Di Lernia
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 3873 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Di Lernia |
| SOBRENOME | Di Lernia |
| ASSINATURA | DI LERNIA |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Sapienza University of Rome |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1732-1567 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 53 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 351 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 53 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1998 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 11 |
A Yolo-Based Workflow for Detecting and Mapping Archaeological Stone Cairns in Satellite Imagery
Automated detection of archaeological stone cairns using high-resolution satellite imagery offers a scalable approach for documenting vulnerable heritage landscapes in the Ennedi Massif, where extensive and remote terrain limits traditional field survey, and rapid documentation is required. This study presents a GIS and deep learning framework based on the YOLOv8 model to identify and map stone cairns using Google Satellite RGB imagery at 28.5 cm…
Exploring the use of Wild Cereals at Takarkori (Central Sahara, Southwestern Libya) Through Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis of Prehistoric Desiccated Seeds
Stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant material have increased in the last few decades with questions arising about climate, environment, and subsistence strategies. While the available studies are of great interest in the field, they are still a minority compared to other types of organic material, especially from African contexts. Desiccated plant material in particular has only sporadically been investigated, partly because archaeolog…
The medieval burial assemblage from Koudiet er Rammadiya, Northern Tunisia. An interdisciplinary bioarchaeological investigation
The osteological analysis of human skeletal assemblages offers crucial osteobiographical insights into ancient populations, yet remains largely unexplored in past Tunisia. This paper presents the first archaeological investigation of Tunisian medieval burials, unearthed during excavations between 2016–2017 and 2021–2022. This interdisciplinary study, combining archaeology, bioarchaeology, and paleopathology, examines skeletons from Koudiet er Ram…
Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Southern Tunisian Populations
Due to its complex history of migrations and colonization of African, European, and Asian people, the Tunisian territory is an ideal area to study the effects of cultural change on the genetic structure of human populations. This study investigated genetic variation in the mitochondrial DNA of Tunisian populations to detect the possible impact of recent historical events on their gene pool. Two Arab and three Berber communities were analyzed usin…
A Holocene Ceramic Sequence in the Central Sahara
Earliest Herders of the Central Sahara (Tadrart Acacus Mountains, Libya)
Site Organization and Mobility Strategies
The identification of mobility patterns in prehistoric communities is crucial for the understanding of their social and economic strategies. Though factors such as economics, environment, and cultural choices are strictly related to mobility, it has been demonstrated how anticipated mobility is pivotal in generating different aspects of site structure and spatial organization. Considering the stone structures uncovered at Takarkori rock shelter (…
Usable Pasts Forum
Outstanding Universal Value and, consequently, are unique assets for humankind (Ndoro, 2015a). Nominated sites must, after deliberations and input from advisory bodies to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meet at least one of the ten criteria (six cultural and four natural) consonant with cultural, historical, scientific, or other forms of significance
Retracted
Our study provides evidence that the relationships between genetic and cultural diversity of old and new inhabitants of North Africa in southern Tunisia follow different patterns. The Berbers seem to have preserved a significant part of their common genomic heritage despite Islamization, Arab cultural influence, and linguistic diversity. Compared to Morocco and Algeria, southern Tunisian Arabs have retained a higher level of Arabian ancestry. Thi…
The Visibility of Mobility
The archaeological landscape of the Tadrart Acacus massif (SW Libya, central Sahara) is made of sites testimony of complex systems of cultural-specific settlement and economic strategies stretching over millennia of occupation. Here, caves and rock shelters represent the main physiographic features exploited by prehistoric herders. Climate fluctuations, settlement patterns and economic strategies regulate the depositional and post-depositional pr…
Networking through pottery characterisation at Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara, 10,200-4650 cal BP)
Land-use and cultivation in theetaghasof the Tadrart Acacus (south-west Libya)
