Ancient boozers.

Desert adventure over for a while, it was time for us to turn ourselves in and work with the Archaeologists in and around Germa, a breeze block town, once the capital of the Garamantian Empire that ran in parallel with he Roman Empire some 2000 year ago. In this once noble city slaves would have been exchanged for luxury items carried by camel, a new form of desert transport back then, from the coast some 600 miles north. Pottery, glassware, fabrics, beads and fashions crossed the desert to satisfy the Garamanties. The project, under the direction of Professor David Mattingly, is excavating a selection of tombs some 10 miles east of Germa to learn more about these sophisticated people. This tomb at Taglit had, like most, has been robbed, but a second layer missed by the robbers all those years ago came up with an abundance of pottery and glassware. Pictures show; Two truly stalwart Libyan labourers who have worked for the project for ten years now. Both in their late seventies they have sharp eyes for a find and labour in heat and dust for an eight hour day, six days a week. Hats off to Abdul Rakman and Ishmal El-Khair, a kite shot of the excavation, Matt and Steve working out where to place a ranging pole and an exquisite piece of glassware representative of what the Garmantians were drinking from. Cheers.