Identity markers in the SW Fazzan: were the people of the Tanezuft/Tadrart Akakus region Garamantes?

The aim of this article is to discuss how the people living in the region including the Wadi Tanezzuft and the Tadrart Acacus Massif expressed their identity through material culture and behaviour, addressing the question if they should be considered Garamantes. Data gathered by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Sahara is used to define identity markers in the archaeological record. Characteristic elements of the material culture from the Tanezzuft/Tadrart Acacus region are compared with those from the Wadi el-Ajal and surroundings. The discussion of theoretical concepts such as ethnicity, cultural frontiers, cultural entanglement, as well as social structuring, power organization and exploitation of natural resources in pastoral societies, gives arguments to address the following enquires: is there really a difference between the Wadi el-Ajal and the Tanezzuft/Tadrart Acacus region during the first millennium BC? How to interpret regional variability, particularly during the Roman period?