The hyperarid climate of the central Sahara precludes permanent agriculture, although occasional temporary ponds, oretaghas,as a result of rain-fed flooding of wadi beds in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of the Libyan Sahara allow the pastoral Kel Tadrart Tuareg to cultivate cereals. Geoarchaeological and archaeological data, along with radiocarbon dating and evidence from rock art, however, suggest a much greater antiquity for the exploitation of …
Medical imaging as a taphonomic tool
Purpose Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Medical radi…
Coprolites from Rock Shelters
Archaeological deposits in rock shelters have enormous informative potential, particularly in arid environments where organic materials are well preserved. In these areas, sub-fossilized coprolites and dung remains have been identified as valuable proxies for inferences about past environments, subsistence economies and cultural trajectories. Here we present a multidisciplinary analysis of bovid (ovicaprine) coprolites collected from the Early Ho…
A (Digital) Future for Saharan Rock Art
Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the ‘long’ 4th millennium BC
This paper explores the possible links between rapid climate change (RCC) and social change in the Near East and surrounding regions (Anatolia, central Syria, southern Israel, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and eastern and central Sahara) during the ‘long’ 4th millennium (∼4500–3000) BC. Twenty terrestrial and 20 marine climate proxies are used to identify long-term trends in humidity involving transitions from humid to arid conditions and vice versa. The f…
Earliest direct evidence of plant processing in prehistoric Saharan pottery
Colour in context. Pigments and other coloured residues from the Early-Middle Holocene site of Takarkori (SW Libya)
Climate, Environment, and Population Dynamics in Pleistocene Sahara
The “written landscape” of the central Sahara
Much of world’s documentary heritage rests in vulnerable, little-known and often inaccessible archives. Many of these archives preserve information that may cast new light on historical phenomena and lead to their reinterpretation. But such rich collections are often at risk of being lost before the history they capture is recorded. This volume celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library, establish…
Libya Before and After the Conflict
The beginnings of dairying as practised by pastoralists in ‘green’ Saharan Africa in the 5th millennium BC
Previous research has identified the antiquity and chronology of dairying practices as beginning in the Near East and its subsequent spread across Europe. In the Libyan Sahara, archaeological evidence, confirmed by the remarkable rock art depicting cattle herding, together with faunal evidence, also suggests an early inception of dairying practices in North Africa and the formation of an independent ‘secondary products’ economy by mobile pastoral…
Re-entering the central Sahara at the onset of the Holocene
Holocene Deposits of Saharan Rock Shelters
Bayesian Approach to 14 C Dates for Estimation of Long-Term Archaeological Sequences in Arid Environments
Caves and rockshelters are critical loci for the analysis and understanding of human trajectories in the past. Use and re-uses of the same context, however, might have had serious impacts on depositional aspects. This is particularly true for the archaeological history of desert environments, such as the central Sahara, where most of the deposits are made of loose sand, rich in organic matter. Besides traditional stratigraphic reconstructions and…
Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara
Holocene Climatic Changes and Cultural Dynamics in the Libyan Sahara
The climate-environment-society nexus in the Sahara from prehistoric times to the present day
The Sahara is a key region for studies of archaeology, human-environment interaction, global biogeochemical cycles, and global climate change. With a few notable exceptions, the region is the subject of very little international scientific research, a fact that is remarkable given the Sahara's proximity to Europe, the developmental issues facing its growing population, the region's sensitivity to climate change and the Sahara's potential for infl…
Holocene Deposits of Saharan Rock Shelters
Middle Stone Age human occupation and dispersals in the Messak plateau (SW Libya, central Sahara)
The date and context of Neolithic rock art in the Sahara
The authors find a context for the rock art of the central Sahara by excavating and recording examples of engraved stones from circular platforms used to sacrifice animals. The type of rock art known as the Pastoral style, featuring evocative outline drawings of cattle, appears on upright stones incorporated into the platforms in the period 5430-5150 BP, and probably earlier. Furthermore, they show that these places were part of a dense and exten…
