This volume brings together data collected from both previously
published surveys and new data collected using satellite imagery on the
architecture and construction of over 2,400 rural structures in nine
different regions of Tripolitania and dating between the 1st c. BC and
the 7th c. AD.
This first part contextualizes the material within the historical
background of Tripolitania, previous investigations and methodological
foundations, the evidence for pre-Roman architectures and settlement,
and the chronology of rural settlement during the period under study
based on ceramic evidence.
The second part presents quantitative and qualitative analyses of the
physical characteristics first of Roman military structures, and then of
the main group of buildings under investigation: unfortified and
fortified farm buildings. The ways in which different spaces may have
been utilized and the spatial relationships between the settlement
groups formed by these buildings provide insight into how and why
different types of buildings developed in the countryside during between
the 1st c. BC and the 7th c. AD.
These analyses demonstrate that the rural buildings of Tripolitania can
be seen as meaningful reflections not only of the wide variety of
activities taking place in the buildings themselves, but also of the
varying histories and patterns of land-use in different parts of the
region and even the status, wealth, and socio-cultural structures of the
people who constructed and lived in them.
