a comparative study of a Roman frontier province. - Historia Antigua

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APPENDIX 2: Tribal centres in Tripolitania and Fezzan
I The Magrusa/Mdhaweb oppida (Figures 12-13)
Situated some 18 km west of Ghirza up the Zem-Zem at a point where two
large tributaries join the wadi from the north and where there is an exten-
sive area of cultivatable alluvium in the combined wadi floor. The eroded
scarps of the area provide a series of semi-detached or isolated outliers
projecting over the wadi plain. These sites are classic "4peron barre"
positions, but it is surprising that all five such sites were utilised in an
area of limited water resources. One possibility is that the complex marks
the tribal centre of one of the Macae sub-tribes and was fully occupied only
on a seasonal
basis.
(a) Mdhaweb I (ZZ2) (Jones and Barker 1980,29-30). Figure 12.
The site known as Gasr Mdhaweb is the most visually prominent of the
group, on account of a standing tower of c. 6 in. height which controls the
direct approach to the site from the west. The ground plan of the tower
is of an unusual trefoil plan, presumably adopted to fit the difficult
cliff-top position. This tower lies about 8m west of the main defensive
wall of the site in which there is no apparent gate on this side. The entire
summit of the rocky promontory is surrounded by a wall of drystone construc-
tion, there being a single entrance in the south side. The zig-zagging path
approaching the gate from the south west was built up in places on ramps of
rubble.
The interior of the site was very densely built up (Jones and Barker,
1980, Plate 4b, p. 29). The drystone buildings were regularly coursed and of
a reasonably high standard of construction. Some fragments of ashlar masonry,
including a piece of entablature (Jones and Barker 1980, plate 4c, p. 29) may
have been reused from a mausoleum or possibly designed specially as door
lintels. Unlike the other sites in the group there was little free space
between the buildings, which were built both against the outer perimeter
wall and over much of the interior space.
The pottery and the architecture both suggest that the site as it
stands is of comparatively late date (third century A. D. forward). Traces
of earlier structures are probably obscured by this late phase.
Dimensions : 75 m (E-W: 87 m if tower included), 25.5 m (N-S max).
Area : 0.168 ha. Original survey for ULVP : D. Mattingly
T. Watson
(b) Mdhaweb II (ZZ7) (Jones and Barker 1980,30; Allan 1980,26) Figure 12.
Although Mdhaweb I is more sophisticated architecturally, Mdhaweb II
was by far the larger site in terms of size and population. It is in fact
the largest of the Tripolitanian oppida so far discovered and the plateau
top exceeds the area of the plateau top at Zinchecra by several times. As
at Zinchecra, occupation also continued down the scarps (see ZZ5 below).
Although at first sight the barren plateau appears featureless, close
inspection revealed traces of demolished walls and shallow depressions, which
can be identified
on kite air photographs as traces of extensive huts.
These traces of occupation spread over the greater part of the plateau (c.
300 x 100 m). These huts ranged from circular to rectangular to linked units,
the greatest density of occupation being towards the eastern extremity of
the plateau. Almost all the pottery collected came from the eastern 150 m of
wide plateau.
APP. 2.