Tracing History in the Saharan Desert Landscapes

Building on a programme of survey and excavation in the Libyan desert, the ERC-funded Trans-Sahara Project is mapping historic settlements across the Sahara from satellite images and air photographs. The project has already identified thousands of previously unknown villages and towns, irrigation systems and oasis gardens, cemeteries and burials. The results necessitate a revision of established models of early Saharan societies. The work also involves pioneering new uses for remote sensing techniques and the construction of large datasets to create a pan-Saharan frame of analysis.