{{Short description|Ancient North African population}} [[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of the [[Roman Empire]] under [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117 – 138 AD), showing the location of the ''Garamantes'' kingdom, in the desert regions south of the Roman province of [[Africa proconsularis]] ([[Tunisia]], [[Libya]]).]]
The '''Garamantes''' ({{langx|grc|Γαράμαντες|translit=Garámantes}}; {{langx|la|Garamantes}}) were ancient peoples, who may have descended from [[Berbers|Berber]] tribes, [[Toubous|Toubou]] tribes, and Saharan [[Pastoral period|pastoralists]]<ref name="Keys" /><ref name="Mattingly">{{cite book |url=https://www.bilnas.org/publications_dir/the-archaeology-of-fazzan-vol-1-synthesis/ |title=The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 1: Synthesis |date=2003 |publisher=Department of Antiquities, Tripoli. The Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=9781900971027 |editor-last=Mattingly |editor-first=D.J. |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2m7c4vf |jstor=j.ctv2m7c4vf}}</ref><ref name="Kirwan">{{cite book |last1=Kirwan |first1=L.P. |title=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |date=1 November 1934 |publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd. |volume=20 |pages=201–203 |chapter=Christianity and the Ḳura'án |doi=10.2307/3854742 |issn=0307-5133 |jstor=3854742 |issue=3/4 |s2cid=192397071}}</ref> and who had settled, at least as early as 1000 BC, in the [[Fezzan]] region <ref name="Liverani">{{Cite book |last=Liverani |first=Mario |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPW4CwAAQBAJ&dq=Garamantes+emerged+in+late+neolithic&pg=PA16 |title=Arid Lands in Roman Times. Papers from the International Conference (Rome, July 9th-10th 2001) |date=2003-10-01 |publisher=All’Insegna del Giglio |isbn=978-88-7814-266-4 |language=en}}</ref>, where they established a civilization that flourished until its end in the late 7th century AD.<ref name="McDougall">{{cite book |last1=McDougall |first1=E. Ann |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |date=25 February 2019 |publisher=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 |chapter=Saharan Peoples and Societies |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.285 |chapter-url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-285 |s2cid=159184437}}</ref> The Garamantes first emerged as a major regional power in the mid-2nd century AD and established a kingdom that spanned roughly {{Convert|70000|sqmi|km2|abbr=on|order=flip}} in the [[Fezzan]] region of southern Libya. Their growth and expansion was based on a complex and extensive [[qanat]] [[irrigation]] system (Berber: ''foggaras''), which supported a strong agricultural economy and a large population. They subsequently developed the first urban society in a [[List of deserts by area|major desert]] that was not centered on a river system; their largest town, [[Germa|Garama]], had a population of around four thousand, with an additional six thousand living in surrounding suburban areas.<ref name="Keys" /> At its pinnacle, the Garamantian kingdom established and maintained a "[[standard of living]] far superior to that of any other ancient Saharan society"<ref name="Keys" /> and was composed of "brilliant farmers, resourceful engineers, and enterprising merchants who produced a remarkable civilization."<ref name="Keys" />
==Origin and prehistory==
The Garamantes may have descended from [[Ancient Libya|Libyco-Berber]] tribes, [[Toubous|Toubou]] tribes, and Saharan [[Pastoral period|pastoralists]],<ref name="Keys" /><ref name="Mattingly" /><ref name="Kirwan" /> who settled in an area of the [[Fezzan]] region at least 1000 BC.<ref name="Liverani" /> At [[Takarkori|Takarkori rockshelter]], [[Pastoral period#Final Pastoral Period 2|Final Pastoral peoples]] restructured their society and created burial sites for several hundred individuals that contained non-local, luxury goods and drum-type architecture in 3000 BP, which made way for the development of the Garamantian kingdom.<ref name="Di Lernia II">{{cite journal |last1=Di Lernia |first1=Savino |last2=Tafuri |first2=Mary Anne |date=March 2013 |title=Persistent deathplaces and mobile landmarks: The Holocene mortuary and isotopic record from Wadi Takarkori (SW Libya) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257118118 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |volume=32 |pages=3–5, 8–14 |doi=10.1016/J.JAA.2012.07.002 |hdl=11573/491908 |issn=0278-4165 |oclc=5902856678 |s2cid=144968825 |quote="Another major shift is recorded approximately 3000 BP: highly formalized architecture (drum-type), increased density (burial fields of several hundred tombs) and grave goods (including exotic items and prestige objects) testify of a deep reorganization of Final Pastoral society, eventually leading to the rise of the Garamantian state (Castelli et al., 2005; Castelli and Liverani, 2005; Biagetti and di Lernia, 2008; Mattingly et al., 2010)."}}</ref> Final Pastoral peoples were also in contact with the Garamantes, who later acquired a monopoly on the oasis-based economy of the southern region of [[Libya]].<ref name="Keita">{{cite book |last1=Keita |first1=Shomarka |title=Migration History in World History: Multidisciplinary Approaches |date=Jan 1, 2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004186453 |pages=57–72 |chapter=A Brief Introduction To A Geochemical Method Used In Assessing Migration In Biological Anthropology |oclc=457129864 |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004186453/Bej.9789004180314.i-287_004.xml}}</ref> People of the [[Tichitt culture]] in southeastern [[Mauritania]] may have also made domestic [[Architecture of Africa#Tichitt Culture|architectural]] and [[Pottery#Africa|ceramic]] contributions to the Garamantian culture, possibly due to the presence of [[Sahel]]ian women in Garamantian society as a result of intermarriage.