Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T08:29:56.469Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

DMP XII: Excavations and Survey of the so-called Garamantian Royal Cemetery (GSC030–031)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2014

David Mattingly
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Hafed Abduli
Affiliation:
Université de Sousse, Tunisia
Muftah Ahmed
Affiliation:
Department of Antiquities, Tripoli, Libya
Franca Cole
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, UK
Corisande Fenwick
Affiliation:
Stanford University, USA
Brooklynne Tyr Fothergill
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Mireya González Rodriguez
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Matthew Hobson
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Nadia Khalaf
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeology, UK
Marta Lahr
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, UK
Farès Moussa
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, UK
Efthymia Nikita
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, UK
Julia Nikolaus
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Anita Radini
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Nick Ray
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Toby Savage
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Martin Sterry
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, UK

Abstract

Survey and excavation by the Burials and Identity team of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focused in 2011 on the so-called Royal Cemetery of the Garamantes close to the Jarma escarpment, a few km south of Old Jarma. This Late Garamantian cemetery contains two distinct zones (GSC030 and GSC031) of monumental rectangular stepped tombs, which were plaster-coated and fronted by massive offering tables and stelae. Previous dating evidence has suggested they span the fourth to sixth centuries AD. However, many questions remain about the cemetery and the overall recording of the monuments had hitherto been left incomplete. The 2011 work focused on the excavation of one of the larger monuments in GSC030 and several of the smaller tombs in the neighbouring GSC031, along with an overall survey of both cemetery areas and a detailed record of the stelae and offering tables still present in considerable numbers. In addition, the team made a survey along the escarpment between the Royal Cemetery and Zinkekrā, completing and uniting the various surveys carried out by the DMP around Zinkekrā, Watwāt and the Jarma Escarpment. A survey of foggaras and settlement in the ad-Dīsa embayment was also undertaken.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2011

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

Ayoub, M.S. 1967a. Excavations in Germa between 1962 and 1966. Tripoli.Google Scholar
Ayoub, M.S. 1967b. The Royal cemetery at Germa. A preliminary report. Libya Antiqua 3-4: 213–19.Google Scholar
Daniels, C.M. 1971. The Garamantes of Fezzan. In Gadallah, F. F., (ed.), Libya in History. Proceedings of a conference held at the Faculty of Arts, University of Libya 1968. Benghazi: 261–85.Google Scholar
Daniels, C.M. 1989. Excavation and fieldwork amongst the Garamantes. Libyan Studies 20: 4561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, N., White, K., Salem, M., Armitage, S., el-Hawat, A.S., Francke, J.Hounslow, M. and Parker, A.G. 2009. DMP VIII: Palaeohydrology and palaeoenvironment. Libyan Studies 40: 179–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahr, M., Foley, R., Armitage, S., Barton, H., Crivellaro, F., Drake, N., Hounslow, M., Maher, L., Mattingly, D., Salem, M., Stock, J. and White, K. 2008. DMP III: Pleistocene and Holocene palaeonvironments and prehistoric occupation of Fazzān, Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 39: 263–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Okumura, M., Maher, L., Davies, T., Veldhuis, D., Wilshaw, A. and Mattingly, D. 2009. DMP VI Preliminary results from 2009 field-work on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 40: 133–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Maillo Fernández, J., Wilshaw, A., Purdon, A., Halladay-Garrett, C., Veldhuis, D. and Mattingly, D. 2010. DMP XI: Preliminary results from 2010 fieldwork on the human prehistory in the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 41: 133–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J. 2003 = Mattingly, D.J., Daniels, C.M., Dore, J.N., Edwards, D. and Hawthorne, J., The Archaeology of Fazzān, Volume 1, Synthesis. Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., 2007 = Mattingly, D.J., Daniels, C.M., Dore, J.N., Edwards, D. and Hawthorne, J., The Archaeology of Fazzān. Volume 2, Gazetteer, Pottery and Other Finds. Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J. 2010 = Mattingly, D. J., Daniels, C. M., Dore, J. N., Edwards, D. and Hawthorne, J., The Archaeology of Fazzān. Volume 3, Excavations carried out by C.M. Daniels. Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., McLaren, S., Savage, E.al-Fasatwi, Y. and Gadgood, K. 2006. The Libyan Desert. Natural resources and cultural heritage. Society for Libyan Studies, London.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., Lahr, M., Armitage, S., Barton, H., Dore, J., Drake, N., Foley, R., Merlo, S., Salem, M., Stock, J. and White, K. 2007. Desert Migrations: people, environment and culture in the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 38: 115–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., Dore, J. and Lahr, M., with contributions by others. 2008. DMP II: 2008 fieldwork on burials and identity in the Wādī al-Ajāl. Libyan Studies 39: 223–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., Lahr, M. and Wilson, A., with contributions by others. 2009. DMP V: Investigations in 2009 of Cemeteries and Related Sites on the West Side of the Tāqallit Promontory. Libyan Studies 40: 95131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., Abduli, H., Aburgheba, H., Ahmed, M., Ali Ahmed Esmaia, M., Baker, S., Cole, F., Fenwick, C., Gonzalez Rodriguez, M., Hobson, M., Khalaf, N., Lahr, M., Leitch, V., Moussa, F., Nikita, E., Parker, D., Radini, A., Ray, N., Savage, T., Sterry, M. and Schörle, K. 2010a. DMP IX: Summary report on the fourth season of excavations of the Burials and Identity team. Libyan Studies 41: 89104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., al-Aghab, S., Ahmed, M., Moussa, F., Sterry, M. and Wilson, A. 2010b. DMP X: Survey and landscape conservation issues around the Tāqallit headland. Libyan Studies 41: 105–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pace, B., Sergi, S. and Caputo, G. 1951. Scavi sahariani. Monumenti Antichi 41: 150549.Google Scholar
Ruprechtsberger, E.M. 1997. Die Garamanten, Geschichte und Kultur eines Libyschen Volkes in der Sahara. Mainz.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.I. 2006. The spread of foggara-based irrigation in the ancient Sahara. In Mattingly, et al. 2006: 205–16.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.I. and Mattingly, D.J. 2003. Irrigation technologies: foggaras, wells and field systems. In Mattingly, 2003: 235–78.Google Scholar