Small fort Gasr Banat

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Small fort Gasr Banat
Alternative name Gasr Isawi
limes Limes Tripolitanus
(back line)
Dating (occupancy) pre-Severan
or Severan
Type Small fort
size 23.70 m × 21.20 m
(= 0.06 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation rectangular floor plan with rounded corners
place Gasr Banat / Isawi
Geographical location 31 ° 27 '42 .6 "  N , 14 ° 42' 16.3"  E
height 110  m
Subsequently Small fort Gasr Bularkan
(rear Limes line) (northwest)
Upstream Small fort Gasr Zerzi (southeast)
The small fort Gasr Banat in the network of the Limes Tripolitanus
View from the southeast of the elevated fortification (2006)
Access to the Gasr Banat (2006)
View inside in southern direction (2006)

The small fort Gasr Banat , also Gasr Isawi , was a Roman military camp whose crew was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the rear Limes Tripolitanus in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The border fortifications here consisted of a deep system of forts and military posts. The small fortification, located in the sub-desert, is located on the eastern edge of the middle Wadi Sofeggin in the municipality of Misrata in Libya and served both to monitor a local tribal center and to monitor the trade routes running north across the Sofeggin nearby. In the past there were also some voices who did not rule out the possibility of Gasr Banat being viewed as a civil defense by the local population.

location

The facility is located above the northwest edge of Wadi N'f'd, which is part of the immediate catchment area of ​​Wadi Sofeggin, the most important and largest dry valley in Tripolitania. In addition to this wadi, which forms a ramified river system with its many tributaries, the equally powerful Wadi Zemzem has formed a similarly complex network of tributaries further south-east of the Gasrs. Gasr Banat is not far from the watershed of the two great wadi.

Building history

The middle and lower Wadi Sofeggin was apparently only intensively settled during the period of the advanced principate . In many areas, some of the cultural elements of the original residents were preserved beyond the Roman era. As in 1949 already, the British archaeologist Richard Goodchild discovered (1918-1968) and other researchers, the small mounting very similar specifications were used in the construction, as they also built in which the lower reaches of Wadi Zemzem small border fort Gheriat esh-Shergia had been used . The archaeological investigations of the UNESCO program "UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey", carried out from 1979 to 1989, revealed a hilltop settlement built by locals at around 125 meters above sea level, 500 meters away from the Gasr Banat , which in addition to monitoring the long-distance trade routes to the north, is an additional reason for the The establishment of a small fort and a permanent military presence could have been. A Roman cistern installed on site was also important for long-distance traffic, and the troops presumed to have also controlled it here.

The surrounding wall of the rectangular, 22 × 25 meter (= 0.06 hectare) fortified building, made of carefully prepared, massive limestone blocks, is six to seven meters high. It was lined and reinforced inside by a masonry made of smaller limestone. The room-dividing wall sections structuring the building within the facility came directly to this inner casing. The four corners of the building are slightly rounded and beveled. The foundation of the structure protrudes a little. The floor plan is based on the Mediterranean building concept, grouping covered rooms around a central, open courtyard. In other, typologically similar buildings, an additional floor could be found. On one wall, the scientists commissioned by UNESCO also found recesses in the wall, in which the beams for a wooden ceiling were once stored. Some stone blocks had images of fish, which were shaped as a relief . Possibly these were the marks of a stonemason.

The only one-lane access to the interior of the complex that has been preserved in very good condition is to the south; it could be locked and locked tightly. Holes for the door hinge and a locking system have been found at the entrance . In other, comparable buildings, there is also evidence of a tower above the entrance. This entrance is highlighted by a stone portal, which is decorated with five stepped profiled strips. A relief arch was installed over the lintel. A building inscription does not seem to have existed - at least at the preserved height. The thesis of a military use of the gasr is supported by a series of regularly laid out outbuildings that can be seen on the ground.

