Prehistoric Malta

Borg in-Nadur, Malta, is a major multi-period site, with archaeological remains that span several thousand years. Excavations were carried out here in 1881 and again in 1959. This volume provides an exhaustive account of the stratigraphy, the pottery, the lithic assemblages, the bones, and the molluscs.

In this generously illustrated book Robin Skeates establishes a well-defined methodology for an archaeology of the senses, produces a challenging new interpretative synthesis of Maltese prehistoric archaeology, and provides a rich archaeological case-study for the emergent interdisciplinary field of sensual culture studies.

Sponsored by the Port Authority of Rotterdam

This collection of essays provides a reassessment of the multifaceted evidence which emerged from excavations carried out in 1909 and 1959 in the settlement of Bahrija, both largely unpublished until now. Bahrija is a key site for understanding the later stages of Maltese prehistory before the beginning of the Phoenician colonial period.

The Maltese archipelago is a unique barometer for understanding cultural change in the central Mediterranean. Prehistoric people helped reshape the islands' economy and when Mediterranean maritime highways were being established, the islands became a significant lure to Phoenician colonists venturing from their Levantine homeland. Punic Malta also sat at the front line of regional hostilities until it fell to Rome. Preserved in this island setting are signs of people's endurance and adaptation to each new challenge. This book is the first systematic and up-to-date survey of the islands' archaeological evidence from the initial settlers to the archipelago's inclusion into the Roman world (c.5000 BC–400 AD). Claudia Sagona draws upon old and new discoveries and her analysis covers well-known sites such as the megalithic structures, as well as less familiar locations and discoveries. She interprets the archaeological record to explain changing social and political structures, intriguing ritual practices and cultural contact through several millennia.

The large stone temple structures on Malta are amongst the earliest such constructions in the world, long before the pyramids were built in Egypt. This super book forms a pictorial record of all the temples on Malta, whilst also providing background information on the social and cultural history of the period. Built between c.3500 and 2500 BC, the temples reflect, and were part of, a period of great development on Malta and Gozo, especially in artistic and architectural terms. This is a clear, well illustrated account of the temple-building period, as well as of what went before and what came after.

This book synthesizes the archaeology of the Maltese archipelago from the first human colonization c. 5000 BC through the Roman period (c. 400 AD). Claudia Sagona interprets the archaeological record to explain changing social and political structures, intriguing ritual practices, and cultural contact through several millennia.

As is well known, years ago C. Renfrew adopted the social model of chiefdom to explain the emergence of outstanding megalithic centres in the Maltese archipelago in the mid-4th millennium BC. This represented a pioneering attempt to apply to a Prehistoric Mediterranean context the model, advanced by Neoevolutionary American anthropologists, that exemplifies unequal societies with an established hierarchy based on birthrights. Since then, the concept of chiefdom has been widely debated among scholars. In order to test the actual applicability of the chiefdom model in a real case study, which appears more fruitful than an abstract speculation, the authors reconsider the specific prehistoric context of Malta between the 3500 and the 1500 BC. As for the Temple period, a central question is posed: are the megalithic centres the materialised traces of an early emergence of social inequality in the central Mediterranean? Moreover, the possible reasons behind the collapse of Temple period society are discussed, as well as the socio-ideological transformations occurred during the Early Bronze Age. | Come è noto, diversi anni fa C. Renfrew utilizzò il modello sociale del chiefdom per spiegare l’affermazione di imponenti centri megalitici nell’arcipelago maltese intorno alla metà del IV millennio a.C. Questo tentativo pionieristico si proponeva di applicare a un contesto preistorico mediterraneo tale modello (formulato da alcuni antropologi neoevoluzionisti statunitensi), che esprime la connotazione specifica di società disuguali con una gerarchia stabile basata su diritti di nascita. Da allora il concetto di chiefdom è stato ampiamente dibattuto tra gli studiosi. Per cercare di verificare l’attuale applicabilità del modello del chiefdom a un caso di studio reale, gli autori riprendono in esame il contesto maltese tra il 3500 e il 1500 a.C. Per quel che riguarda il Periodo dei Templi, si pone un quesito principale: i centri megalitici rappresentano le tracce materializzate di una precoce insorgenza della disuguaglianza sociale nel Mediterraneo centrale? Inoltre sono discusse le possibili ragioni alla base del collasso della società del Periodo dei Templi, così come le trasformazioni avvenute durante il Bronzo antico.