Floods that killed thousands in the Libyan city of Derna also inundated one of the country’s major ancient sites, threatening its UNESCO-listed monuments with collapse, a recent visitor and renowned archaeologist said .
Immediate damage to Cyrene’s monuments, including the 2nd-century AD Temple of Zeus, larger than the Parthenon in Athens, is relatively minor, but water circulating around their foundations threatens future collapses , declared the head of the French archaeological mission in Libya. Vincent Michel, told AFP.
Settled on the Greek island of Santorini around 600 BC, Cyrene was one of the main centers of the classical world for almost a millennium before being largely abandoned following a major earthquake in 365 A.D.
Its name persists in Cyrenaica, the historical name of eastern Libya.
UNESCO declared its surviving monuments a World Heritage Site in 1982. When the overthrow of longtime leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising marked the start of years of conflict and neglect, the UNESCO added the site to its list of World Heritage in Danger in 2016.
According to Claudia Gazzini, a Libya specialist at the International Crisis Group think tank, who recently visited the site, much of it remains waterlogged days after the torrential rains triggered by Storm Daniel on 10 and September 11th.
In places, ancient walls have collapsed, blocking the waterways that would normally drain this sprawling site, which also houses a necropolis outside its walls as large as the city itself.
“There is a street lined with old walls that connect the upper and lower levels through which rainwater would normally escape, but large rocks have fallen, blocking the flow,” Gazzini told AFP by telephone from Benghazi, the main city in eastern Libya.
“At the lower level, there is also dirty water continuously gushing from the ground amid the ruins,” she said, adding that neither residents of the neighboring village of Shahat nor a local division official of the antiquities she encountered there, could not do so. tell him where it came from.
“If water continues to flow and remains trapped in the site, the retaining wall could collapse, taking much of the ruins with it,” she said.
Weakened foundations
French archaeologist Michel, who knows the site well having worked for 10 years in another part of the area, said he was able to analyze photos of the monuments taken after the floods.
“For now, there is no major destruction in Cyrene, the monuments are still standing,” he added.
“But the torrents of water, earth and rock have dug ravines in the ancient streets, particularly on the Voie Royale, and the main damage is still to come because the water has spread over a vast area and has weakened the foundations of the monuments.
“As the stone in the region is of poor quality, the monuments risk collapsing due to lack of good foundations,” he added.
The adjacent necropolis was flooded by “hundreds of cubic meters of water which displaced and submerged some tombs”, he added.
Michel also expressed concern about the risk of looting in the aftermath of the floods, which killed more than 3,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
The site located in the Jebel al-Ahkdar Mountains, inland from the Mediterranean coast, is normally popular with visitors for its panoramic views. But Libyans have more pressing concerns after the deadly floods.
Michel said his concerns had been partially assuaged by the rapid mobilization of Libya’s antiquities department, which had already requested help from the Italian archaeological mission to protect Cyrene and the French mission it leads to protect two neighboring sites.
The objective is to “join with local authorities in coordination with UNESCO to identify the main points of weakness of the monuments and note any deterioration”, specified Michel.
Actions should then be taken to repair the drainage of the site and consolidate the foundations of the monuments.
