Holding my breath on this one. Could be fantastic news for Garamantes research.
This could be one of the first benefits of Khadafi’s fall, though it may be too early to celebrate. The new government has make all sorts of hardline Islamist statements (such as restoring polygamy for men) which are very troubling. One of the hallmarks of other Islamist governments has been the rejection of all other cultures, histories, and artifacts that aren’t directly in line with their interpretation of Islam. Remember the Taliban’s infamous destruction of the Bamiyam buddhist statues, for instance. I worry that an even more repressive Libyan government might actively destroy the past if it is brought to their attention in the wrong way.
We will have to wait and hope.
Read Peter Beaumont’s article to see how the “Fall of Gaddafi opens a new era for the Sahara’s lost civilisation.”
Libyan leader showed no interest in ancient culture of Garamantes, but now archaeologists hope to unearth neglected slice of history
The late Muammar Gaddafi was fond of insisting on the links between his republic and sub-Saharan Africa. He was less interested, however, in celebrating the black African civilisation that flourished for more than 1,500 years within what are now Libya’s borders, and that was barely acknowledged in the Gaddafi-era curriculum.
Now, however, researchers into the Garamantes – a “lost” Saharan civilisation that flourished long before the Islamic era – are hoping that Libya’s new government can restore the warrior culture, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories, to its rightful place in Libya’s history.
For while the impressive Roman ruins at Sabratha and Leptis Magna – both world heritage sites – are rightly famous, Libya’s other cultural heritage, one that coexisted with its Roman settlers, has been largely forgotten.
It has been prompted by new research – including through the use of satellite imaging – which suggests that the Garamantes built more extensively and spread their culture more widely than previously thought.
The research has confirmed the view of Herodotus –not always the most reliable of chroniclers of his world, often supplying a good yarn when hard facts were hard to come by – that the Garmantes were a “very great nation”.