PRODUCTIONS: LYBIA - CROSSROADS OF CIVILISATION

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SD Cinematografica

30'

SD

In antique times, the confines between the states had a different political connotation. What is today called Libia is a territory where there are collected some of the most diverse marvellous products of man from distant times. In the incomparable beauty of Tadrart Akakus, in central Sahara, are the most famous rock gratifies of prehistory. They have an age of between ten thousand and forty thousand years; the men which lived in the thick forest, which at that time covered what is now dry desert have left rock graffiti and pictures of extraordinary efficiency. They depict the animals which surrounded them: giraffes, elephants, rhinoceros, gazelles and camels. Through all these signs on the rocks, it is today possible to reconstruct the life-style, the climactic conditions, and the transformations which have happened in the arc of thousands of years. When the desertification was total, man was forced to move to the north. Ten thousand years after these first graffiti, civilisation has left another stupefying sign of artistic beauty, this time on the coast. The Forum, the market, the Baths, the Theatre, the port...all positioned between the desert and the sea, and moving through the paved streets is an emotional experience.