DMP IV: 2008 fieldwork on historic settlement in the Wadi ash-Shati and the Dawada lake villages

Abstract

AbstractThe second season of fieldwork on the historic settlement in the Wadi ash-Shati and the Dawada lake villages was undertaken in January 2008, completing the first stage of survey began during the Desert Migration Project 2007. The fieldwork combined geomorphological observations with the recording of historic settlement to understand how hydrology has influenced human management of the wadi in the past. A number of major Garamantian sites were located in the western Zallaf, in Wadi Dabdab and near the modern settlement of Birgin. Visits were also made to sites of pre-Garamantian and Islamic date, and a preliminary survey of the Dawada village of Gabr’Awn completed. While many of the sites recorded in the Wadi ash-Shati are extremely well-preserved, a number of sites appear threatened, while others have already been extensively damaged.