<ref name="Mori">{{cite book |last1=Mori |first1=Lucia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265066473 |title=Life and death at Fewet |date=October 2013 |publisher=Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio |isbn=9788878145948 |page=381 |doi=10.1400/220016 |oclc=881264296 |quote="The commonalities between the Garamantian traditional architecture, as well as the pottery described in the previous paragraph, with the West African culture of Dhar Tichitt is worth noting. The difference in chronology, being Tichitt older than the Garamantes, and actually contemporary to the Final Pastoral phase, may suggest a role of the former in shaping the latter. Here we are not dealing with a simple assimilation of Tichitt traits in the Garamantian culture, but with their reconceptualization to create new outcomes. [...] this perfectly matches with what was previously suggested in regards to the Garamantian domestic architecture and pottery manufacture (the hypothesis of the Garamantian pottery being made by Sahelian women present in the local communities as result of intermarriage, was already proposed by Gatto in 2005). |display-authors=etal |s2cid=159219731}}</ref> The Garamantes may have been involved in slave raids against the Tichitt culture, possibly using captives as labourers in the Fezzan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leitão de Almeida |first=Marcos |url=https://www.academia.edu/105220127 |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-085458-4 |chapter=The Internal African Slave Trade as History and Representation |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.339 |quote=In the last millennium BCE, agropastoralists living in Dhar Tichitt in southeastern Mauritania were continuously raided by people, who archaeologists think to be “Lybico-Berbers” or the “Garamantes” coming from the north (Munson 1980, 459). Indeed, beginning in the 6th century BCE, the Garamantes formed a powerful polity in northern Libya, controlling the trade routes between the Niger Bend and the Mediterranean. Rock art across the Sahara until southern Mauritania is likely testimony to the Garamantes’ mobility throughout the region, some of which depicts a chariot of war chasing a man (Gautier 1935; Mauny 1947). Although chariots could not be used in the desert, they could easily be dismantled and reassembled for raiding purposes in specific locations (Fentress 2011, 69). It is therefore possible that the Garamantes raided the Tichitt site in the mid last millennium BCE. In addition, further material and written evidence from across the Mediterranean corroborates the hypothesis that enslaved individuals from sub-Saharan Africa were sold to the Mediterranean world at the turn of the last millennium BCE until the demise of the Garamantes in the 7th century CE. Furthermore, archaeological evidence, in the shape of a lip plug found at one excavated tomb, suggests that the Garamantes had sub-Saharan African individuals in their cities in the Fazzan (a region in today’s Libya), possibly as slaves (Fentress 2011, 69).}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Challis |first1=Sam |display-authors=et al. |date=2005 |title=Funerary monuments and horse paintings: A preliminary report on the archaeology of a site in the Tagant region of South East Mauritania - Near Dhar Tichitt |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233428529 |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=459–470 |doi=10.1080/13629380500336821 |quote=The selling-on of raided captives may not have been as important to Libico-Berber cultures, as keeping slaves to work on their labour-intensive irrigation systems and the dangerous building of foggara wells.}}</ref> The practice of 'sacking' women from the south has also been attributed to the Garamantes, as well as to later populations such as the [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] and [[Toubou people|Tebu]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAK5CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA291 |title=Sand, Stones, and Bones. The Archaeology of Death in The Wadi Tanezzuft Valley (5000-2000 BP) |date=2002 |publisher=All’Insegna del Giglio |isbn=88-7814-281-6 |editor-last1=Di Lernia |editor-first1=Savino |pages=291 |quote=For the late 3rd millennium bp, especially in the cemetery of Tahala, we have genetic indication of a marked sub-Saharan flow in the females, when compared to the males: this may be cautiously related to an increasing exogamy of these pastoral groups. Moreover, the 'black', sub-Saharan pool may be hypothetically considered as a first attestation of the practice to get women from southernmost territories. This practice lasted for millennia: according to the historians, Garamantes sacked women from the south, and this habit has been rather spread until the last centuries, especially within the Tuareg and Tebu populations (e.g., Fantoli 1933). |editor-last2=Manzi |editor-first2=Giorgio}}</ref>
==History==
[[File:The execution of the Garamantes in the Amphitheater of Lepcis Magna.jpg|thumb|250px|Portion from the [[Zliten mosaic]] found in the Villa of Dar Buc Ammera depicting the execution of Garamantian prisoners through ''[[damnatio ad bestias]]'' in the Amphitheatre of [[Leptis Magna]], {{circa}} 70 CE.]]
