Jebel Gharbi Area, Libya

Jebel Gharbi (also known as Jebel Nafusah) is a mountain range located in northwestern Libya next to the eastern fringes of the Maghreb. It occupies the highest portion of the Tripolitanian Plateau at 700-750 meters above sea level (masl), which ends with a steep escarpment descending to 300-350 masl. This massif opens to the north into the Jefara Plain, which extends up to the Mediterranean Sea coast. The plain has a width of 60 km at Gharyan, to the east, and 135 km at Nalut, to the west, and connects the Mediterranean coast to the Sahara, south of Jebel Gharbi. A preliminary geomorphological reconnaissance was conducted along Wadi Ghan, in the eastern part of the mountain range. More recently, the Italian-Libyan Archaeological Project in the Jebel Gharbi began research activities in the early 1990s. Investigations were focused along the two main seasonal streams flowing from south to north, Wadi Ghan to the east and Wadi Ain Zargha to the west, and on the area of the Jefara Plain at the foot of the mountain range to the north.