Victoria Leitch’s research while affiliated with Durham University and other places

... 338 Aside from the massive production, a much lower 338 Trade routes between the Roman territories and communities along the Saharan trade routes were attested in the mountainous area of Garamantes by the southern edge of central Maghreb. There is only sporadic evidence for these cultures since they used mostly degradable material and it requires a specific environment for preservation (e.g., Wilson 2007;Leitch 2014). level of the olive growing, or olive processing has been testified in the hinterland of almost every important city such as Tangiers, Sala Colonia, Thamusida. ...

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Roman Province of Mauretania Tingitana and its Economic Potential

... Villa of Silin is one of the most important Roman maritime villas on the Libyan coast (Al Mahjub, 1980, 1987 Musso, 1995) (Fig. 1). The ancient landscape of Lepcis Magna was characterised at the turn of the second century AD by the presence of luxury coastal residences, often located on promontories (Salza Prina Ricotti, 1970 Ricotti, -1971 Musso, 1995; Petriaggi, Calì and Davidde, 2010; Davidde et al., 2011) or slightly inland (Musso, 1996:152-168). More modest homesteads and farms were also present further inland. ...

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Innovative materials to restore mosaic pavements of the Roman villa of Silin (Lepcis Magna-Libya)

... The selection of samples for the archaeometric analyses was carried out following a lengthy preliminary examination of thousands of samples using a binocular microscope. The African cookwares did not undergo laboratory testing because they are a very homogeneous group and there is already an extensive bibliography about them, including the archaeometric aspects (Bonifay et al., 2013(Bonifay et al., , 2002Capelli et al., 2016;Capelli and Bonifay, 2014). ...

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An archaeometric investigation in a consumption context: Exotic, imitation and traditional ceramic productions from the Forum of Cumae (southern Italy)

... The first glass beads reached sub-Saharan West Africa in the first millennium BCE through sporadic exchanges across the Sahara Desert [2,3]. From the 8 th century CE, trans-Saharan trade routes progressively developed to peak between the 10 th and the 15 th century CE with the expansion of the Sahelian states. ...

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The systematic techno-stylistic and chemical study of glass beads from post-15th century West African sites

... Tale progetto intende anche costituire, alla luce dei più attuali apporti archeometrici e multidisciplinari, un doveroso omaggio a Nino Lamboglia che proprio a Ventimiglia realizzò le prime tipologie per l'Occidente delle da lui definite 'sigillate chiare' (Lamboglia 1941(Lamboglia , 1958(Lamboglia , 1963 e, più in generale, gettò le basi per gli studi sull'instrumentum domesticum di età romana e delle metodologie archeologiche. I dati acquisiti, grazie alla collaborazione con la Soprintendenza Archeologia della Liguria, verranno quindi messi a confronto con quelli, per la maggior parte ancora inediti, derivanti dagli scavi pluridecennali condotti da Nino Lamboglia in più aree della città romana (teatro, terme, domus, insulae, necropoli), -luoghi di formazione al metodo e allo studio dei materiali per molte generazione di archeologi attraverso l'esperienza dei Corsi di Studi Liguri -, al fine di costituire un quadro il più possibile completo dei rapporti tra l'ultima città italica al confine con le province occidentali dell'Impero e l'Africa, le cui esportazioni nel centro intemelio sono documentate per quanto ad oggi noto, senza soluzione di continuità, dal II sino almeno al pieno VI secolo (Gandolfi 1998;Gandolfi e Murialdo 2004), in particolare approfondendo, alla luce dei più recenti studi tipologici e archeometrici, le specifiche aree di produzione, i tempi e i flussi delle importazioni (Bonifay 2004(Bonifay , 2016Capelli et al. 2016). In questa sede vengono presentati i primi dati derivanti dalle analisi archeologiche e archeometriche (petrografiche) sui contenitori africani, sia utilizzati per le sepolture, sia recuperati dalle stratigrafie di uso, unitamente a quelli derivanti dalle importazioni africane di altre classi ceramiche. ...

