This article considers three lithic artefacts (two sidescrapers and a gouge or plane) discovered at Augila Oasis, located in Cyrenaica along the dried riverbed of Wadi Nashoof and once directly in the line of the Western Desert trade and pilgrimage route. The three Augila tools belong to the so-called bifacial tradition, which spread in the eastern Sahara during the mid-Holocene, from c. 6000 to 4800 BC, and find parallels among the mid-Holocene production of the northern edge of the Farafra Oasis and other contexts of the Egyptian Western Desert. The presence of the bifacial tradition in the Lower Nile Valley and in the Libyan littoral could have unfolded through exchange networks during periods of favourable climatic condition in the mid-Holocene.

This paper reports on the non-destructive analysis of 42 samples of copper alloy and glass from sites in Libya, using semi-quantitative μXRF, carried out as part of the work of the Trans-Sahara Project funded by the European Research Council. These are among the first chemical analyses to be performed on metals and glasses of any period found in Libya, and the results – though preliminary – raise some interesting possibilities. In particular, we discuss some possible indications with regard to the practice of recycling glasses, as evidenced through heterogeneous, malformed glass beads with variable quantities of lead. A glass mirror from Ghirza was also found to be backed in lead, and was probably the result of a glass-making technique still practised in recent times in India. The metal analysis has revealed evidence of a pre-Islamic trade in brass in the northern Sahara, as well as showing the presence of objects made from the mixing of different types of scrap metal, a process probably taking place at the Garamantian metalworking site of Saniat Jibril among other locations. The importance of further analysis of available Libyan and other North African metal artefacts and glasses for the contextualisation and extension of these findings is emphasised.

The walls of Zuwila constitute one of the most impressive defensive enceintes among Libyan Saharan oasis towns, but hitherto their construction date has been uncertain. A new AMS radiocarbon date now offers the strongest support for an association with the establishment of the Banu Khattab dynasty at Zuwila in the early tenth century AD, as some previous commentators had suspected. The walls relate to a fortress of approximately 4.5 hectares built on the north flank of an already long-established Saharan town. No detailed account of these walls has ever been published before, though Charles Daniels did carry out a survey of them in 1968 and a summary description was included in the work of the Fazzan Project. Now that these walls can be more securely dated, a full description is merited. The present study is partly based on the unpublished notes and photographs of Charles Daniels. The walls of Zuwila can now firmly be included among Libya's most important medieval monuments.

Chieti University's team in Libya has been mapping and studying the extraordinary patrimony in rupestrian architecture, looking at both funerary and sacred spaces. Particular attention has been paid to the rock-cut sanctuaries in the areas to the east (Ain Hofra/Bu Miliou areas) and to the west (Baggara and Budrag) of Cyrene, which also represent the most problematic zones for looting and vandalism. Therefore, the principal need for these areas has been to plan a project of mapping and recording that is as systematic as possible for this huge patrimony. The resulting data, coming from surveys, non-invasive geo-prospecting, laser scanning of the main monuments, diagnostic mapping of the damaged monuments, as well as from the excavations, have been recorded in a multilayer GIS. In combination with the surveys, a series of excavations have also been organised in several areas in order to have stratigraphic information from sample areas, which have been chosen on the basis of both their typology/monumentality and the degree of risk of damage and looting. These sanctuaries are generally located on the steep slopes of deep canyons, typically associated with water springs, wild landscape, chthonian cults and also, therefore, funerary areas. They are generally monumentalised and emphasised by rock-cut architecture. Among the most interesting finds are the sanctuaries of Budrag and Ain Hofra, with votive inscriptions, rocky altars and shrines. Particularly interesting is the discovery of a rocky high-relief statue of Dionysus, attesting a possible open-air sanctuary in the area of Baggara. It is a unique example of rocky sculpture in Cyrene and it could be one of the best-preserved examples from the Greek world. Distinguishable by their topography, architectonic features and distance from the town, these rocky sanctuaries attest to a reciprocal osmosis between Greco-Roman and Libyan cultural, artistic and ritual elements. The levels of hybridisation and reciprocity vary from case to case and from period to period, suggesting different degrees of Greco-Roman impact, which seem to be, generally speaking, inversely proportional to the distance from Cyrene, giving space and voice to the cults and rites of the local tribes.

