n a ridge above a perennial river, in Khemisset province, the site of Oued Beht has just established that it was in use long after the Final Neolithic. Libyan Studies put online on September 7 the results of the third season of the Oued Beht Archaeological Project, carried out in October and November 2023.
From 24 new radiocarbon dates, a wall, an embankment and a ditch raised at the southern end of the site are tied to the early and middle second millennium BC. They are the earliest constructions of their kind ever confirmed in the region.
Set beside the recent finds at Kach Kouch, they outline what the authors call a northwestern Maghrebian Bronze Age, contemporary with the El Argar culture in Iberia, for a period that has stayed almost mute until now.
The same season uncovered a settlement and burials of the medieval Islamic period. Further seasons will be needed to say who raised this work, and why.
Photo: Delpha, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Libyan Studies (Cambridge University Press) — Expanding Oued Beht: Final Neolithic, Bronze Age, medieval and later discoveries from excavation and survey in 2023, published online on 7 September 2026.
