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Island Questions: the Chronology of the Brochtorff-Xaghra Circle Gozo, and Its Signficance for the Neolithic Sequence of Malta

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Island Questions: the Chronology of the Brochtorff-Xaghra Circle Gozo, and Its Signficance for the Neolithic Sequence of Malta Island Questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff-Xaghra Circle Gozo, and its signficance for the Neolithic sequence of Malta Whittle, A., Malone, C., Cutajar, N., McLaughlin, T., Mercieca Spiteri, B., Pace, A., Power, R., Stoddart, S., Sultana, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Dunbar, E., Bayliss, A., & Healy, F. (2019). Island Questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff-Xaghra Circle Gozo, and its signficance for the Neolithic sequence of Malta. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 1-100. Published in: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Document Version: Peer reviewed version Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights Copyright 2019 Springer. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected]. Download date:07. Oct. 2021 Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Island questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, and its significance for the Neolithic sequence on Malta --Manuscript Draft-- Manuscript Number: AASC-D-18-00192R1 Full Title: Island questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, and its significance for the Neolithic sequence on Malta Article Type: Original Paper Corresponding Author: Alasdair Whittle, PhD Cardiff University UNITED KINGDOM Corresponding Author Secondary Information: Corresponding Author's Institution: Cardiff University Corresponding Author's Secondary Institution: First Author: Caroline Malone First Author Secondary Information: Order of Authors: Caroline Malone Nathaniel Cutajar Rowan McLaughlin Bernardette Mercieca-Spiteri Anthony Pace Ronika Power Simon Stoddart Sharon Sultana Christopher Bronk Ramsey Elaine Dunbar Alex Bayliss Frances Healy Alasdair Whittle, PhD Order of Authors Secondary Information: Funding Information: H2020 European Research Council Prof Alasdair Whittle (295412) H2020 European Research Council Prof Caroline Malone (35372) Abstract: Bayesian chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates from the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, Malta (achieved through the ToTL and FRAGSUS projects), provides a more precise chronology for the sequence of development and use of a cave complex. Artefacts show that the site was in use from the Żebbuġ period of the late 5th/early 4th millennium cal BC to the Tarxien Cemetery phase of the later 3rd/early 2nd millennia cal BC. Absolutely dated funerary activity, however, starts with a small rock-cut tomb, probably in use in the mid to late fourth millennium cal BC, in the Ġgantija period. After an interval of centuries, burial resumed on a larger scale, probably in the 30th century cal BC, associated with Tarxien cultural material, with the use of the cave for collective burial and other depositions, with a series of structures, most notably altar-like settings Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation built from massive stone slabs, which served to monumentalise the space. This process continued at intervals until the deposition of the last burials, probably in the 24th century cal BC; ceremonial activity may have ended at this time or a little later, to be followed by occupation in the Tarxien Cemetery period. The implications for the development of Neolithic society on Malta are discussed, as well as the changing character of Neolithic Malta in comparison to contemporary communities in Sicily, peninsular Italy and southern Iberia. It is argued that underground settings and temples on Malta may have served to reinforce locally important values of cooperation and consensus, against a wider tide of differentiation and accumulation, but that there could also have been increasing control of the treatment of the dead through time. The end of the Maltese Neolithic is also briefly discussed. Response to Reviewers: Dear Stephen, we have done our best to address all the points of both referees. We are very happy to deal with them further if required. Best, Alasdair Rowan blue Alasdair/Frances red In page 4 of the manuscript (and further on) the authors discuss the finds of the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra (“an underground collective tomb, the excavated parts of which yielded the remains of hundreds of individuals, mainly disarticulated, and a wealth of artefacts including sculptures, figurines, pendants and beads, some objects being made of exotic stone, as well as large quantities of pottery”). For readers less acquainted with Maltese prehistory it would be very useful to have specific counts of these finds; is there a MNI for the Brochtorff Circle? New reference and briefest of MNI numbers added, and reader pointed again to Malone et al 2009 for detail In page 27 it is claimed that “The process of division of space [inside the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra] could imply steadily increasing control through time over the treatment of for the dead”. It is not entirely clear just how and why the division of space would have led to increased control over the treatment of the dead, and who and why would have achieved this control. One can partly assume the answers to these questions, but it would be helpful if they were spelled out by the authors themselves. A note added that hopefully better sets up the discussion in this respect (p28) At various points throughout the paper it is claimed that the site experienced a sharp decline after the 24th century cal BCE. Thus, in page 30 it is stated that “Pollen and geoarchaeological evidence too is suggesting climatic fluctuations, increasing drought episodes and fewer trees, all of which implies that environmental changes impacted on the productivity, seasonality and the social cohesion of Neolithic Maltese communities”. Do the authors see any connection between this decline at the effect of the 4.2 ky BP climatic event? A connection between said event and the sharp collapse of southern Iberian Copper Age societies has been recently postulated (Blanco-González, A.; Lillios, K.; López-Sáez, J. A. & Drake, B. L. (2018): “Cultural, Demographic and Environmental Dynamics of the Copper and Early Bronze Age in Iberia (3300–1500 BC): Towards an Interregional Multiproxy Comparison at the Time of the 4.2 ky BP Event” Journal of World Prehistory). A very recent paper by Whittle and Spanish colleagues also postulates a sharp decline for the Valencina de la Concepcion megasite at around the 24th century cal BCE. It would be interesting if the authors could explore this connection a little further. The short answer is that there is no causal link – the modelling clearly indicates that the site had completely ceased at least 50 and probably 100 years before the 4.2 event; important features were closed even earlier. Note added (p34) to this effect. There are two factual errors in page 33, when the authors claim that “the development of early copper and gold metallurgy, and the flourishing of exchange or other networks which brought in exotic goods including north Iberian variscite...” First, the start of the Copper Age in Iberia did not bring about gold smiting, as this was already achieved in the Neolithic period. Second, there is currently three document Neolithic-Copper Age variscite mines in Iberia, two in the north (Palazuelo, in Zamora, and Can Tintorer, in Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation Barcelona, and a third one in the south: Pico Centeno, Huelva). Now corrected and tweaked In page 34, while drafting the conclusions of their paper, the authors claim that “there were expanding Bronze Age movements around the Mediterranean in the final two centuries of the third millennium cal BC”. This claim is backed by a bibliographic reference to Broodbank, 2013, a very general synthesis of the history of the Mediterranean civilisations. Can the authors provide a more detailed discussion of what these “expanding Bronze Age movements” refer to, with specific references thereby? True, but we immediately go on to cite literature dealing with the case of Malta… Reviewer 2 The term 'termini post quo' should be defined for the uninitiated/confused. Quos! Briefest ‘translation’ now provide at first occurrence at page 12, but we think this is common enough not to need more. We can of course provide more if the editor so desires. The finding that 'The record of Xaghra now suggests a more extended, steady and slowly changing cultural sequence where one 'phase' slides into the next' is an important one. But it's not surprising, and so reference could be made here to some of the Anglo-American scholars who have been arguing this in relation to Central Mediterranean (and especially Italian) prehistoric typo-chronology for decades - notably Ruth Whitehouse. Added note to text regarding this (p26). Not sure how much we can wade into debating the merits of typo-chronologies more generally at this point in the paper. The significance of the finding that at Xaghra there were ' could be extended explicitly to the contemporary, even more elaborate, mortuary complex of Hal Saflieni on the island of Malta. Brief note added, but there is not much more we can say, given the non-archive for HS The throw-away line (pp. 33-34) that 'Environmental evidence from Malta suggests abrupt economic differences manifesting around 2300 cal BC' needs substantiating, even though a reference to Carroll et al.
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