The Turkish Fort at Abu Kammash (after recent restoration).
The Turkish Fort of Abu-Kammash
The ancient Turkish fort was built close to the beach of
Abu Kammash. The building blends beautifully well with the surrounding flowers
and the rich-blue water of the harbour. The fort was guarded by Turkish soldiers
until the Italian wars at the start of the 20th century. The above photo was
taken after the fort has been restored, and unfourtunately we have no photos
of what the actual fort looked like before then.
The Fishing Village of Abu Kammash
Abu Kammash is a small Berber village by the sea, located
about 25 km from the Tunisian border.
A low reef runs parallel to the shore for about two
miles, enclosing a beautiful fishing harbour, and
a small jetty with blue-painted fishing boats
moored on both sides. The fist part of the jetty
(or the landing-stage) is built of rocks and stone,
and terminates in a wodden section, just as in the
photo below. This small harbour does
not look old, and one is left to presume that the
ancient anchorage has been claimed by the sea, waiting
to be discovered by future underwater archaeology.
Indeed this has been already indicated by the recent discovery
of a buried city and cemetery by the coast of Abu-Kammash
(see below for photos).
The village
was originally inhabited by a few Berber families from
Zuwarah, who
used it as a fishing village and as a crossing point to
the peninsula of Farwah. This was partly due to the fact
that Zuwarah, until recently, was a huge region spanning
from Sabratha
to the Tunisian border. Abu-Kammash is well known
for catching
"fish",
and hence its name may come from the Berber
verb
"ekmesh"
('to catch') - "the place to catch good fish".
Fish Caught in Abu Kammash: Berber name "bouri" or "bouree".
Fishing pots: the pots are
connected with a rope and placed in the sea. Squid
and octopus use the pots as 'home' for what they thought was a safe shelter -
because the
octopus does not have a shell, just a soft white
flesh. The fishermen then pull the pots out with animals
still inside.
Octopuses belong to the 150 species of marine mollusc,
most of which have external shells. The name octopus comes
from the Greek oktopous, which means octo (eight)
and pous (foot), from the
fact that it has eight arms, each
of which bears two rows of suckers.
The Arabic name okhtabut was derived from this Latin
form, as clearly preserved by the etymology of octo (okhta).
The Berbers call it abelboul, the etymology of which
is unknown.
The Newly Discovered Archaeological City in Abu-Kammash
Is This The Ancient Punic-Roman Town of Pisindon?
The history of the village is not known, as there are
hardly any written sources about Abu Kammash. According to At-Tijani's Travels in North Africa,
Abu-Kammash once was part of Zuwarah and was inhabited
by tribes from Zuwarah - a name which originally signified
a whole region rather than a particular town. A recent
archaeological discovery of an ancient city and a
cemetery will shed more light on its early history
once it has been properly studied.
The city was discovered by chance while workers were
digging to install water pipes during the start of the new millennia (around
2001). The site extends a few kilometres along the coast and stretches in both
directions: north beneath the sea, and south across the coastal road. Unfortunately,
it was reported that many of the
excavated graves and tombs were robbed by Moroccan labourers
who were employed during the initial excavation shortly
after the discovery.
The excavated parts have so far yielded
funerary chambers with several graves of cremated bodies, whose bones were
preserved in jars. Although the city appears to be of Roman character, excavations
showed an earlier Phoenician, Berber or Punic layer beneath the city. The practice
of building new buildings on top of earlier and much older ones was very common
in the ancient world. Dig beneath a church, for example, and it is more likely
you will find a pagan temple more than anywhere else.
Welcome to the ancient tombs; the gates are wide open!
Is The Search For Atlantis Over?
The popular subject (or project) of Atlantis has defied
the imagination, generated more than 5000 books,
and has slowly but steadily steered away from its
source and agreeably became an international taboo
respected scholars dare not mention, in public. It
is not the intention to associate this location with
fanciful Atlantis nor this is the place to cover
this issue. But it is important to familiarise
oneself with the local culture once present in this
region.
It is often neglected that the statements of
the classical Greek scholars, the source of all this
mystery and nonsense, were originally based on the
account given to them by their Libyan teachers: the
Berber priests of the Egyptian Delta, and hence the
first people, ever, to mention the legend
of Atlantis were the ancient Libyans - the Berbers.
It has been
already suggested that although the original Libyan account of Atlantis was part
of the oral local literature and as such part of the Libyan
oral history (during a period when writing was
yet to be invented), the Greek
philosophers habitually used the information, they
learnt in Egypt, to write works of fiction which epidemically spread like an
infection. And, likewise, Greek mythology is powerfully
rich in references to Libya and to this particular
period from which it is blindingly apparent that
the area of Lake Tritonis once was a major
centre of civilisation and advanced culture: the
seat of Poseidon's empire,
which Zeus and, later on, the Argonauts,
could not resist to visit; and from which many
writers had fabricated their
money-making and perhaps Aryan-oriented novels.