The earliest known written record to document the Garamantes dates to the 5th century BC.<ref name="Keys">{{cite journal |last1=Keys |first1=David |date=March 2004 |title=Kingdom of the Sands |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0403/abstracts/sands.html |journal=Archaeology |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=24–29 |jstor=41780888 |s2cid=192632153}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] includes the Garamantes in his description of the ancient [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] tribes, describing them as "a very great nation" who herded cattle and farmed dates.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/herod-libya1.asp |title=Histories |chapter=Book IV}}</ref> According to Herodotus the Garamantes used four-horse [[chariot]]s to hunt "[[Troglodytae|Troglodyte]] [[Aethiopia|Ethiopians]]"<ref name="Herodotus2">{{cite book |author1=Herodotus |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_History_of_Herodotus_(Rawlinson)/Book_4 |title=History of Herodotus |date=1976 |publisher=J.M. Dent |isbn=9780404541408 |page=183 |oclc=1597464 |orig-date=1910 |s2cid=161943748}}</ref> in their quest for slaves.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Roland Oliver |title=Africa in the Iron Age : c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400 |author2=Brian M. Fagan |date=1975 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=48 |language=en |quote=Herodotus reported that the Garamantes used chariots to raid for slaves among the black 'Ethiopians'}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Herodotus states that "the Libyans in the north and the Ethiopians in the south of Libya are aboriginal, the Phoenicians and Greeks are later settlers”; [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] being the Greek name for Africa west of the [[Nile]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/2A*.html |title=Histories |chapter=Book II, chapter 16 |quote=If then our judgment of this be right, the Ionians are in error concerning Egypt; but if their opinion be right, then it is plain that they and the rest of the Greeks cannot reckon truly, when they divide the whole earth into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Libya; they must add to these yet a fourth part, the Delta of Egypt, if it belong neither to Asia nor to Libya; for by their showing the Nile is not the river that separates Asia and Libya; the Nile divides at the extreme angle of this Delta, so that this land must be between Asia and Libya.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Strabo |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/2E2*.html |title=Geography |chapter=Book II, Chapter 5:26 |quote=Now as you sail into the strait at the Pillars, Libya lies on your right hand as far as the stream of the Nile, and on your left hand across the strait lies Europe as far as the Tanaïs. And both Europe and Libya end at Asia.}}</ref>
Besides Herodotus, historic references to the Garamantes also appear in several other Greco-Roman sources. After conducting a comprehensive review of quotes on the Garamantes from various sources, including [[Strabo]], Arnobius Adv. Gentes, Ptolemy, and [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]], [[David Mattingly (archaeologist)|David Mattingly]] et al. (2003) concluded:
{{blockquote|Clearly, the perception of some of the Roman writers was that some Garamantians were [[negroid]] or very [[Dark skin|dark-skinned]], whilst others saw them as essentially aligned with the [[Berber people]]s. This mixed picture most likely reflects the ancient reality ... On the evidence of the sources alone, the likelihood is that the Garamantes encompassed a mixture of [[Historical race concepts|racial types]]: Berber, [[negro]] and various levels of [[miscegenation]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.bilnas.org/publications_dir/the-archaeology-of-fazzan-vol-1-synthesis/ |title=The archaeology of Fazzan / Ed. by David J. Mattingley. 1: Synthesis |date=2003 |publisher=Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=978-1-900971-02-7 |location=London |pages=89}}</ref>}}