The excavations at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi, within the Hellenistic and Roman city of Berenice, yielded a considerable variety of inscriptions on portable objects in addition to monumental epigraphy. An account of the latter was published in the first volume of the final reports in 1977, together with a very short and preliminary list of the former. Following the detailed studies of various classes of material, it seemed opportune to bring together an updated account of the inscriptions on ‘minor objects’, which range from missiles to transport amphorae, table wares, kitchen wares, and lamps.

This is a review of a project aimed at assisting the Libyan Department of Archaeology with the conservation and management of their mosaic heritage. Over the course of a year we undertook an evaluation trip along the coast of Libya and then put on two workshops for the Department's staff to help build capacity. The workshops disseminated complementary content on the protection of mosaics and their management to two different contingents: managers and technicians. The teaching was intended to empower Libyans by giving them the confidence to make simple and sound decisions, and to encourage them to join more formal training courses run by major international organisations. The project was a collaboration with the Department and was supported by the Getty Foundation, King's College London and the Society for Libyan Studies.

Majoura, an unpublished rural site in south-west Tunisia, is characterised by a wealth of archaeological remains including waste from ceramic production. The ceramic material allows us to better understand the nature of the site, which produced amphorae, finewares and cooking wares. Nevertheless, it is more or less impossible to differentiate the local productions from other workshops in the region, notably Sidi Aïch, without scientific analyses. However, the diversification of this workshop gives the site an important place, as much in studies of the economy of the region of south-west Byzacena as in the economy of antiquity in general.

The importance of memory in music is both central and multifarious; therefore, it deserves to be preserved and closely scrutinised on a level of importance equal to that of the sound itself and all the other data that go with it. Such preservation should take into consideration both memories coming from ‘inside’ the musical tradition under investigation, mainly as expressed by informants, and those from the ‘outside’, such as those assimilated by the ethnographer in the course of onsite fieldwork. Whilst the former may contribute towards the construction and eventual documentation of the tradition's history, the latter may shed light on the terrain between the self and otherness, as well as the researcher's changing consciousness through which so much evaluation takes place both in the field and at a distance in terms of place and time. This article explores the values ingrained in both categories of memory and the benefits attained in their documentation and preservation, using as its case study the Libyan maʾlūf musical tradition. The article will show how diverse memories have illuminated continuities between the past and present, kindled nostalgia which was eventually transformed into history, provided additional information when immediate information from the sound source was insufficient, and generated reflections and rethinking about the tradition in question in the context of a new social order.

The archive of the Society for Libyan Studies, housed at the University of Leicester, is home to a rich collection of excavation reports, notes, photographs, typescripts, maps, plans and letters by prominent scholars that worked in North Africa. Amongst the material are the records of Olwen Brogan, Charles Daniels, John Ward-Perkins, John Dore and the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey. The aim is to draw attention to the research potentials in the archive, and to encourage scholars to visit this important collection to engage with the material that is unpublished or merits re-interpretation. A future digital format for the archive is proposed, to make it accessible to a much wider academic audience worldwide.

‘Notes from Libya’ is a new regular feature of Libyan Studies and follows the reports of the Society's Head of Mission, as well as updates on the business environment from Pauline Graham. These reports were previously concerned with the organisation of fieldwork and administrative matters connected to obtaining permissions, visas, and so on, and were recorded in the minutes of the Council meetings. However, they have recently taken on a new form, outlining the alarming developments in Libya, largely focusing on its heritage but also on the political and economic situations which impact on the management of Libya's ancient monuments and artefacts. The importance and historical interest of these reports now, however, merit a wider audience and a more formal record, so these accounts will now be published in Libyan Studies.