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Archaeology, Epistemology, and the Earliest Phase of Maltese Prehistory

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Archaeology, Epistemology, and the Earliest Phase of Maltese Prehistory FACETS OF MALTESE PREHISTORY 1999 Themistocles Zammit .. FACETS OF MALTESE PREHISTORY Edited by ANTON MIFSUD CHARLESSAVONAVENTURA Published by the Prehistoric Society of Malta 1999 24lt 01 FACETS OF MALTESE PREHISTORY 1999 Editors: Anton Mifsud and Charles Savona Ventura. ISBN No. 99932-15-00-7 First published by the Prehistoric Society of Malta 1999. © Copyright: the Editors, on behalf of the authors. Except when stated otherwise, line drawings by Tabitha Mifsud. Cover design: Tabitha Mifsud; background photograph - Richard England. All rights reserved. No part of this volume may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the authors. Printed by: Proprint Co. Ltd., Shepherds Street, Mosta MST 08, Malta. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Illustrations V Introduction. 1 Archaeology, Epistemology, and the Earliest Phase of Maltese Prehistory. 25 Anthony J. Frendo. The early stages of the Maltese Pleistocene Mammalian succession: Evidence from the Maghlaq Pleistocene Deposits. 33 Charles Galea Bonavia. Quaternary Environments and the Biogeography of the Maltese Islands. 41 Christopher 0. Hunt and Patrick J. Schembri. A Checklist to the Quaternary Avifauna of the Maltese Islands. 77 John J. Borg. The Architecture of the Maltese Temples. 91 David H. Trump. The Maltese Dolmens. 101 Daniel Sciberras. Medical Mythology of Prehistoric Man in Malta. 107 Charles Savona Ventura. The Social Context of Maltese Prehistoric Art. 117 Andrew Townsend. Megalithic Mandalas of the Middle Sea - The Neolithic Temples of Malta and their Builders. 137 Richard England. The Subterranean Sanctuary at Hal Saflieni. 149 Anton Mifsud and Simon Mifsud. The Gozo Stone Circle re-discovered. 169 Joseph Attard Tabone. Mortuary Customs in Prehistoric Malta. 183 Simon Stoddart. Aggression and Defence in Prehistoric Malta. 191 Joseph Magro Conti. Tarxien, Xaghra Circle and Tas-Silg. Occupation and Re-use of Temple-sites in the Early Bronze Age. 209 Anthony Bonanno. Trunkless Legs of Stone: debating Ritual Continuity at Tas-Silg, Malta. 225 Nicholas Vella. Index 242 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plates Page N eolithic eclipse 1 (C. Agius Sultana) Pioneers of Maltese prehistoric archaeology 7 (C. G. Zammit; W., H. and L. Collingridge; Times of Malta; A. Mifsud) Spirals at Knossos and Tarxien. 8 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; A. Mifsud) Members of the 1951 Maltese Survey of prehistoric remains 11 (C. G. Zammit; W., H. and L. Collingridge; Times of Malta; A. Mifsud) The Skorba years- V. Depasquale, D. Trump and C.G. Zammit 12 (V. Depasquale; C. G. Zammit) Kenneth Oakley at Ggantija 13 (B. Trump) The Ghar Dalam taurodonts flanking the largest Maltese modern taurodont. 29 (A. Mifsud) The figure which dictated the fate of the Ghar Dalam taurodonts. 30 (A. Mifsud) Prehistoric bird bones. 80 (J. J. Borg) The fagade ofthe lower temple, Mnajdra. 95 (D. Trump) Decorated altar for sacrifices, Tarxien, South Temple. 95 (D. Trump) Dolmens at Bugibba and Mosta 103 (A. Mifsud) Dolmens at Ta' Gherwa and Safi. 104 (Sunday Times of Malta) Pregnancy in the Mediterranean Neolithic. 111 (T. Zammit and C. Singer; M. Gimbutas) Shamanism. 112 (Wellcome Historical Medical Museum; E. Anati; A. Mifsud) The Jesuit father Emanuel Magri. 150 (M. Naudi S.J.) Hypogeum chamber with ancient red earth deposit. 151 (P. Tonna di Stagna Navarra collection) Skull repertoire of Hypogeum skulls. 154 (T. Zammit, T.E. Peet and R.N. Bradley; A. Mifsud) iv The Hypogeum skulls. 154 (T. Zammit, T.E. Peet and R.N. Bradley; A. Mif'sud) Contrasts in the Hypogeum. 158 (R. Ellis; A.J. Agius; Times of Malta; A. Mifsud) Some of the non-sepulchral features at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. 161 (R. Ellis; T. Zammit; J. Agius) The first known representation of the Gozo Stone Circle, by Pelagio. 171 (J. Attard Tabone) Houel's depiction of the destruction of a megalithic site, at Casal Caccia. 171 (J. Attard Tabone) Houel's depictions ofthe Stone Circle on Gozo. 172 (National Library of Malta; Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) Robert Hay - Egyptologist. 174 (S. Tillett) Incised face on rubble wall stone at the Gozo Stone Circle. 178 (J. Attard Tabone) Two articulated skeletons at the Brochtorff Circle. 185 (S. Stoddart) Borg in-Nadur: aerial photograph. 206 (Mapping Unit- Planning Authority 1993) Three sherds from Tas-Silg (1996-98) 221 (M. diDio) Three objects with incised symbols, from the Tarxien excavations (1915-19). 222 (M. diDio) Bossed bone plaque from the 1915-18 excavations of the Tarxien temples. 223 (M. diDio) The mutilated statue at Tas-Silg - four views. 239 (F. Borg) V Figures and Tables Page The estimated dates for Tarxien. 14 (T. Mifsud) Reconstructions of the Maltese temples. 15 (C. Ceschi; T. Zammit; T. Mifsud) Stratification and correlations in the Maghlaq region. 