Preventive and Rescue Archaeology

The team of the Italian Archaeological Mission has been repeatedly involved in rescue and preventive archaeological operations. Upon request from the Libyan Department of Archaeology, three major archaeological surveys were undertaken to prevent damages and increase knowledge of some areas that were licensed for oil exploitation.

In 2000, the first operation was carried out on the Messak plateaux. In 2006, two campaigns were done in the edeyen of Murzuq and in the Kufra area. The most tangible outcome of these project joining archaeological research and development is the book edited by G. Anag, L. Cosentino and S. di Lernia "Edeyen of Murzuq", available here.

Map of archaeological risk in the Murzuq area

Learn more

di Lernia, S. 2006. Cultural landscape and local knowledge. A new vision of Saharan archaeology. Libyan Studies 37:5-20.

di Lernia, S., G. Anag, and L. Cosentino. 2007. Edeyen of Murzuq. Archaeological Survey in the Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.

di Lernia, S., L. Mori, and A. Zerboni. 2008. Geo-archaeological survey in the Kufra Eni contract area (Eastern Sahara, SE Libya). Sahara 19:7-26.