Environment and settlements in the Mid-Holocene palaeo-oasis of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Past research in the Acacus mountains has been mostly concerned with studies of rock art (Mori 1965) and site-oriented investigations, particularly rock-shelters in the central and northern Acacus (Uan Muhuggiag: Mori 1965; Barich 1987; Ti-n-Torha North: Barich 1974; 1987; Wadi Athal: Barich & Mori 1970). This important research disclosed the astonishing archaeological richness of the area. Particular emphasis was given to data suggesting the exi…
Bayesian Approach to 14 C Dates for Estimation of Long-Term Archaeological Sequences in Arid Environments
Caves and rockshelters are critical loci for the analysis and understanding of human trajectories in the past. Use and re-uses of the same context, however, might have had serious impacts on depositional aspects. This is particularly true for the archaeological history of desert environments, such as the central Sahara, where most of the deposits are made of loose sand, rich in organic matter. Besides traditional stratigraphic reconstructions and…
Nonalimentary tooth use in prehistory
Signs of nonalimentary tooth use were observed on the dentition of an adult male from a single burial excavated in an area close to the Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter (Tadrart Acacus, Libya), dated to more than 7800 uncalibrated years BP, that represents the most ancient human remain found in the Libyan Sahara, and provides a first glimpse of human adaptation in the early Holocene of this region. The wear pattern shows large grooves running across th…
Forum
Places, monuments, and landscape
Contexts with monumental features are common in the Holocene later prehistory of central Sahara. These consist of ‘megalithic’ stone monuments with different architectural features and various ceremonial purposes, dated from approximately 6000 uncalibrated years BP onwards. However, some loci of earlier occupation – from early Holocene hunter-gatherers to the first cattle herders (c. 8900-6400 BP) — seem to possess those characteristics of social…
Incoming tourism, outgoing culture
Archaeological contexts in arid lands are particularly endangered, not only by the natural damaging effects of desert environments, but also by both recent indiscriminate tourism and infrastructural developments, specifically oil exploitation. This case study of the Acacus and Messak Mountains in the Libyan Sahara explores the history and causes of the present situation, through a detailed analysis of the state of preservation of the cultural her…
Re-entering the central Sahara at the onset of the Holocene
Usable Pasts Forum
Outstanding Universal Value and, consequently, are unique assets for humankind (Ndoro, 2015a). Nominated sites must, after deliberations and input from advisory bodies to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meet at least one of the ten criteria (six cultural and four natural) consonant with cultural, historical, scientific, or other forms of significance
Combining intensive field survey and digital technologies
In recent years, Garamantian archaeology has received renewed attention from historians and archaeologists, particularly in the south-western corner of Libya in the central Sahara. This paper focuses on the potential of intensive field surveys and digital technologies as applied to a particular segment of the Garamantian state: the 'castles' of Wadi Awiss and their associated contexts - necropoleis and site remains. The combination of a field sur…
Coprolites from Rock Shelters
Archaeological deposits in rock shelters have enormous informative potential, particularly in arid environments where organic materials are well preserved. In these areas, sub-fossilized coprolites and dung remains have been identified as valuable proxies for inferences about past environments, subsistence economies and cultural trajectories. Here we present a multidisciplinary analysis of bovid (ovicaprine) coprolites collected from the Early Ho…
Megalithic architecture and funerary practices in the late prehistory of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Recent surveys conducted by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in the region of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara) revealed a huge number of sites characterised by the presence of stone tumuli and other megalithic constructions, usually associated with funerary rituals. During the 1999-2000 field seasons, one of these sites—site 96/129—was subjected to systematic excavation, revealing the construction technique of …
The Visibility of Mobility
The archaeological landscape of the Tadrart Acacus massif (SW Libya, central Sahara) is made of sites testimony of complex systems of cultural-specific settlement and economic strategies stretching over millennia of occupation. Here, caves and rock shelters represent the main physiographic features exploited by prehistoric herders. Climate fluctuations, settlement patterns and economic strategies regulate the depositional and post-depositional pr…
Networking through pottery characterisation at Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara, 10,200-4650 cal BP)
