LIBYA

LEPTIS MAGNA

The Tombs Project

Project of video-archiving and computerized menagement of the

funerary contexts in the territory of Leptis Magna

A project aimed at the study and publication

of the grave goods in the Leptis Magna

territory has been carried out during the

2006 campaign, in close collaboration with

the Department of Antiquities of Leptis

Magna.

There are about 70 graves,

which came to light

between the 20s and the

90s of last century. They

included a large number of

items currently stored in

the storages of the

Department and largely

unpublished.

The primary goal of the project is the creation of a database in Italian and Arabic, which will be an

important tool for developing the information collected and will provide, on the other hand, the

officials and the scholars with a manageable documentation.

The preliminary phase of the

investigation involved the

identification of their

topographical distribution in

the area and the location of the

findings on both historic and

modern maps, as on recent

satellite images.

In order to obtain an accurate

reconstruction of the relationship between

the urban or rural landscape and the

funerary space, data got from ground

survey have been integrated with the ones

collected at the time of the excavations,

which are in many cases the only valuable

source of information.

Subsequently single objects found

in the tombs have been analyzed,

in order to create a typology

diachronically ordered.

On the base of the recorded

inscriptions, most of which

found on the cinerary urns, it

is possible to document the

process of Romanization of

the local population through

the gradual adaptation of the

naming forms from native

language to Latin.

The anthropological research carried out on

the buried or cremated remains, also

contributes to the definition of the human

group under investigation and the statistical

reconstruction of the population of the

ancient city and its territory through the

application of paleodemographic models.

The comparison of the data collected in the different

investigated complexes provides an extremely varied

framework of the manifestations related to the funerary cult.

It highlights, on one hand, the persistence of strong local

components, depending on cultural traditions and

established ideologies; on the other hand, the full

integration into the legal, economic and cultural sphere of

Rome.

The project has been restarted in 2012

and not yet completed. More than 50

tombs have been so far

recontextualizated and 2,765 forms of

single finds have been filled, attaching

the information regarding their origin

and their graphic and photographic

documentation.

LIBYA

EASTERN TRIPOLITANIA

Museums

In December 2011,

after the invitation of

the Department of

Archaeology of Libya

and within the

UNESCO program for

Libya, we carried out

a survey of the

museums of eastern

Tripolitania

depending on the

Department of Leptis

Magna.

SURVEY 2011

The aim of the mission

was an assessment of the

archaeological museums

of eastern Tripolitania, in

the administration of the

Department of Leptis

Magna, that includes Beni

Ualid, Zliten, Misurata,

Madinat as Sultan and

Leptis, checking the

overall conditions of the

collections, of the

museum buildings, of the

artefacts and possible

recent war damages.

SURVEY 2011

The museums

checked during the

campaign of 2011…

Leptis Magna

Madinat as Sultan

Zliten

Beni UalidMisurata

SURVEY 2011

All objects were

photographed and

briefly catalogued.

All data have been

loaded in a

specifically developed

database, following

the photographs

register of the objects.

SURVEY 2011

LEPTIS

2,509 archaeological object

items

ZLITEN

92 archaeological object

items

1 museum item

BENI UALID

443 archaeological object

items

1 museum item

MADINAT AS SULTAN

0 archaeological object items

1 museum item

MISURATA

187 archaeological object

items

1 museum item

TOTAL

Archaeological object items 3,231

Museum items 5

SURVEY 2011

Leptis Magna

SURVEY 2011

Zliten

SURVEY 2011

Misurata

SURVEY 2011

Beni Ualid

SURVEY 2011

SURVEY 2011

Beni Ualid

Madinat as Sultan

SURVEY 2011

The archaeological

areas checked during

the campaign of 2011…

Mergheb

Baths in the port of Misurata

Barracks in Homs

Gasr MerdunHarbor of Homs

SURVEY 2011

Mergheb

SURVEY 2011

Barracks in Khoms

SURVEY 2011

SURVEY 2011

Harbor of Khoms

SURVEY 2011

Baths in the port of Misurata

Gasr Merdun

SURVEY 2011

Villa Silin

SURVEY 2011

Medinat as Sultan (Sirte)

Leptis

Villa of the maritime Odeion Villa of Dar Buk Ammera (Zliten)