Papers of a British Military Excavation at Tocra, 1944.

Documents and photographs relate to the excavation at Tocra in 1944. The material details the progress of the excavation and the ware, pottery and bones they uncovered at the site.

In 1944, a small group of men from the British military carried out excavation work on the ancient site at Tocra. The named individuals involved in the excavation were Leslie Carlton, E. Hanson, Philip Horobin, Corporal P. Pratt, Sergeant Robinson and Sergeant Jack Webster.

The excavation commenced on the 5 January 1944 where they began work on the small quarry cemetery immediately west of their camp. They excavated a number of tombs and graves at Tocra.

During their work, they uncovered pottery, ware and bones.

After a couple of months excavating the site, they decided to cease work until the material they had already collected had been examined by "a responsible person."

Shortly after, they were visited by a party of military officers who provided them with information about the site of Tocra (Teuchera) including Brigadier D.C. Cummings, who supplied them with extracts from Encyclopedia Italiana and a booklet on Cyrenaica [Notes on the Ancient Cities of Cyrenaica by Major John B. Ward Perkins].

In July, they established a museum to exhibit the find uncovered during the excavation. The final diary entry relating to the excavation is dated 15 June 1944.

The documents within the collection have been arranged chronologically. Photographs have been arranged in a series at the end of the collection.

Available for general access

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

Records were received by Dr Joshua Pollard at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol in Summer, 2008.

The material was then deposited to the Society of Libyan Studies Archive at the University of Leicester by DJM [David J. Mattingly] on 28 November 2008.