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Of water, salt and worms: an archaeology of the Ubari sand sea oases, Libyan Fazzan

Stefania Merlo (University of Botswana)

Abstract

The Ubari erg, in the Libyan Fazzan, is characterized by the presence of approximately twenty salt lakes along inter-dunal corridors of the Sand Sea. These lakes are currently deserted and epitomize contrasting stereotypes of beauty, desolation and abandonment. Until the 1990s, however, three of them were settled by the Dawada, a small endogamic group that takes their name from the specialised harvest of the brine shrimps found in the area. In this paper I explore past interrelations between human settlement, goat herding, and palm husbandry in the region, elucidating complex forms of organization born of and in the desert.