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Anfore e ceramiche africane dallo scavo delle mura settentrionali di Albintimilium (Ventimiglia, Liguria). Primi dati archeologici e archeometrici

... Two other nearby caves, Hagfet ed Dabba and Hagfet et Tera, revealed Stone Age remains. Hagfet ed Dabba was discovered in 1947 by the Cambridge Expeditions (McBurney & Hey, 1955) and was reinvestigated in 2008 by the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project (Barker et al., 2008). Hagfet et Tera was discovered in 1937 by Petrocchi (1940) and investigated in 1948 by the Cambridge Expeditions (McBurney & Hey, 1955). ...

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Jebel Akhdar Area (Haua Fteah, Hagfet ed Dabba, Hagfet et Tera), Libya

... After removing about 0.5 mm of each fragment's surface to avoid contamination from soil and fingerprints, a sample weighing about 4 g was taken from the rim and body parts of the artefacts, which were more likely to contain ORs (Copley et al., 2003;Eerkens, 2005;Evershed et al., 2002Evershed et al., , 2008Leitch et al., 2016;Olsson & Isaksson, 2008;Regert, 2011;Vykukal et al., 2021). The sample size (4 g for two extraction) and the injection volume (5 μl) were selected in order to increase the detection of the molecules with low concentrations in the samples. ...

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Toward an understanding of the exchange in ancient scented oils through organic residue analysis of Bronze Age Near Eastern ceramic bottles by GC‐MS

... Africa is rich with heritage that documents human history from early primates up to recent complex societies (Connah 2004;Haaland 1995;Lange 2007;MacDonald 2013;Mattingly et al. 2007;Phillipson 2005;Shaw et al. 1993;Stahl 1994). Heritage sites on the continent are faced with dangers posed by both anthropogenic and natural threats such as mining activities, urban development, looting, flooding, erosion, and fires (Chirikure 2013;Kankpeyeng and DeCorse 2004;Khandlhela and May 2006;Lasaponara et al. 2016;Musyoki et al. 2016;Nienaber et al. 2008;Parcak 2015;Schmidt and McIntosh 1996;Smith 2012). ...

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From the Bottom Up: Assessing the Spectral Ability of Common Multispectral Sensors to Detect Surface Archaeological Deposits Using Field Spectrometry and Advanced Classifiers in the Shashi-Limpopo Confluence Area

... The proximity of labret(s) to the dentognathic remains of an individual in a mortuary context together with dental (e.g., labial/buccal wear facets; atypical wear patterns) and/ or skeletal modifications (e.g., alveolar remodeling, tooth displacement, etc.) provides unequivocal evidence of habitual labret use in the past (Burnett et al., 2023;Croucher, 2012;Hole et al., 1969;Honegger, 2005;Kodaş et al., 2024;Manzo, 2017;Mattingly et al., 2009;Pedersen, 1955;Torres-Rouff., 2003. In the absence of bodies associated with labrets, dentognathic evidence for labret use is of critical importance, but the recovery of labrets from associated occupational contexts and/or ethnohistoric continuity with known labret-users provides additional support for labret use (Cybulski, 2010). ...

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Probable Use of Labrets Among the Mid Upper Paleolithic Pavlovian Peoples of Central Europe

... In the report by Rebuffat et al. [75], these were probably fortified farms that adopted a plan inspired by the military project. The parallels between military architecture and these fortified sites, namely Mattingly Qsur, are very evident in the adoption of the rectangular form with towers projecting from two or four facades [76]. The results of studies investigating this type of site in Fazzan and Cyrenaica in eastern and western Libya, respectively, confirm that the peak occupation of fortified sites occurred after the end of the third century and continued in some regions in later times. ...

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The Use of Machine Learning and Satellite Imagery to Detect Roman Fortified Sites: The Case Study of Blad Talh (Tunisia Section)