Roman depictions describe the Garamantes as bearing [[Scarification in Africa|ritual scars and tattoos]]. [[Tacitus]] wrote that they assisted the rebel [[Tacfarinas]] and raided Roman coastal settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fage |first1=J. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTNTz3POoZUC&dq=Garamantes+support+for+Numidia+against+carthage&pg=PA200 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa |last2=Oliver |first2=Roland Anthony |date=1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-21592-3 |language=en}}</ref> According to [[Pliny the Elder]], in response to continuous Garamantian raiding, [[Lucius Cornelius Balbus (minor)|Lucius Cornelius Balbus]] and other Romans captured [[Roman Libya|fifteen of their settlements]] in 19 BC. In 202 AD, [[Septimius Severus]] captured the capital city of Garama.<ref name="Birley">{{cite book |last=Birley |first=Anthony R. |author-link=Anthony Birley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Obu1zSDuUYsC |title=Septimius Severus: The African Emperor |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1999 |isbn=0-415-16591-1 |page=153 |doi=10.4324/9780203028599 |oclc=50482171 |orig-date=1971 |s2cid=238180946}}</ref>
The Roman traveller Julius Maternus travelled with the king of the Garamantes during an expedition into inner Africa, reaching [[Agisymba]] after a journey of approximately four months from [[Germa|Garama.]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Desanges |first=J. |date=1985 |title=Agisymba |url=https://doi.org/10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.918 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |volume=2 |pages=259–261 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.918 |issn=1015-7344}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Andrew |date=2017-12-21 |title=Trade across Rome’s Southern Frontier |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198790662.003.0019 |journal=Oxford Scholarship Online |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198790662.003.0019}}</ref>The Garamantian king is said to have claimed sovereignty over Agisymba and its inhabitants, presenting them as subject peoples during campaigns south of the Sahara.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Desanges |first=J. |date=1985 |title=Agisymba |url=https://doi.org/10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.918 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |volume=2 |pages=259–261 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.918 |issn=1015-7344}}</ref>
The decline of the Garamantian culture may have been connected to [[Climate change|worsening climatic conditions]], or overuse of water resources.<ref name="Beaumont">{{cite web |last=Beaumont |first=Peter |date=November 5, 2011 |title=Fall of Gaddafi opens a new era for the Sahara's lost civilisation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/05/gaddafi-sahara-lost-civilisation-garamantes |access-date=June 21, 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Present-day desert in the Sahara was once agricultural land of fairly good quality that was further enhanced through the Garamantian irrigation system. As [[fossil water]] is a [[non-renewable resource]], over several centuries of the Garamantian kingdom, the [[ground water]] level fell,<ref name="Fentress">{{cite book |last1=Fentress |first1=E. |title=North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam, ca. 500 – ca. 800 |last2=Wilson |first2=A. |date=February 2016 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |isbn=9780884024088 |pages=41–63 |chapter=The Saharan Berber diaspora and the southern frontiers of Vandal and Byzantine North Africa |oclc=900332363 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293958810}}</ref> thereby, contributing to its end in the late 7th century AD.<ref name="McDougall" />
==Society and culture==
[[File:NE 600ad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Location of the Garamantes in the [[Fezzan]] c. 600 AD, before the [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquest]].]]