Writing the desert
The mountain ranges of the Tadrart Acacus and Messak in southwestern Libya (central Sahara) are widely known for their outstanding rock art inventory and some key prehistoric sites. This paper illustrates the preliminary outcomes of current investigations on the ‘Tifinagh’ inscriptions of the Tadrart Acacus the recording of which has recently increased thanks to the support of ‘Endangered Archives Programme’ of the British Library. Its aim is two…
Site Organization and Mobility Strategies
The identification of mobility patterns in prehistoric communities is crucial for the understanding of their social and economic strategies. Though factors such as economics, environment, and cultural choices are strictly related to mobility, it has been demonstrated how anticipated mobility is pivotal in generating different aspects of site structure and spatial organization. Considering the stone structures uncovered at Takarkori rock shelter (…
Retracted
Our study provides evidence that the relationships between genetic and cultural diversity of old and new inhabitants of North Africa in southern Tunisia follow different patterns. The Berbers seem to have preserved a significant part of their common genomic heritage despite Islamization, Arab cultural influence, and linguistic diversity. Compared to Morocco and Algeria, southern Tunisian Arabs have retained a higher level of Arabian ancestry. Thi…
Land-use and cultivation in theetaghasof the Tadrart Acacus (south-west Libya)
The hyperarid climate of the central Sahara precludes permanent agriculture, although occasional temporary ponds, oretaghas,as a result of rain-fed flooding of wadi beds in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of the Libyan Sahara allow the pastoral Kel Tadrart Tuareg to cultivate cereals. Geoarchaeological and archaeological data, along with radiocarbon dating and evidence from rock art, however, suggest a much greater antiquity for the exploitation of …
Cultural landscape and local knowledge
This paper, based on an Olwen Brogan Memorial Lecture presented to the Society for Libyan Studies on 4 May 2005, reviews the Italian archaeological research started in 1955 with the pioneering work of Fabrizio Mori in the Acacus Mountains and surroundings (Libya, Central Sahara). In particular, the article explores the theoretical and methodological shifts of the last fifteen years, from an ‘adaptionist’ point of view to a ‘new vision’ based on c…
A (Digital) Future for Saharan Rock Art
Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara
Alle origini del pastoralismo africano
Savino di Lernia, Alle origini del pastoralismo africano: Riflessioni su alcune forme di gestione animale nell'antico Olocene, La Ricerca Folklorica, No. 40, Società pastorali d'Africa e d'Asia (Oct., 1999), pp. 13-24
Wadi Teshuinat
Before Food Production in North Africa. Questions and Tools Dealing with Resource Exploitation and Population Dynamics at 12000-7000 BP
Holocene Climatic Changes and Cultural Dynamics in the Libyan Sahara
Dismantling Dung
Megalithic architecture and funerary practices in the late prehistory of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Recent surveys conducted by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in the region of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara) revealed a huge number of sites characterised by the presence of stone tumuli and other megalithic constructions, usually associated with funerary rituals. During the 1999-2000 field seasons, one of these sites—site 96/129—was subjected to systematic excavation, revealing the construction technique of …
Environment and settlements in the Mid-Holocene palaeo-oasis of Wadi Tanezzuft (Libyan Sahara)
Past research in the Acacus mountains has been mostly concerned with studies of rock art (Mori 1965) and site-oriented investigations, particularly rock-shelters in the central and northern Acacus (Uan Muhuggiag: Mori 1965; Barich 1987; Ti-n-Torha North: Barich 1974; 1987; Wadi Athal: Barich & Mori 1970). This important research disclosed the astonishing archaeological richness of the area. Particular emphasis was given to data suggesting the exi…
Forum
Sand, Stone, and Bones
Nonalimentary tooth use in prehistory
Signs of nonalimentary tooth use were observed on the dentition of an adult male from a single burial excavated in an area close to the Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter (Tadrart Acacus, Libya), dated to more than 7800 uncalibrated years BP, that represents the most ancient human remain found in the Libyan Sahara, and provides a first glimpse of human adaptation in the early Holocene of this region. The wear pattern shows large grooves running across th…
Decoding an Early Holocene Saharan Stratified Site. Ceramic Dispersion and Site Formation Processes in the Takarkori Rock-Shelter, Acacus Mountains, Libya
