Archaeology in the Sirte Basin: Preliminary Results of Mitigation Surveys carried out for Shell 2007–2009

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents in summary form the results of three years of remote sensing and ground-truthing of archaeological sites falling within concession areas held by Shell Libya in the Sirte Basin. This area spans the frontier of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, ranging from Wadi ben Jawwad in the west to Ajdabiyah in the east and south to Jebel Zelten. The work was commissioned by Shell to inform them of archaeological sensitivities during their ongoing operations in the region. The results presented here include the identification of thousands of previously unknown sites of all periods, dating from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Second World War. Prehistoric discoveries include significant numbers of Middle Palaeolithic sites, particularly at Jebel Zelten, and large numbers of Pastoralist Neolithic sites in the coastal hinterland and on palaeoshorelines around sabkhas further north. Traces of Libyan tribes of the first millennium BC have been found in the form of large numbers of pastoralist desert campsites. Extensive evidence for Roman and late antique settlement has been found in the coastal hinterland on both sides of the Gulf of Sirte, as well as evidence for indigenous ‘long hut’ settlements along the desert fringe.