British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies (BILNAS)
banner
bilnas.bsky.social
British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies (BILNAS)
@bilnas.bsky.social
We are a research institute and membership body sponsored by @britishacademy.bsky.social. We support scholars in Libya and the northern African region. Come visit our website at bilnas.org
💀 Image 3: B & W photograph of a skull which appears to be resting on a makeshift display. The photographs feature a manuscript note on verso "Exhibit 'C4'."

© BILNAS Archive: Papers of a British Military Excavation at Tocra, 1944 (Jan -July 1944) BILNAS/D9/2/2, D9/2/12, D9/2/13.

3/3
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
💀 Image 2: Black and white photograph showing Philip Horobin (left) and Leslie Carlton (right) sitting in front of the entrance of Tomb C. Leslie Carlton is holding a skull with both of his hands.

2/3
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

☠️ Image 1: Black and white photograph of Tomb D at Tocra. There is a collection of skulls, bones and pottery arranged on a stone slab in the centre of the image, in front of the entrance to the tomb.

1/3
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Esso calendar, in English and Arabic, for the year 1967 (1967).

Sabbat from Darna, Cyrenaica. "The sabbat (traditional lady's shoe) which is produced in Darna, is characterised by colour and decoration and, more notably, classical Arab Style.”
November 18, 2025 at 4:51 PM
📣 Join us at @britishacademy.bsky.social for this year's BILNAS ANNUAL Lecture.

"The Making of Medieval Morocco: State-Building & Everyday Life on the Edge of Empire" by Corisande Fenwick.

📆 Thursday 27 November, 6:30pm

📍The British Academy, London

💻 Register: eventbrite.co.uk/e/bilnas-ann...
November 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
📢 We are excited to announce our first joint lecture with the Egypt Exploration Society – @theees.bsky.social

“Women Explorers in North Africa.”

📆 Tuesday 4 November at 1pm (UK time)

BILNAS archivist Anne Marie Williamson combines Andrew Goudie’s research on the subject with her own findings.
October 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Photograph of Olwen Brogan near Nalut, c. 1970s and Giado, 1951.

© BILNAS Archive: Olwen Brogan Papers – BILNAS/D41/3/11/9/17 and BILNAS/D41/3/11/1/17

#نالوت
#جادو
October 1, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Join us tomorrow (Thursday) for the first BILNAS lecture of the year:

‘Street Art & Civil Society in Post-2011 Tunisia: Aesthetics, Civic Engagement and Organisational Challenges’ by Dr Anwar Tlili

🕔 Thurs 25 September 17:00hrs
💻 Online

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

All welcome!
September 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
📣 One week to go until the next BILNAS event:

‘Street Art and Civil Society in Post-2011 Tunisia: Aesthetics, Civic Engagement and Organisational Challenges’ by Dr Anwar Tlili

📅 Thurs 25 Sept, 5pm UK time

💻 Online via Zoom

Please follow this link to register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 17, 2025 at 3:37 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Photographs of wild flowers from Tolemeita (Ptolemais), taken by archaeological illustrator David Hopkins in 2007.

© BILNAS Archive:
David Hopkins Papers
BILNAS/D50/5/4

#تولميتا
September 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Phycus Expedition Photographs, 1950-1970.

© BILNAS Archive: David Smith Papers BILNAS/D1/11/3/2/2
___

📚 Would YOU like to explore the BILNAS Archives? If so, visit our website for contact details and access information: www.bilnas.org/resources/ar...
September 9, 2025 at 5:28 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

The axial chamber of the 'palatial suite' at the Fatimid Qasr.

BILNAS/D11/1/8/46: Ajdabiyah, Qasr Architecture 1 (1971-1976).

© BILNAS Archive: Donald M. Bailey and David Whitehouse Papers
____

📚 Visit the BILNAS Archives: www.bilnas.org/resources/ar...
August 18, 2025 at 4:07 PM
🏛 Journey through the BILNAS Archives

We are thrilled to welcome Xuejiao Huang (Neva), a postgraduate placement student, to the BILNAS Archive for July and August. Neva's placement is part of her Masters degree in Museum Studies.
August 6, 2025 at 5:39 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

BILNAS/D54/10/1/14/1/57

Inscription: Gheriat el-Garbia oasis (Wadi Tula) (GG) (1981).

© BILNAS Archive: UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey
____

📚 Would you like to explore the BILNAS Archives yourself? If so, visit our website at bilnas.org/resources/ar...
August 1, 2025 at 5:03 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Earlier this month, BILNAS welcomed Alla Abdunabi, a visual artist specialising in sculpture and installation, whose work explores the ‘material afterlives’ of objects through storytelling that weaves auto-ethnographic, historical and fictional narratives.

1/2
July 23, 2025 at 5:46 PM
BILNAS General Secretary/Publications Manager, Victoria Leitch, is also taking part in the project as one of the pottery specialists.

– with ‪
@eamena.bsky.social
@ou.edu
@archanchistleic.bsky.social

3/3
July 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
The project is a collaboration between the Institut National du Patrimoine Tunisia, Dickinson College, and The University of Oklahoma, and is also supported by the University of Leicester and the EAMENA Project.

2/3
July 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
🏛 Roman Acholla

The BILNAS Assistant Director, Dr. Nichole Sheldrick is co-directing a new fieldwork project in Tunisia at the site of Acholla, along with co-directors Nesrine Nasr, Andrew Dufton and Sue Alcock.

1/3
July 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

We're excited to share more progress in our ongoing efforts to digitise key archival collections.

Thanks to generous funding from @britishacademy.bsky.social, digitisation work is now underway on two historically significant collections...

1/3
July 2, 2025 at 5:32 PM
🏛 Journey Through the BILNAS Archives

Black and white photograph shows five women on stage, performing in a historical play. The woman in the foreground is wrapped in the flag of the Kingdom of Libya.

© BILNAS Archive: Roland C. Shaw Photographs D8/1/65

– with @archanchistleic.bsky.social

1/2
June 23, 2025 at 5:26 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives 🏛

The image is from a field notebook pertaining to Site V at Sabratha. It also features menu entries, presumably from the excavation at Sabratha. Dated 23 July – 8 Sept 1948.

© BILNAS Archive: Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward Perkins Papers on Sabratha D5/2/6s02
June 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
At the heart of this work was a series of remote engagement sessions, led by Reem Furjani, a Libyan researcher and cultural heritage activist.

#archivesareaccessible

2/3
June 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
This International Archives Week (9-13 June), BILNAS is celebrating the #ArchivesAreAccessible campaign by spotlighting the Libyan Archive Project, focused on enhancing the Archive’s descriptive metadata to better reflect Libyan cultural contexts and lived experiences.

1/3
June 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
🏛 Journey Through The BILNAS Archives

Photograph of a mould-made lamp, with rounded, carinated body; Cyrenaica, 1973-4.

© BILNAS Archive: John Riley Cyrenaica Papers D14/8/10/7
___

📚 Interested in exploring the Archives yourself? Visit our website to find out how: www.bilnas.org/resources/ar...
June 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
🏛 Journey Through the BILNAS Archives 🏛

Libyan inscriptions with tabula ansata (dovetail handles) at Lepcis Magna c.1950.

© BILNAS Archive: G.D.B. "Barri" Jones and John B. Ward Perkins Papers D10/12/1/10

with – @archanchistleic.bsky.social and @ceah-leicester.bsky.social
June 3, 2025 at 4:52 PM