Your “barbarian” was my desert sophisticate
The University of Leicester (England) reported that:
“Satellite imagery has given us the ability to cover a large region. The evidence suggests that the climate has not changed over the years and we can see that this inhospitable landscape with zero rainfall was once very densely built up and cultivated. These are quite exceptional ancient landscapes, both in terms of the range of features and the quality of preservation,” says Dr Martin Sterry . . . who has been responsible for much of the image analysis and site interpretation.
© 2011 Press Office, Castles in the desert – satellites reveal lost cities of Libya, University of Leicester (07 November 2011)
More than 100 fortified farms and villages
The team’s on-site investigation, made earlier this year (and interrupted by the Libyan revolution), discovered “mud brick remains of the castle-like complexes, with walls still standing up to four metres high, along with traces of dwellings, cairn cemeteries, associated field systems, wells and sophisticated irrigation systems.”
Non-imperial origin, too
The Leicester investigators note that the Garamantes civilization was the first Libyan town-based civilization that was not the result of Greek or Roman occupation.
See photos here
Tagged: castles, desert, farms, fortified, Garamantes, Greek, Leicester, Libya, Martin Sterry, mud-brick, rainfall, Roman, satellite, villages