35 (C. Galea Bonavia) The Maghlaq region 37 (C. Galea Bonavia; T. Mifsud) Divisions of geological time. 42 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) The Oxygen Isotope Curve 43 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) Oxygen Isotope stratigraphy. 45 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) Stratigraphic sequence at Ghar Dalam. 50 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) List of vertebrate species from Ghar Dalam Quaternary deposits. 52 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) The four currently recognised Sicilian Quaternary faunas. 57 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) Fossil non-marine mollusca. 64 (C. Hunt and P. Schembri) Members of avian species from Maltese caves. 78 (J. J. Borg) Genera and number of species in Maltese Quaternary deposits. 79 (J. J. Borg) Prehistoric birds. 80 (J. J. Borg) Development of the Temple Plans. 94 (D. Trump) Categories of object-context analysis. 121 (A. Townsend) Statue menhir discovered at the Brochtorff Circle. 131 (A. Townsend) Ceramic anthropomorphic figurines. 132 (A. Townsend) Limestone anthropomorphic statuette. 133 (A. Townsend) Limestone figurines forming the 'Shaman's Bundle'. 134 (A. Townsend) vi Reconstruction of anthropomorphic statue. 135 (A. Townsend) Drawing of Ggantija. 146 (R. England) Schematic diagram of the distribution of the ancient red earth. deposit throughout the Hypogeum. 152 (T. Mifsud) Maltese radiocarbon dates of the Tarxien phase. 164 (T. Mifsud) Comparison of Hal Saflieni and the Brochtorff Circle at Xaghra. 183 (S. Stoddart) Plan ofBorg in-Nadur. 206 (T. Zammit 1930) Prehistoric weapons. 207 (MAR 1964; Trump 1966; Murray 1934; National Museum ofArchaeology, Malta; A. Mifsud) Prehistoric weapons. 208 (MAR 1964; Trump 1966; Murray 1934; National Museum ofArchaeology, Malta) Plan of the Tarxien temples. 219 (Zammit 1930) Scale drawings of three sherds from Tas-Silg. 220 (C. Gemmell and J. M. Briffa) The Maltese islands. 233 (N. Vella) Tas-Silg and Marsaxlokk Bay. 233 (N. Vella) Frontal view of statue at Tas-Silg. 234 (N. Vella) Side view of statue from tas-Silg. 235 (N. Vella) Area 2 South, Tas-Silg. 236 (MM 1967: fig. 1) Detail of Areas 21 and 22 in Area 2 South, Tas-Silg. 237 (MM 1967: fig. 1) Reconstruction in plan of the megalithic temple 238 and altar 45 flanked by pillars, Tas-Silg. (A. Ciasca 1976-77) vii INTRODUCTION One lunar cycle had elapsed in the also in the persistence of the feast of the autumn of 3756BC, and the Neolithic unconquered sun by practically all the farmers of the Ggantija phase had already world cultures of today. planted their grain in preparation for the rains. The sun had reached its midday There are no archaeological remains in position in the sky, when the unexpected such episodes, and no historical accounts started to happen. The sky began to record it; the earliest documentation ever darken gradually, and those who dared to of a solar eclipse is 2094BC1. The main look at the sun could eventually observe source of information for the 3756BC that its rim was being nibbled away. The event experienced by the Maltese daylight in the sky was being prehistoric inhabitants is science.2 The extinguished, and the warmth of the sun other side of the coin is antiquarianism, was disappearing. Just before total where the remains of the past are darkness, the remnant of the sun looked accounted for solely on the personal like a circle of beads, then a ring with a interpretation of the antiquarians, the glow at one end, and finally a radiant halo men of letters, the humanists oftoday.s surrounding a black disk; the Eclipses occur stars of the night roughly every six appeared in the months, but most black morning sky. are just partial. At one particular The impact of this spot, the chance sudden, unfamiliar of a total eclipse phenomenon on is approximately such an ancient once in 400 years. population totally In less than half unprepared for this time, such an event can however, between be gauged from the 3790 and 3599BC, recent world the Maltese were reaction to Eclipse exposed to no less 1999, at a time than twelve such when science completely explains the episodes involving more than 85% of the event, which was also precisely predicted sun's surface. A purely humanist in both time and place. It lasted longest in declaration would be one which declares Roumania, where the traditional peasant that the Neolithic Maltese of 3600BC explanation today is that of a wild animal started erecting their megalithic eating the sun away as a form of monuments in response to such a cluster punishment for sins committed by man. of eclipses, which they must have This belief in a celestial monster was also interpreted as omens of divine wrath. a feature of early man, whether it was Although an attractive hypothesis, Skoll the wolf, a dragon, a giant frog or a particularly in the absence of a vampire which was devouring the sun. satisfactory explanation for the Maltese Eclipses were portents of doom, and remedial action was felt necessary by 1 From astrological tablets at Ur, in ancient several cultures.
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