Islamic Archaeology in Libya, 1969–1989

Abstract

In the course of the two decades since 1969, archaeological and architectural investigations relating to the Islamic period in Libya have made sufficient progress for it to be possible now to see the country's Islamic antiquities with a reasonable degree of perspective within Libya and in relation to a broader context. Nevertheless, a great deal of work remains to be done, both with regard to extending the geographical scope of research on Islamic Libya and to studying relatively neglected periods. At present we are better informed about certain Fāṭimid monuments in Libya than any other Islamic buildings in the country. While the importance of Libya in the tenth and eleventh centuries AD is a matter of great interest, it must not be forgotten that even today, we know very much less in detail about the mosques and houses of later times. A marked imbalance therefore exists in the relative degree of information available for an account of the Islamic archaeology and architecture of Libya in the period as a whole. This imbalance is very clear in the present survey.The extent of the increase in knowledge of the Islamic archaeology of Libya becomes immediately clear by referring to K. A. C. Creswell'sA Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam to 1st Jan. 1960and the Supplements to it (Creswell 1973; Pearsonet al.1984). In his originalBibliographyCreswell found nothing on Libyan architecture except for some studies on Tripoli. Even in the 1960s, very little further research on the Islamic period was published, although it was in this period that Ajdābiyah and Madīnah Sulṭān were initially investigated: this work formed the foundation of that which was to follow after 1969. Bys the time that the latestSupplementto Creswell'sBibliographyappeared in 1984, a plethora of published material had emerged as a result of the sharp rise of interest in Islamic Libya during the period from 1969 onwards. As a result, no comprehensive survey of Islamic archaeology and architecture in North Africa written in the future will be complete without giving some account of the information that has been accumulated during the period 1969 to 1989.