In the 1960s, archaeologists excavated part of the Garamantes' capital at modern [[Germa]] (situated around 150 km west of modern-day [[Sabha, Libya|Sabha]]) and named it ''Garama'' (an earlier capital, Zinkekara, was located not far from the later Garama). Current research indicates that the Garamantes had about eight major towns, three of which have been examined as of 2004. In addition they had a large number of other settlements. Garama had a population of around four thousand and another six thousand living in villages within a 5 km radius. Up to 50,000 people could have lived in the whole wadi. <ref>{{cite web |last1=Archaeology |first1=Current World |date=7 January 2005 |title=Garama: an ancient civilisation in the Central Sahara |url=https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/garamantes-libya/ |website=World Archaeology}}</ref> The king of the Garamantes controlled major trade routes that stretched deep into the interior of sub-Saharan Africa, reaching regions between the [[Niger River|Niger Bend]] and [[Lake Chad]]. Key oases in the southern part of the Garamantian kingdom, especially Ghat and Barkat, served as important bases from which traders traveled into tropical Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Joorde |first=Raffael |title=Roman forays into the interior of sub-Saharan Africa: the mysterious landscape of Agisymba |url=https://www.academia.edu/16958420/Roman_forays_into_the_interior_of_sub_Saharan_Africa_the_mysterious_landscape_of_Agisymba}}</ref>
Nikita et al. (2011) indicated that the skeletons of the Garamantes do not suggest regular warfare or strenuous activities. Nikita et al. (2011) states: "The Garamantes exhibited low [[sexual dimorphism]] in the upper limbs, which is consistent to the pattern found in agricultural populations and implies that the engagement of males in warfare and construction works was not particularly intense. [...] the Garamantes did not appear systematically more robust than other North African populations occupying less harsh environments, indicating that life in the Sahara did not require particularly strenuous daily activities."<ref name="Nikita">{{cite journal |last1=Nikita |first1=Efthymia |display-authors=etal |date=2011 |title=Activity patterns in the Sahara Desert: An interpretation based on cross-sectional geometric properties |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.21597 |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=146 |issue=3 |pages=423–434 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21597 |issn=0002-9483 |pmid=21953517 |s2cid=1794284 |url-access=subscription|hdl=2381/21826 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
[[File:Garma (Garama) - Ruinen der antiken Stadt Garma 02.jpg|thumb|The ruins of Garama, one of the major settlements]]
Archaeological ruins associated with the Garamantian kingdom include numerous tombs, forts, and cemeteries. The Garamantes constructed a network of tunnels, and shafts to mine the [[fossil water]] from under the limestone layer under the desert sand. The dating of these [[Qanat|foggara]] is disputed, they appear between 200 BC to 200 CE but continued to be in use until at least the 7th century and perhaps later.<ref name="Mattingly II">{{cite book |last1=Mattingly |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kMycAQAACAAJ |title=The Archaeology of Fazzān: Site gazetteer, pottery and other survey finds |date=2003 |publisher=Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=9781900971058 |pages=1–520 |oclc=749919245}}</ref> The network of tunnels is known to [[Berbers]] as ''Foggaras''. The network allowed agriculture to flourish, and used a system of [[Slavery|slave labor]] to keep it maintained.<ref name="Keys" />
===Slave raiding and trading===
Based on [[Herodotus]]' account of Garamantes pursuing "[[Troglodytae|Troglodyte]] [[Aethiopia|Ethiopians]]",<ref name="Herodotus">{{cite book |author1=Herodotus |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_History_of_Herodotus_(Rawlinson)/Book_4 |title=History of Herodotus |date=1976 |publisher=J.M. Dent |isbn=9780404541408 |page=183 |oclc=1597464 |orig-date=1910 |s2cid=161943748}}</ref> Sonja and Carlos Magnavita (2018) say that "Saharan slave raids against Black Africans in classical times" might be a speculative tale, though they admit that "hunting people for other purposes than for enslaving them is admittedly hard to imagine".<ref name="Magnavita">{{cite book |last1=Magnavita |first1=Sonja |title=Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past |last2=Magnavita |first2=Carlos |date=18 Jul 2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004380189 |page=26 |chapter=All that Glitters is Not Gold: Facing the Myths of Ancient Trade between North and Sub-Saharan Africa |doi=10.1163/9789004380189_003 |oclc=1041204346 |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004380189/BP000003.xml |s2cid=201331821}}</ref> Nonetheless, five centuries after Herodotus, Roman merchants established themselves in [[Leptis Magna]] (Libya) and [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]] (Morocco) to purchase the slaves the Berbers brought from Subsaharan Africa.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Roland Oliver |title=Africa in the Iron Age : c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400 |author2=Brian M. Fagan |date=1975 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=53 |language=en |quote=Roman merchants established themselves in the Berber towns in order to buy [...] especially at Lepcis in Tripolitania and at Lixus on the Atlabtic coast of Morocco to deal in the gold and slaves brought across the Sahara by Berber caravan-traders}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPU8ZAcrOtIC&q=garamantes8 |title=Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 |date=2011-05-12 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50406-5 |pages=87–88 |language=en}}</ref>
