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Euesperides (Benghazi): Preliminary report on the spring 2000 season

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Paul Bennett
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust
Andrew I. Wilson
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford
Ahmed Buzaian
Affiliation:
Garyunis University, Benghazi
Kenneth Hamilton
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford
David Thorpe
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust
Dale Robertson
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust
Eleni Zimi
Affiliation:
National Research Foundation, Institute for Greek and Roman Antiquity, Athens

Abstract

This paper reports on the second season of the new fieldwork at Euesperides (Benghazi). Excavations continued in Areas P (a large building with early Hellenistic mosaics) and Q (an area of streets and buildings built against the line of the Archaic period city wall), and were commenced at a site in the Lower City (Area R), where evidence for purple dye production from the Murex trunculus shellfish was found. In addition, a programme of machine-cut evaluation trenching was carried out in an area to the south of the Sidi Abeid mound to determine the limits of the archaeological area; this showed that occupation deposits continued for some distance to the south-east of the zone formerly considered to have encompassed the city. Geophysical prospection was completed in the Lower City, giving a fuller understanding of the city plan and of manufacturing activities. Preliminary quantification of the fine pottery suggests heavy reliance on imported wares (some 90%) to meet demand for tablewares, and carries important implications for the volume of ancient shipping and trade reaching Euesperides.

Information

Type
Archaeological Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2000

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