Roman fortified farms (qsur) and military sites in the region of the Wadi Al-Kuf, Cyrenaica (Eastern Libya)
Fortified buildings (in Arabic known as qsur, singular qasr) that stand isolated or formed part of wider settlements are a common phenomenon that existed in many regions of Roman Africa, especially in the late Roman and late antique periods. Different interpretations of the defensive appearance of the qsur in Africa (and parallels in different parts of the Roman Empire) have been advanced. In terms of Cyrenaica, this remarkable class of sites, though the most obvious archaeological monuments of the countryside, has not received a great deal of attention in the past. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis was to make a systematic study of the typology, chronology and function of these fortified structures, drawing on archaeological and literary sources and my own fieldwork. I carried out a combination of extensive and intensive archaeological, topographical and landscape survey in the region of Wadi al-Kuf in Cyrenaica. In three different topographical blocks covering a total area of about 1,350 km2, a total of 55 sites was documented (42 sites were recorded for the first time by my survey). An attempt is made to distinguish between potential military and civilian sites on the basis of locational and architectural
Emrage, Ahmad S. M.
Roman fortified farms (qsur) and military sites in the region of the Wadi Al-Kuf, Cyrenaica (Eastern Libya). Fortified buildings (in Arabic known as qsur, singular qasr) that stand isolated or formed part of wider settlements are a common phenomenon that existed in many regions of Roman Africa, especially in the late Roman and late antique periods. Different interpretations of the defensive appearance of the qsur in Africa (and parallels in different parts of the Roman Empire) have been advanced. In terms of Cyrenaica, this remarkable class of sites, though the most obvious archaeological monuments of the countryside, has not received a great deal of attention in the past. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis was to make a systematic study of the typology, chronology and function of these fortified structures, drawing on archaeological and literary sources and my own fieldwork. I carried out a combination of extensive and intensive archaeological, topographical and landscape survey in the region of Wadi al-Kuf in Cyrenaica. In three different topographical blocks covering a total area of about 1,350 km2, a total of 55 sites was documented (42 sites were recorded for the first time by my survey). An attempt is made to distinguish between potential military and civilian sites on the basis of locational and architectural
roman fortify farm military_site region cyrenaica eastern libya fortified building arabic know singular stand isolate formed part_wider settlement common phenomenon exist many region roman africa especially late_roman late_antique period different interpretation defensive appearance africa parallels different_part roman_empire advance term cyrenaica remarkable class site though obvious archaeological_monument countryside receive great_deal attention past therefore main_aim make systematic_study typology_chronology function fortify structure draw archaeological literary_source fieldwork carry combination extensive_intensive archaeological topographical landscape_survey region cyrenaica three_different topographical block cover total area total site document site record first_time survey attempt_make distinguish potential military_civilian sit basis locational architectural