The surface pottery from a well-preserved Holocene archaeological site in south-western Libya is analysed. The collection suggests a long and protracted human occupation of the shelter, from Late Acacus (Mesolithic) hunter-gatherers to Late Pastoral (Neolithic) herders. Aim of the work is to decode the dynamic history of the site via the study of its surface elements, both artefacts and ecofacts, and the way they interacted over the millennia. To…
The climate-environment-society nexus in the Sahara from prehistoric times to the present day
The Sahara is a key region for studies of archaeology, human-environment interaction, global biogeochemical cycles, and global climate change. With a few notable exceptions, the region is the subject of very little international scientific research, a fact that is remarkable given the Sahara's proximity to Europe, the developmental issues facing its growing population, the region's sensitivity to climate change and the Sahara's potential for infl…
Incoming tourism, outgoing culture
Archaeological contexts in arid lands are particularly endangered, not only by the natural damaging effects of desert environments, but also by both recent indiscriminate tourism and infrastructural developments, specifically oil exploitation. This case study of the Acacus and Messak Mountains in the Libyan Sahara explores the history and causes of the present situation, through a detailed analysis of the state of preservation of the cultural her…
Mobility and kinship in the prehistoric Sahara
Building monuments, creating identity
Cultural landscape and local knowledge
This paper, based on an Olwen Brogan Memorial Lecture presented to the Society for Libyan Studies on 4 May 2005, reviews the Italian archaeological research started in 1955 with the pioneering work of Fabrizio Mori in the Acacus Mountains and surroundings (Libya, Central Sahara). In particular, the article explores the theoretical and methodological shifts of the last fifteen years, from an ‘adaptionist’ point of view to a ‘new vision’ based on c…
Evidence of artificial cranial deformation from the later prehistory of the Acacus Mts. (southwestern Libya, Central Sahara)
The 1999–2001 Italian–Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak, southwestern Libya, resulted in the discovery of human specimens from the Wadi Tanezzuft Valley belonging to the Final Pastoral horizon (i.e. late Neolithic, about 3000 years bp). Some of these show clear traces of artificial cranial deformation. This practice, hitherto unrecorded in the central Sahara, is described and analysed in this paper. It represents an additiona…
Combining intensive field survey and digital technologies
In recent years, Garamantian archaeology has received renewed attention from historians and archaeologists, particularly in the south-western corner of Libya in the central Sahara. This paper focuses on the potential of intensive field surveys and digital technologies as applied to a particular segment of the Garamantian state: the 'castles' of Wadi Awiss and their associated contexts - necropoleis and site remains. The combination of a field sur…
"Provincial, Superficial or Incompetent? A Few Comments on Paul Bahn's "Memoria dell'arte
This research note presents evidence for the oldest Middle Pleistocene Eastern Saharan human activity from the area referred to as the Eastern Desert Atbara River (EDAR), Sudan, which is currently threatened by gold mining.Preliminary results of multifaceted analyses indicate the activity of Homo sapiens during MIS 5 as well as Homo erectus during MIS 7-11 or earlier
The date and context of Neolithic rock art in the Sahara
The authors find a context for the rock art of the central Sahara by excavating and recording examples of engraved stones from circular platforms used to sacrifice animals. The type of rock art known as the Pastoral style, featuring evocative outline drawings of cattle, appears on upright stones incorporated into the platforms in the period 5430-5150 BP, and probably earlier. Furthermore, they show that these places were part of a dense and exten…
Working in a Unesco WH Site. Problems and Practices on the Rock Art of Tadrart Akakus (SW Libya, Central Sahara)
Rock art contexts are a fragile aspect of the world’s cultural heritage and have always attracted the attention of scientists, institutions, stakeholders, and visitors. UNESCO gives due recognition to this significance by including many art sites on its World Heritage List. The Tadrart Akakus in SW Libya was awarded this status in 1985. However, over the past decade, given a series of threats (tourism, infrastructure, oil exploitation), these Hol…
First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium bc
Saharan prehistoric basketry. Archaeological and archaeobotanical analysis of the early-middle Holocene assemblage from Takarkori (Acacus Mts., SW Libya)
Persistent deathplaces and mobile landmarks
Geography (49 obras) · Archaeology (48 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (27 obras) · African Studies and Geopolitics (26 obras) · Prehistory (22 obras) · Geology (20 obras) · Holocene (20 obras) · History (16 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (14 obras) · History (13 obras)