS, excavations), in combination with technologies integrating the knowledge of the territory (remote sensing on HD satellite photos, geomorphological reconstruction, laser scanning, archaeometric analysis, non-invasive geophysical prospection and infrared diagnostic analysis). The large quantity of data coming from this wide approach has been organised into a flexible and multilayer GIS. A joint team of Libyan and Italian archaeologists and technicians is testing a common protocol for monitoring the monuments and sites in the territory, using surveys and remote sensing analysis, which has intensified during these problematic periods, and regularly analysing satellite sets over the past four years.The project aims to map and document as much as possible in this territory, to identify the location of the region's so-called ‘minor sites’, which are numerous and almost unknown. They were, from the Late Classical to the Islamic periods, vital sites for the management of the local economy. This paper presents the main issues relating to settlements and sites in Late Antiquity, concentrating mainly on fortifications along the limes and basilicas within the area of the transect. Moreover, in the presentation of the data, the GIS approach has been integrated here with data coming both from the remote sensing and from more traditional research approaches, such as planimetrical and typological analysis of the buildings, study of the sources and detailed mapping of the building techniques.

A race against time: monitoring the necropolis and the territory of Cyrene and Giarabub through protocols of remote sensing and collaboration with Libyan colleagues

“…In fact, at this point what has been extremely important is the interaction with local technicians and inspectors, who were already working with our team in surveying the territory of Cyrene and were also trained in Libya and in Italy specifically for this type of monitoring. Some of the results of this work by the Libyo-Italian team monitoring different areas have been published recently (Abdalrahim et al 2016; Al Raeid et al 2016; Mziene and Al Raeid 2015; Petraccia et al 2015).…”

“…Since 2014, because of the unstable local situation, it has been impossible to organise more seasons for Chieti's team, so we have started a programme of remote sensing in collaboration with the local technicians of the DoA (Abdalrahim et al 2016; Menozzi, Di Antonio and Di Valerio 2015; Mziene and Al Raeid 2015; Petraccia et al 2015) in order to test a common protocol for documenting the sites already showing issues, for both directly and remotely monitoring the sites through the analysis of satellite images and through the surveys of the sites presenting changes in the landscape and markers of damage.…”

“…Specifically for monitoring and documenting this typology of damage, the team of Chieti University is testing a protocol of intervention in collaboration with technicians and inspectors from the DoA. The first step of this protocol is the remote monitoring of the territory of Cyrene through photo-interpretation and filtering of different kinds of satellite imagery, based on the aims of the remote sensing (Abdalrahim et al 2016). Obviously for the geomorphological and regional studies shots coming from Landsat-Zulu datasets are used, 1 and for territorial research studies different typologies of high-resolution satellite imagery such as Ikonos 2 and Quick Bird 3 sets are employed.…”

Survey Archaeology in the Mediterranean World: Regional Traditions and Contributions to Long-Term History

“…Important legacy datasets from older surveys have also been published, for example, around the major sites of Carthage in Tunisia (Sycamore and Buchanan 2016) and Jarma in Libya (Mattingly et al 2003(Mattingly et al , 2013. New surveys around major sites that have been the long-term focus of excavations are also common in North Africa, for example, around the Greek and Roman cities of Cyrene and Leptis Magna (Munzi 2010;Saad et al 2016;Schörle and Leitch 2010). Larger-scale projects have been undertaken as well, such as the Rus Africum project, carried out over 2000 km 2 in Algeria and Tunisia (de Vos Raaijmakers and Attoui 2013), and in the Setifian Plateau of Algeria, where work focused on the synthesis of mostly previously known sites in an area of c. 3500 km 2 (Merzoug et al 2017).…”

A proposal for the use of Core and Buffer Zones to protect the heritage of the Cyrenean landscapes

“…The property, that is the ‘Archaeological Site of Cyrene’, as shown in the maps of the UNESCO World Heritage List, clearly include only the urban remains of the ancient city, completely ignoring the incredible density of the archaeological remains in the extra-urban area 3 . The property boundaries basically ignore the huge necropolis (Thorn 2005), the extramural sanctuaries (Menozzi 2015 and 2016), the ancient road network, the monumental gsur (fortifications) and basilicas and farms (Abdalrahim et al 2016) and, more generally, the whole ancient landscape surrounding the city that has been miraculously preserved for centuries, at least until recent times.…”