==Biological anthropology ==
In 1951, S. Sergi analysed human skeletal remains from the Fezzan dating from the end of the Pastoral period up to the Roman period in the first centuries AD. Sergi concluded that the Garamantes were mostly of '[[Mediterranean race|Mediterranean]]' type, similar to modern Berbers, which he termed 'Euroafrican'. He also found an influx of '[[Negroid]]' types and an increase of 'mixed' types dating mostly from the Roman period.<ref name="Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio">{{cite book |last1=Ricci |first1=Francesca |title=Life and death of a rural village in Garamantian Times. The archaeological investigation in the Oasis of Fewet (Libyan Sahara) |last2=Tafuri |first2=Mary Anne |last3=Vincenzo |first3=Fabio |date=2013 |publisher=Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio |isbn=978-88-7814-594-8 |editor-last=Mori |editor-first=Lucia |pages=319–362 |chapter=The human skeletal sample from Fewet |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265058906}}</ref> In a review of the skeletal evidence analysed by Sergi, M.C. Chamla (1968) found that 46.6% of the individuals were of 'Eurafrican' type (closely related to Berbers), 26.6% were of mixed Eurafrican-Negroid type, and 26.6% were of 'a more predominantly Negroid' type.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mattingly |first1=David |title=The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 1: Synthesis |last2=Edwards |first2=David |date=2003 |publisher=Department of Antiquities, Tripoli. The Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=9781900971027 |editor-last=Mattingly |editor-first=D.J. |pages=232–233 |chapter=Religious and Funerary Structures |chapter-url=https://www.bilnas.org/publications_dir/the-archaeology-of-fazzan-vol-1-synthesis/}}</ref>
According to [[David Mattingly (archaeologist)|David Mattingly]] et al. (2003):
{{blockquote|The Garamantes contained a significant component of light-skinned Libyans and some at least of these people were buried in monumental graves. This picture differs from the situation in the Sahara in the late Neolithic, as Chamla's work suggests a higher proportion of negroid types at that date, which might suggest that the creation of Garamantian civilisation involved the in-migration of at least some part of the population from regions to the north or northeast. The cemeteries contain a substantial number (over 50 percent) of individuals of either mixed blood or full negro {{sic|physionomy}}. Some of these individuals may have been in poorer graves, but not all of them, suggesting that some individuals of mixed race or black skin were prominent within Garamantian society. Given the literary testimony of Garamantian raids against their 'Ethiopian' neighbours, it is likely that some of the negroes present were slaves or descendants of slaves. The maintenance of strong non-negroid traits into late and post-Garamantian contexts would seem to indicate that intermixing of the races was not completely open and may have been structured within Garamantian society.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mattingly |first1=David |title=The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 1: Synthesis |last2=Edwards |first2=David |date=2003 |publisher=Department of Antiquities, Tripoli. The Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=9781900971027 |editor-last=Mattingly |editor-first=D.J. |pages=233 |chapter=Religious and Funerary Structures |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2m7c4vf.13 |jstor=j.ctv2m7c4vf.13}}</ref>}}
Francesca Ricci et al. (2013) analysed skeletal samples from the Garamantian site of Fewet in the Fezzan and found that they were similar to the [[Mediterranean race|Mediterranean]] 'Euroafrican' type identified by Sergi, but with some evidence for gene flow from (probably) sub-Saharan populations, "similarly to what Sergi (1951) suggested discussing the possible hybridization between the “Mediterranean” Group I and the “[[Negroid]]” Group IV." This gene flow was more evident in the female skeletons, suggesting an influx of non-local females possibly from the [[Sahel]] region.<ref name="Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mori |first1=Lucia |title=Life and death of a rural village in Garamantian Times. The archaeological investigation in the Oasis of Fewet (Libyan Sahara) |last2=Gatto |first2=Maria |last3=Ricci |first3=Francesca |date=2013 |publisher=Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio |isbn=978-88-7814-594-8 |editor-last=Mori |editor-first=Lucia |pages=375–387 |chapter=Life and death at Fewet |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265066473}}</ref>
