Combattere a Leptis Magna: archeologia della Guerra di Libia

Fighting at Lepcis Magna: Libyan War Archaeology. Just 100 years ago, declaring war on Turkey for the conquest of the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, Italy started one of the last great colonial wars (the last should have been Mussolini’s war against Ethiopia in 1935-1936). During this conflict, the outskirts of the small village of Lebda were the location of bloody battles. The Italian troops landed at Khoms on the 21st of October 1911 and conquered the dominant hill of Ras el-Mergheb on the 27th of February 1912, but bloody fights occurred again on the 5th-6th of March, when Arab-Turks came back in order to recover the strategic position. After the Italian occupation of the ruins of Lebda (Lepcis Magna) on the 2nd of May, the opposing troops clashed on the ancient agger of Monticelli on the 12th of June. The location of Italian strongholds and the lines of Arab-Turkish attacks were roughly known through the contemporary military accounts. The more precise locations of the battlefields were accidentally recorded in one of the samples of the multi-period archaeological survey which the University of Roma Tre has conducted in the territory of Lepcis Magna since 1995. Classical and medieval archaeologists have had to examine the military evidence for more modern conflict archaeology. The discovery of elements of the munitions supplied to the two armies made it possible to identify their positions in the field. Surface finds included cartridge cases and bullets of the Italian guns Vetterli Vitali mod. 1870/87 and Carcano mod. 1891, of which there were also brass stripper clips, and the Turkish Mauser M1887. Fragments of shells and numerous shrapnel lead balls testify to the widespread use of artillery.