Garamantes

The Garamantes (Ancient Greek: Γαράμαντες, romanized: Garámantes; Latin: Garamantes) were ancient peoples, who may have descended from Berber tribes, Toubou tribes, and Saharan pastoralists that settled in the Fezzan region by at least 1000 BC and established a civilization that flourished until its end in the late 7th century AD. The Garamantes first emerged as a major regional power in the mid-2nd century AD and established a kingdom that spanned roughly 180,000 km² (70,000 sq mi) 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 major desert that was not centered on a river system; their largest town, Garama, had a population of around four thousand, with an additional six thousand living in surrounding suburban areas. At its pinnacle, the Garamantian kingdom established and maintained a "standard of living far superior to that of any other ancient Saharan society" and was composed of "brilliant farmers, resourceful engineers, and enterprising merchants who produced a remarkable civilization."

The Garamantes may have descended from Libyco-Berber tribes, Toubou tribes, and Saharan pastoralists, who settled in an area of the Fezzan region by at least 1000 BC. At Takarkori rockshelter, 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. 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. People of the Tichitt culture in southeastern Mauritania may have also made domestic architectural and ceramic contributions to the Garamantian culture, possibly due to the presence of Sahelian women in Garamantian society as a result of intermarriage. The Garamantes may have been involved in slave raids against the Tichitt culture, possibly using captives as labourers in the Fezzan. 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 and Tebu.

The earliest known written record to document the Garamantes dates to the 5th century BC. Herodotus includes the Garamantes in his description of the ancient Libyan tribes, describing them as "a very great nation" who herded cattle and farmed dates. According to Herodotus the Garamantes used four-horse chariots to hunt "Troglodyte Ethiopians" in their quest for slaves. 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”; Libya being the Greek name for Africa west of the Nile.

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 Solinus, David Mattingly et al. (2003) concluded:

Clearly, the perception of some of the Roman writers was that some Garamantians were negroid or very dark-skinned, whilst others saw them as essentially aligned with the Berber peoples. 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 racial types: Berber, negro and various levels of miscegenation.

Roman depictions describe the Garamantes as bearing ritual scars and tattoos. Tacitus wrote that they assisted the rebel Tacfarinas and raided Roman coastal settlements. According to Pliny the Elder, in response to continuous Garamantian raiding, Lucius Cornelius Balbus and other Romans captured fifteen of their settlements in 19 BC. In 202 AD, Septimius Severus captured the capital city of Garama.

The decline of the Garamantian culture may have been connected to worsening climatic conditions, or overuse of water resources. 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, thereby, contributing to its end in the late 7th century AD.

In the 1960s, archaeologists excavated part of the Garamantes' capital at modern Germa (situated around 150 km west of modern-day 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.