[[Marta Mirazón Lahr]] et al. (2010) conducted research on skeletons from [[Fezzan]] dating from the Roman era and found that the skeletons clustered most closely with Neolithic Sahelian samples from [[Chad]], [[Mali]], and [[Niger]], and secondarily to Roman Egyptians from Alexandria and Nubians from Soleb. 1st millennium BC samples from Algeria and Tunisia were somewhat more distant but still rather close to the Fezzan skeletons. Lahr et al. concluded that the Garamantes had connections with both the [[Sahel]] and [[North Africa|northern Africa]]{{clarify|date=February 2026}}.<ref name="Nikita II">{{cite book |last1=Nikita |first1=Efthymia |title=The Archaeology of Fazzan: Excavations of C.M. Daniels |date=2010 |publisher=Society for Libyan Studies |isbn=9781900971027 |pages=375–408 |chapter=Human Skeletal Remains |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2m7c4xg.16 |jstor=j.ctv2m7c4xg.16 |oclc=749919245 |display-authors=etal |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224047900}}</ref>
Efthymia Nikita et al. (2011) examined the biological affinities of the Garamantes using cranial nonmetric traits and the Mean Measure of Divergence and Mahalanobis D(2). They were compared to other North African populations, including the Egyptian, Algerian, Tunisian and Sudanese, roughly contemporary to them. Overall, three clusters were identified: (1) the Garamantes, (2) Gizeh and Kerma, and (3) Soleb, Alexandrians, Algerians and Carthaginians. The analysis concluded that the Garamantes were isolated, with the Sahara playing a role as a barrier to geneflow. The distance between the Garamantes and their neighbors was high and the population appeared to be an outlier.<ref name="Nikita III">{{Cite journal |last=Nikita |first=Efthymia |display-authors=etal |date=1 February 2012 |title=Sahara: Barrier or corridor? Nonmetric cranial traits and biological affinities of North African late Holocene populations |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=147 |issue=2 |pages=280–292 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21645 |issn=0002-9483 |oclc=5156510116 |pmid=22183688|hdl=2381/12286 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
The remains of a young [[sub-Saharan Africa]]n woman, which has been dated to the 1st millennium BC and possessed a [[Lip plate#Usage in Africa|lip plug]] that is associated with Sahelian African groups, was buried among other Sub-Saharan Africans that were part of the heterogenous Garamantian population. Power et al. (2019) states: "This ornament demonstrates that some Garamantes individuals shared aspects of their material culture with Sahelian societies more broadly, either through migration or contact, while their burial within Garamantes cemeteries shows their integration into the normative funerary rituals of contemporary Garamantian society. The combination of morphometric and isotopic work further reinforces the view that Garamantian society included individuals of diverse geographical origin, some of whom may have been first generation Trans-Saharan migrants." The craniometric results also identified another sub-group within the Garamantes buried in the Wadi al-Ajjal, with a morphology that is widely observed among [[Mediterranean race|Mediterranean people]].<ref name="Power">{{cite book |last1=Power |first1=Ronika K. |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108474085 |pages=134–161 |chapter=Human Mobility and Identity: Variation, Diet and Migration in Relation to the Garamantes of Fazzan |oclc=1108755670 |display-authors=etal |chapter-url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/334204/Power%20et%20al%202019%20Human%20mobility%20and%20identity%20-%20FINAL%20DRAFT.docx?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref>
==Language==
Linguist [[Roger Blench]] (2006) stated: "The Garamantes, whose empire in the Libyan Fezzan was overthrown by the Romans, wrote in a [[Libyco-Berber alphabet|Libyan script]], although we have no evidence they spoke Berber. What they did speak is open to conjecture; the most likely hypothesis is a Nilo-Saharan language, related either to [[Songhay languages|Songhay]] or to [[Teda language|Teda]]—the present-day language of the [[Tibesti Mountains#Population|Tibesti]]."<ref name="Blench II">{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Archaeology, Language, and the African Past |date=2006 |publisher=AltaMira Press |isbn=9780759104662 |page=155 |chapter=Afroasiatic: The Distribution of Afroasiatic and the History of Its Classification |oclc=62281704 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esFy3Po57A8C |s2cid=162052805}}</ref>
===Script===
