Edeyen of Murzuq: Archaeological Survey in the Libyan Sahara

This book, sponsored by Eni North Africa - Libyan branch, represents the official report of the surveys carried out in the Edeyen of Murzuq (April-June 2006) in an area to be explored by the National Oil Company. The survey led to the discovery of hundreds of archaeological - mostly prehistoric, sites, together with the assesement of environmental and archaeological risk

Environment, Archaeology, and Oil: The Messak Settafet Rescue Operation (Libyan Sahara)

The Messak has been for millennia an inexhaustible source of raw material required for human activities. Large outcrops of quartzite are found here, which were extensively exploited from the Late Acheulian to the Pastoral Neolithic. Quarries, vast knapping areas, and workshops comprise the major evidence of the special importance that the Messak had in the past. Tools made from this precious quartzite, of its different varieties, had a large circulation radius. It was specially used to produce finely made tools. Nowadays, the Messak Settafet holds once more great importance for the development of the region. An immense oil field (Elephant Field) has recently been discovered by the LASMO Grand Maghreb Limited. In fact, after years of seismic surveys, which inflicted dramatic damage on the landscape, the environment, and the archaeological heritage, drilling and exploitation are really upon us. Furthermore, Libyan authorities are going to license newareas in the Messak Mellet and in the Edeyen of Murzuq, which are currently environmentally and archaeologically intact. Thus, from being an unlimited prehistoric mine up to becoming a modern oil field, the Messak Settafet appears to be destined to suffer from industrial exploitation, environmental disturbance, and damage. Nonetheless, these may be mitigated, and the need for economic development could be combined with an adequate safeguard and tutelage of the local environmental and cultural heritage

The mummies of the Roman age, from Giarabub (II century D.C.) [La mummia di età Romana, da Giarabub (II sec D.C.).]

[No abstract available

Holocene Deposits of Saharan Rock Shelters: The Case of Takarkori and Other Sites from the Tadrart Acacus Mountains (Southwest Libya)

The excavation at Takarkori rock shelter is part of a long-term study of Holocene cultural dynamics in southwest Libya begun in the early 1990s. With a rich Holocene occupation, the area is one of the key spots for reconstruction of human occupation of the last 10,000 years. In this region, similar to the case in the rest of the Sahara, most of the data come from surface investigations at open-air sites, while excavated caves and rock shelters provide just a few. Although less exposed than open-air sites, Holocene archaeological deposits in Saharan caves and rock shelters are characterized by a fairly dynamic nature. Loose sediments, coupled with variability of human occupations and magnitude of natural agents, determine multiple alterations to the archaeological deposits in sheltered sites. In this paper, we present the nature and meaning of the archaeological deposits at Takarkori rock shelter, where a relatively large area has been recently excavated, showing a stratigraphic sequence extending from c. 9,000 to 4,200 BP, unevenly represented by several occupation pulses. In order to sharpen understanding of the development of human occupation at this site, specific procedures for the study and recording of the archaeological deposit have been developed, along with a program of extensive radiocarbon dating. Data from the Takarkori sequence ultimately will be integrated with available published stratigraphies from the Acacus Mountains, with the aim of reviewing the results from past excavations