|
|
There is considerable archaeological evidence that humans have been taking advantage of the natural water supplies and vegetation of the Wadi al-Hayat for at least the past 12,000 years, with much of the evidence for human settlement and activity focused on small lakes along the northern edge of the wadi. Until about 3,000 years ago, we know very little about the human groups that occupied this area. Our evidence comes principally from scatters of stone tools and ceramics, making the rock-art an even more crucial source of information.
|
|
|
|
From around 2,900-1,500 years ago an indigenous civilization, known to us as the Garamantes, emerged in this region, and much of the archaeology in the wadi is dominated by this period. The Garamantes were responsible for dramatic changes in patterns of settlement, land use, and subsistence, with the development of large urban centres, extensive cairn cemeteries along the foot of the escarpment, and settled agriculture based on a blend of Mediterranean and North African crops and animals. Crops, which included cereals, olives, grapes and dates, were fed by complex irrigation systems based on foggara - extensive underground water channels - of which several hundred can still be seen today.
|
|
Click image above to see a panoramic view of the wadi showing a large foggara, looking like a string of pits running from the escarpment into the wadi.
|
|
The technology for foggara construction probably derived from further east towards Egypt. Horses, camels, carts and chariots were introduced to this region during the Garamantian period, and are often represented in the rock-art in association with human figures.
|
|
|
The cemeteries, which together comprise over 100 000 tombs, are scattered along the base of the escarpment at the southern edge of the wadi. The extent of the burials indicates a substantial population occupied the wadi during the Garamantian period.
|
|
|
|