Dating

The British archaeologist John Dore reported in 1985 on the evaluation of ceramics in the area around Gasr Banat. In many places the found material was not meaningful enough. The situation was different with the native hill settlement called "Nf39", which was discovered during the research of scientists as part of the UNESCO project for archaeological site exploration near the Gasrs Banat. There, the scientists deliberately picked up sufficiently large amounts of ceramic shards to be able to clearly identify peak values ​​and exclusions. It was established that the early "African Red Slip Ware" (ARS) was the most widespread in the settlement. This Terra Sigillata produced in North Africa was sold very well in many markets of the Roman Empire during late antiquity . Fine ceramics of the “Tripolitanian Red Slip Ware” (TRS), which can only be assessed in the second half of the third century at the earliest, were completely missing from the evaluation. This result made it clear that life on the hilltop settlement probably ended around the turn of the third and fourth centuries. Another explanation for the lack of the younger TRS could be hidden behind the possibility that after a certain point in time no more Roman fine goods could be delivered for unknown reasons. However, since the forts located much further south on the Limes continued to be supplied with ceramics and the TRS was one of the very widespread types of ceramics during the UNESCO research, such a scenario can be ruled out. The pottery from the settlement “Nf39” could give an indication of the time when the Gasrs Banat was founded.

The datable pottery from Gasr itself is also particularly important. Here too, as in the settlement, early ARS could be dated, which, according to the catalog drawn up by John W. Hayes , belongs to type 27 and thus dates from 160 to 220 AD. must have arisen. The British archaeologist David Mattingly , who has been researching the Tripolitan Limes for decades, argued after these results that Gasr Banat - like the small fort Gheriat esh-Shergia - be dated to the late second century. Then the establishment would coincide with a border protection expansion program that was launched during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211). Mattingly also brought the idea into play that the two similarly constructed systems could possibly be pre-Severed.

literature

  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 105.
  • David Dennis Gilbertson, Christopher Hunt, David John Briggs, GM Coles: The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XVIII: The Quaternary Geomorphology and Calcretes of the Area around Gasr Banat in the Pre-desert of Tripolitania. In: Libyan Studies. 18, 1987, pp. 15-27.
  • Richard Goodchild , John Bryan Ward-Perkins : The Limes Tripolitanus in the Light of Recent Discoveries. In: The Journal of Roman Studies. 39, 1949, pp. 81-95; here: p. 93.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Michael Mackensen : forts and military posts of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries on the "Limes Tripolitanus". In: The Limes. 2, 2010, pp. 20-24; here: p. 22.
  2. ^ A b c David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 105.
  3. ↑ David Dennis Gilbertson, Christopher Hunt, David John Briggs, GM Coles: The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey XVIII: The Quaternary Geomorphology and Calcretes of the Area around Gasr Banat in the Pre-desert of Tripolitania. In: Libyan Studies. 18, 1987, pp. 15-27.
  4. ↑ fortlet Gheriat esh-Shergia at 30 ° 23 '28.49 "  N , 13 ° 35' 25.13"  O
  5. ↑ settlement Nf39 at 31 ° 27 '43.6 "  N , 14 ° 41' 57.42"  O
  6. ^ David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 104.
  7. ^ A b Richard Goodchild , John Bryan Ward-Perkins : The Limes Tripolitanus in the Light of Recent Discoveries. In: The Journal of Roman Studies. 39, 1949, pp. 81-95; here: p. 93.
  8. ^ A b c David J. Mattingly: Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey. Gazetteer and pottery . Volume 2, UNESCO, 1996, ISBN 92-3103273-9 , p. 263.
  9. ^ David J. Mattingly: Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey. Gazetteer and pottery . Volume 2, UNESCO, 1996, ISBN 92-3103273-9 , p. 264 (settlement plan ).
  10. ^ A b John Nigel Dore: Settlement Chronology in the Pre-desert Zone: the Evidence of the Fineware. In: David J. Buck, David J. Mattingly (Eds.): Town and Country in Roman Tripolitania. Papers in Honor of Olwen Hackett (=  British Archaeological Reports International Series. 274; = Society for Libyan Studies occasional papers. 2). BAR, Oxford 1985, ISBN 0-86054-350-1 , p. 122.
  11. ↑ Michel Bonifay: Can We Speak of Pottery and Amphora 'Import Substitution' in Inland Regions of Roman Africa? In: David Mattingly , Victoria Leitch, Chloë Duckworth, Aurélie Cuénod, Martin Sterry, Franca Cole (eds.): Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond . Cambridge University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1-107-19699-5 , pp. 341-368; here: p. 347.
  12. ^ Anna Leone: Pottery and Trade in North an Sub-Saharan Africa during Late Antiquity. The Distribution of Noth African Finewares. In: David J. Mattingly , Victoria Leitch, Chloë Duckworth, Aurélie Cuénod, Martin Sterry, Franca Cole (eds.): Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond . Cambridge University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1-107-19699-5 , pp. 369-392; here: p. 376.