Pliny the Elder recounts that when Lucius Cornelius Balbus celebrated his victory over the Garamantes of the Sahara in 19 BC, one of the conquests feted in the parade through Rome was that of Milgis Gemmella, described as an oppidum (usually meaning fortified settlement).

The earliest epigraph retrieved from the site is an inscription for a statue of Emperor Hadrian, in about the year 126 AD, by a cohors equitata (equestrian regiment) originating from Chalcis in Syria.

[4] Also present in the sacellum (chapel where the vexillae or standards and ensigns of the legion were stored) were statues of Antoninus Pius, Pertinax and Gordian, the latter two with inscriptions indicating the presence of the Ala I Pannoniorum (a cavalry unit raised by the Emperor Gordian[citation needed]).

[9] The 9th-century Arab historian Khalifa ibn Khayyat relates that when Abu al-Muhajir Dinar was emir of Ifriqiya (c. 675–682) he conquered Mila which may have been Gemellae.

The great fort (praetorium or General Headquarters) of Gemellae is rectangular with sides oriented to the cardinal directions, constructed in a manner common to most Roman castra.

[12] Pieces of painted fresco, including a half-size head of a deity, were recovered, along with offerings such as sea-shells and gazelle horns.

A ciborium contained a small sculptured stone lion seated before a 30 cm statuette of a goddess in richly painted terracotta.

In the area around the temple were also found roughly fashioned approximately life-sized prone human figures which may have been used to incinerate animal sacrifices.