Provenance of clay used in Garamantian ceramics from Jarma, Fazzan region (south-west Libya): A combined geochemical and microfossil analysis

Abstract

Geochemical (XRF) and microfossil analyses were applied to a sample of 1st millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE handmade pottery from Jarma, Fazzan region, Libya. The provenance of a particular group of painted ware has important implications for the production and distribution of this material. A parallel geochemical analysis of selected water-lain sediments in the region suggests a Saharan clay source for the material used in the pottery. Geochemical analysis identifies halite, gypsum and dolomite as components of the clay source, and this is consistent with the mineralogical content of local palaeolake sediments. Illite/kaolinite clay signatures are also consistent with a Saharan, as opposed to sub-Saharan, origin for the clay. Microfossil assemblages within some of the pottery comprise of thin-shelled, apparently monospecific ostracod assemblages together with possible fragments of gastropods, and are consistent with faunas of intra-continental Saharan lakes. Our analysis builds on previous assessments of the clay sources of Garamantian pottery that suggest that materials were sourced in palaeolake sediments fairly locally. The red on white painted ware with ostracods stands out from other material at Jarma and this suggests that the ware was the object of localised trade in the Sahara. The production of some versions of the painted ware in fabrics lacking ostracods also seems to indicate some local imitations at Jarma.