The Garamantes may have used a nearly indecipherable form of [[Tifinagh#Libyco-Berber|proto-Tifinagh]].<ref name="Werner">{{cite journal |last1=Werner |first1=Louis |date=May 2004 |title=Libya's Forgotten Desert Kingdom |url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200403/libya.s.forgotten.desert.kingdom.htm |journal=AramcoWorld |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=8–13}}</ref> Blench (2019) states: {{blockquote|One of the most problematic aspects is the language and inscriptions attributed to the Garamantes...Sites in the vicinity of Jarma, the Garamantian capital of what is now known as Fazzan, have abundant inscriptions (Fig. 14.7). 67 They are found cut or painted on dark grey amphorae, in the tombs of Garamantian cemeteries, such as those of Saniat bin Huwaydi.68 A recent project under the auspices of the British Library has digitised most of the known inscriptions and these are described in Biagetti et al.69 Although the inscriptions are in Berber characters, only some are decipherable. Various reasons for this have been suggested; either the messages were deliberately coded, so that only specific readers could understand them. Alternatively, they may have had a ‘ludic’ nature. The most exciting possibility is that they were in a non-Berber language, perhaps [[Nilo-Saharan]] or something unknown.<ref name="Blench">{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=14 February 2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47408-5 |page=446 |chapter=The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara |doi=10.1017/9781108634311.014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOeADwAAQBAJ |s2cid=197854997}}</ref>}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Belmonte |first1=Juan Antonio |last2=Esteban |first2=César |last3=Perera Betancort |first3=Maria Antonia |last4=Marrero |first4=Rita |date=2002 |title=Archaeoastronomy in the Sahara: The Tombs of the Garamantes at Wadi el Agial, Fezzan, Libya |url=https://www.academia.edu/5990200/Archaeoastronomy_in_the_Sahara_the_tombs_of_the_Garamantes_at_Wadi_El_Agial_Fezzan_Libya |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy Supplement |volume=33}} * {{Cite journal |last=Borg |first=Victor Paul |date=August 2007 |title=The Garamantes: masters of the Sahara |journal=Geographical |volume=79}} * {{Cite web |last=Camps |first=Gabriel |date=2002 |title=Les Garamantes, conducteurs de chars et bâtisseurs dans le Fezzan antique |url=http://www.clio.fr/bibliotheque/Les_Garamantes_conducteurs_de_chars_et_bAtisseurs_dans_le_Fezzan_antique.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018233437/http://www.clio.fr/bibliotheque/Les_Garamantes_conducteurs_de_chars_et_bAtisseurs_dans_le_Fezzan_antique.asp |archive-date=2014-10-18 |website=Clio.fr |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last=Gearon |first=Eamonn |author1-link=Eamonn Gearon |title=The Sahara: A Cultural History |date=2011 |publisher=Signal Books |isbn=9781904955825 |location=UK}} * {{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Richard |date=December 2003 |title=What Happened to the Ancient Libyans? Chasing Sources across the Sahara from Herodotus to Ibn Khaldun |url=http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=355 |journal=Journal of World History |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=459–500 |doi=10.1353/jwh.2003.0060 |jstor=20079240 |s2cid=143724552 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417074448/http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=355 |archive-date=2017-04-17}} * {{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=David L. |date=February 2010 |title=Review of David. J. Mattingly (ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan. Volume 2. Site Gazetteer, Pottery and Other Survey Finds. Society for Libyan Studies Monograph 7. London: The Society for Libyan Studies and Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahariya Department of Antiquities, 2007. Pp. xxix, 522, figs. 760, tables 37. ISBN 1-900971-05-4 |url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010-02-79.html |department=Review |journal=[[Bryn Mawr Classical Review]] |article-number=79}} * {{Cite journal |last=Sadr |first=Karim |author-link=Karim Sadr |date=2004 |title=Who Were The Garamantes And What Became Of Them? The Archaeology of Fazzan. Volume I: Synthesis. Edited by David J. Mattingly. London: Society for Libyan Studies, and Tripoli: Department of Antiquities, 2003. (ISBN 1-90097-102-X) |department=Review |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=45 |pages=492-493 |doi=10.1017/S0021853704229930}} * {{Cite journal |last1=White |first1=Kevin |last2=Mattingly |first2=David J. |date=January–February 2006 |title=Ancient lakes of the Sahara |url=http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/earth_sciences/report-54055.html |journal=[[American Scientist]] |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=58–65 |doi=10.1511/2006.57.983 |issn=0003-0996 |url-access=subscription}}. {{refend}}
==External links== * [http://www.romansonline.com/countries_L.asp?Icode=2382 romansonline.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720150918/http://www.romansonline.com/countries_L.asp?Icode=2382 |date=2011-07-20 }}: Classical Latin texts citing the Garamantes. * [http://www.livescience.com/16916-castles-lost-cities-revealed-libyan-desert.html LiveScience.com article] - about "lost cities" built by the Garamantes in Libya, most dating between AD 1 to 500, 7 November 2011 * [https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/garamantes-libya/ Garamantes] * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002w616 The Garamantes] ''In Our Time'', BBC Radio 4
{{Berber}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord missing|Libya}}
[[Category:Countries in ancient Africa]] [[Category:Berber peoples and tribes]] [[Category:Berber history]] [[Category:Ancient Libya]] [[Category:Ancient Libyans]] [[Category:History of Fezzan]] [[Category:History of the Sahara]] [[Category:Ancient Greek geography of North Africa]]