Charles Daniels Papers on Fezzan and other locations in Libya

The image below is from D24/12/1/1 and shows an unidentified man and the Roman fort at Gheriat el Garbia.

Charles Manser Daniels, 10 August 1932 - 1 September 1996, died aged 63. He developed an interest in history in his native Newcastle, he moved to his home university where he remained for the rest of his life as a museologist.

He was introduced to the rigours of north African, and specifically Libyan, archaeology through his colleague Dr David Smith with whom he made initial trips to southern Tripolitania and the Fezzan.

In 1960, a period of research at the British School in Rome also acted as a springboard for further work in Libya. At the time, the then director stated that he "had best get the desert out of his system while still a young man", but Daniels persister in developing a major programme of work on the archaeology of the Fezzan, the potential of which had first been revealed (with the aid of a military escort) by the Italian archaeologist, Giacomo Caputo before the onset of the second world war.

From 1964 into the early 1970s Daniels conducted a survey and excavation in the Wadi el Agial, the heartland of the Garamantian kingdom, aided by a team of volunteers drawing from the archaeologists of the northern frontier, and with the indefatigueable support of his wife Miriam.

In 1980, Daniels was elected chairman of the Libyan Society. His appointment marked a broadening of the pool from which officers were drawn; yet, unfortunately, as political relations between Libya and the UK declined, the Society's role inevitably became circumscribed.

Daniels concentrated increasingly on work in northern Britain and was pivotal in the organisation of a highly successful Wall Conference and a series of northern frontier seminars which reproduced, jokes and all, accounts of work in progress and emerging interpretations, notably on the development of the Antonine Wall.

At Newcastle University he moved from an initial position as deputy keeper of antiquities to full-time teaching, serving as chairman of the department. A growing disenchantment with the universities, as student factories at the expense of student and postgraduate involvement in quality research, led to his retirement and the resumption with Miriam of the travels that made him the most knowledgeable Roman Africanist of his generation.

Barri Jones, "Charles Daniels: Unearthing North Africa's Past" in The Guardian, 21 October 1996.

Available for general access

Please contact the BILNAS General Secretary on gensec@bilnas.org If you wish to consult the archive.

*Note that the collection was used extensively for "The Archaeology of Fazzan" monograph series. Previous arrangement of the records very likely reflects the publication rather than the original order of Charles Daniels.

John Hawthorne Papers.