The big question
which scholars have miserably failed to ask, let alone
answer, is:
what was Zeus doing in
Libya?
Was he a divine tourist? Was he there to
ask his Mother for forgiveness? Why was Zeus struck
by a terrible headache while walking along the shores
of Lake Tritonis in west Libya?
Inside the vandalised Berber Cemetery.
The view of Farwah from Abu-Kammash.
Abukammash Chemical Complex
Cancer Complex
The chemical complex of Abu Kammash was built
to produce household and industrial chemicals, including about 100,000 tons of
ethylene dichloride per a year; 60,000 tons of PVC per a year; and 60,000 tons
of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) per a year.
The plant is now a source of major pollution in the area, with mercury
contaminating water and other toxins leaking
over the scorched ground, poisoning wildlife, destroying the environment,
and slowly spreading cancer in the region.
Abukammash Hazardous Chemical Pollution, as seen by Google (top, left).
Detailed images from the above video: curtsey of Zuwara Media Centre.
The area between Farwa and the coast has been proposed for cage/pen culture
activities in the past, but trial mussel-rearing failed in 1988 for a number
of reasons including "pollution hazard potential" from
the complex of Abukammash. It was said that the complex at one stage
developed a problem with its cooling system
that may have leaked mercury-contaminated water into the sea. However the visible
signs of negligence speak of other reasons.
The Berbers of Zuwarah have recently began "talking" about
the sudden increase of reported cancer cases in Zuwarah, seemingly with no authority
in site to investigate. The people still swim in the area and eat fish
caught in the sea. The fact that the Berbers of Zuwarah now also use "bleach" to
do their normal washing-up, adds more to the consequencess to come. Will the
Berbers campaign to dismantle the "cancer
machine";
or will they accept defeat and see their children suffer the brewing consequences
in decades to come?
One would think the region would benefit if
the complex be removed, or at least relocated elsewhere, to protect wildlife
and to avert disaster; and instead turn Farwa to a tourist resort in preparation
for the difficult times ahead. This area has an ancient archaeological heritage
and wonderful sea resorts, Libya ought to respect for good. Let us hope Libyan
politicians grant the preservation of nature and Libyan
Tourism their utmost attention.
Instead, one of the
NTC ministers had recently visited Zuwarah, and promised the Berbers that his
government will do its best to restore the complex machine (having been neglected
in recent years) - presumably to continue the dangerous "project" initiated
by Gaddafi!
Claims to Exterminate Zuwarah
According to "The New York Review of Books", Nicolas Pelham wrote:
"In
what Riqdaleen fears is a precedent, Zwarans have evicted some seven hundred
Arab workers from the housing compound of their chemical factory, Abu Kammash,
saying the workers were complicit in Qaddafi’s plot to wipe their Berber town
off the map. Since its opening in the 1980s—atop what Zwarans say is an old Amazigh
graveyard—the plant employing these workers had spewed mercury and acid into
the sea, poisoning the Zwarans’ fishing waters and population"
[nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/21/libya-cracking/].
Data:
Project Name: Design of administration and conference hall buildings of Abu Kammash Chemical Complex.
Name of Client: General Company for Chemical Industries.
Scope of Work: Structural designs for both buildings
GCCI, Noell - LGA,
Abu Kammash: New Ethylene Tank
Construction of ethylene storage
Hambrug, Germany
8000 m3 tank with belonging steel structure, piping, painting and insulation works.
Project Name: Rehabilitation of Abu Kammash Marine Jetty.
Name of Client: Libyan Transport and Port Administration
Scope of Work: site Supervision of the rehabilitation
works of the reinforced concrete and steel elements
The jetty is about 2 Km long and about 25 years old.
Abu-Kammash Sabkha
The Sabkha is an extensive salt marsh
straddling the Libyan-Tunisian border, rich in natural Artemia population. Walking
across the Sabkha is very risky, but if you happened to find yourself there,
please bear in mind that what appears to be a crusty
salt on the surface may hide a blackhole beneath.
A Cable Link Between Abu Kammash And Sicily
According to the website of the
Utility
Automation
&
Engineering T
&
D
(uaelp.pennnet.com/display_article/313924/22/ARTCL/none/none/1/Nova-Scotia-Power-Awards-Contract/),
December, 2007, Italy’s Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano (CESI) has
finished a study looking at a potential electricity connection via a 500-km-long
cable between Abu Kammash in Libya and Partanna in Sicily, with a capacity of
either 1000 MW or 500 MW. A detailed marine survey is being conducted to establish
the exact route of the cable.
