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During the Roman-period, hundreds of mausolea were commissioned by the local Libyan elite in Tripolitania (Libya). While funerary sculpture was rare in pre-Roman Tripolitania, during the Roman period many were vividly decorated with symbolic and figural sculpture. This Ph.D. provides the first extended discussion and comprehensive catalogue of Tripolitanian mausolea and their decorations. Based on the data from this catalogue, it aims to highlight the broad spectrum of decorations, and seeks to demonstrate how aspects of Roman, pan-Mediterranean, and North African imagery were re-formulated to create an iconography with local relevance through which complex layers of identity, beliefs, and symbolism were expressed. After setting the mausolea within their historical, geographical, and social contexts, this Ph.D. will provide an overview of their main architectural types and the principal iconographic themes displayed. Next, the sculptural decorations will be investigated through select case studies by focusing on their regional context together with the inscriptions and the architecture of the monument, along with the local socio-economic circumstances. Finally, this study will explore how the iconography helped to express the different layers of identity of the commissioner, and how other actors, such as the viewer and the craftsmen, may have influenced the range of imagery that was ultimately displayed. This way we can detect subtle differences in the iconography of the sculptural decorations, which otherwise may stay hidden. Instead of viewing this funerary sculpture as a failed attempt of Roman art, or merely a product of resistance against Rome, this study demonstrates that the iconography was very complex. By contextualising the mausolea within their local setting, it becomes clear that North African, Roman, and pan-Mediterranean imagery was reinterpreted to convey messages that were relevant within the regional setting of Tripolitania, reflecting local sociocultural concerns and identities.

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The subject of this thesis are the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures in Turkish Thrace. Turkish Thrace acts as a land bridge between the Balkans and Anatolia. Along this land bridge it might be expected that there has been a transfer of ideas, exchange and movement of objects between two regions. Intensive survey in a selected part of Turkish Thrace - the Edime region - and systematic field collection techniques on selected sites were conducted. Intensive surveys in the Edime region have provided important evidence relating to past land use and settlement systems. On the basis of examination settlements and artefacts, local Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures closely related to the Balkan cultures were defined. One of the research problems in Turkish Thrace is the apparent dramatic decrease in population in the late Chalcolithic period. All late Chalcolithic sites are small relative to those of other Chalcolithic cultures in the Balkans. There are as yet no geographical studies, soil analysis or pollen diagrams from Turkish Thrace. However, it seems most likely that the depopulation of Turkish Thrace can be explained by a combination of environmental changes, soil changes or exchange network collapse. In Neolithic and Chalcolithic period, some of the Anatolian material looks similar to those of the Balkans. Similarities may be explained by the interaction sphere model. An interaction sphere is defined as an information or item exchange system through which aspects of culture are transferred and which ultimately produces regional similarities. Metabasite stone axes from the Şarköy axe factories were found in the Early Neolithic levels of Hoca Çeşme as well as on settlements in the Edime region. Honey flint of Northeast Bulgaria and Aegean Spondylus were found in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements of Turkish Thrace. These examples begin to introduce the nature of the exchange network in Turkish Thrace.

The aim of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of water management systems, land use and settlement patterns in Roman Arabia. Using an integrated approach, based on Geographical Information Systems (GIS), archaeological data, historical sources, landscape and surface survey this thesis explores the application of water management systems, particularly those technologies used to capture and control floodwater. This information is then used to address some of the major issues and models which have been postulated to account for, or contribute to, the settlement of marginal regions of the Levant during the Roman period. Many theories proposed in the recent past have attempted to explain the development of these peripheral zones, and these range from climate change, population increase, growth in trade and economy, through to imperialism and Romanisation. The first part of this thesis critically assesses the range of evidence on which many key arguments have been constructed, and clearly shows that much of it is incomplete and/or inadequate to explain such a complex phenomenon. Using the site of Wadi Faynan, Jordan, as a case study, it has been demonstrated that the study of water management systems has provided a great deal of information with which to understand the dynamics present in the occupation, development and abandonment of marginal sites. Furthermore, an analysis of the regional evidence has emphasised the regional diversity of Roman Arabia and the major factors affecting such diversity. In particular, the innovative use of a GIS has provided a clear analytical tool with which to model large amounts of complex data, and move towards exciting new interpretations and new applications of such technology.

The chronology of the Aegean Late Bronze Age is a vigorously contested area of archaeological study, with "high" and "low" schemes emerging over the last three decades. The chronological lynchpin for this period is the catastrophic eruption of Thera (Santorini), at a point in the mature Late Minoan (LM) I A ceramic period. Two possible calendrical ranges for this eruption have emerged: c. 1540 - 1500 BC, and c. 1645 - 1628 BC. The latter first gained currency in the 1970s, and the controversy focuses on which range is more probable. This thesis examines the chronology of the Late Minoan (LM), Late Cycladic (L Cyc), Late Helladic (LH) and Late Cypriot (LC) periods in detail and their various relationships with the eruption. Because archaeological methods of dating these sequences, which traditionally place the eruption within the later range, are fluid and open to re-interpretation (in favour of the earlier range), the calendrical date of the eruption is of crucial importance. The scientific arguments, which tend to favour the earlier range, are analysed alongside the archaeological arguments. Finally, the effects of the eruption, and their implications for chronology, are considered. A comprehensive catalogue detailing of all Thera's volcanic deposits from around the region is presented, as is a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis of these deposits which suggests that the volume of the eruption may have been up to five times previous estimates, and almost double the largest previous estimate. In conjunction with this study, a reappraisal of the eruptive rate and intensity of the Minoan event using mathematical differential analysis is presented, to provide an integrated investigation of its impact. It is concluded a) that the eruption was far larger than previous thought, and that b) a calendrical date for the eruption between c. 1540 - 1500 BC is more probable than a date between 1645 - 1628 BC.

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