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MALTA ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEWTHE JOURNAL OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, MALTA ISSUE 11996

FROM THE PRESIDENTT is is the first issue of the Malta ArchaeologicalReview, published by The Archaeological Society.The Society was founded to encourage, promoteand facilitate the study of archaeology in general and inparticular that of the Maltese Islands.The Society has held a number of very well attendedmeetings, and its membership has grown steadily. One ofthe key aims of the Society has been to promotecooperation between all those with a genuine interest in~ r c h a e o l o g y , and to support the work of the MuseumsDepartment and that of the Archaeology Department at theUniversity. The state of preservation of our archaeologicalheritage and the need for radical changes in some of themuseums will require enormous resources: it will alsorequire the goodwill and cooperation of all concerned,underpinned by the informed interest of the public at large.

Malta is immensely rich in its unique archaeologicalheritage. The relatively vast numbers of tourists that visitthe sites could make a substantial contribution to the fundsavailable for archaeology if the Museums Department wereallowed to retain the entrance fees and this would providea continuing incentive to making the sites meaningful andattractive. The inevitable hazard of mass tourist accesswould of course have to be carefully controlled.However the vitally important restoration and preservationof some of the unique archaeological sites of worldimportance require funds of quite a different order, fromboth local and foreign sources. Perhaps a percentage ofthe funds generated by the national lottery could worthilybe earmarked for the preservation of this unique andirreplaceable heritage that is at once both a rare and richresource, and an onerous responsibility.The Society is not a pressure group, but it could not butview the existing situation with regard to the state of many

Artist's reconstruction of he Brochtorff Circle The dynamic initiative of the Minister with responsibilityfor Museums and archaeological has already created a newatmosphere of hope and determination. Government fundshave been substantially increased and a radicalrestructuring of the archaeological museums is alreadybeing put into effect. A much needed grant from theprestigious Getty Foundation will greatly help therefurbishment and modernisation of the National Museumof Archaeology and one hopes that other grants will beforthcoming.Malta Archaeological Review Issue l 1996

of the archaeological monuments and most of the museumswith anything but dismay. It is therefore with great en-thusiasm that it welcomes the concrete initiatives recently announced which at long last will make real progresstowards preserving the archaeological sites and conservingand displaying the immensely rich collection of artefactsin a manner that does them justice. The plans for the restor-ation and management of the sites and the restructuring ofcontinued on page 8

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ExcAVATIONS IN Gozo 1987-94CAROLINE MALONE & SIMON STODDART

F ew tourists can visit the Maltese Islands withoutbecoming aware of the Neolithic Temples. Images ofthe great megalithic structures are used to great effectby the media and tourist agencies to convey the antiquity andmystery of early Malta, and to that end, such images havedominated archaeological thinking about ancient Malta aswell. For two centuries archaeologists have been aware ofthe temples, and until recently, of little else of the earlyinhabitants of the islands. Temple size, construction andinexplicable mystery have traditionally been used todemonstrate the highly individual nature of early Malta.Undoubtedly these interests have a validity in the explorationof the prehistoric past, but they are not the only, or indeed themost useful means of studying the islands. Thus when weand our colleagues David Trump and Anthony Bonanno wereinvited by Tancred Gouder of the National Museum to designa research plan for new archaeological fieldwork, we decidedto concentrate our efforts on the unstudied burial rites,landscape and settlement of prehistoric Malta. Gozo waschosen as the focus of study because of its manageable sizeand less developed landscape and lack of prior archaeologicalresearch.Research priorities were soon directed toward urgent rescuework of two sites which we excavated. One was a remnant ofa Temple period house on the road to Gliajnsielem. Here weuncovered half of the ground plan of an oval house with mudbrick walls and torba floors, only the second domesticstructure of the Neolithic temple period to be excavated.Unfortunately, few finds were associated, and it appears thatthe inhabitants of the house had been meticulous in cleaningand rubbish disposal. There is nothing archaeologists likebetter than an ancient rubbish heap, because therein lies theeconomic and often the social evidence of a lost society.The second site was the circle at Xaglira, long suspected bylocal amateur archaeologist Joe Attard, to be the site portrayed

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Fig. 1. Limestone statuette of two seated figuresone holding a smaller figure on its lap.

in the series of paintings and drawings by Charles Brochtorff,(housed in the Natiqnal Archive) which show an "excavation"in progress in about 1825. The site was threatened byspeculative development and although saved for posterity bythe intervention of Dr. Tancred Gouder of the NationalMuseum of Malta, it seemed a suitable site to explore. Wemade a series of Geophysical studies of the buried depositswith French, Spanish, Italian and Scottish colleagues whichindicated that there was a large cavity in the centre of what,even today, is a remarkably circular field.We opened a number of trial trenches into the surface ploughsoil of the field and found the rock edge of the cavity. Afterseveral seasons (each of a month or more) with a growingteam of young excavators from Europe and Malta, about athousand cubic metres of rock and later deposits had beenremoved to expose the buried site. Unlike any site yet exploredin Malta, the "Brochtorff Circle" as it is now known has slowlyemerged as a series of ruined natural caves. The rock roofs ofthe caverns had collapsed in antiquity, in spite of attempts toprop them ,up with megalithic stones. and the caves had beenentirely filled to ground surface. Explorations in the 1820sby Otto Bayer, the Lieutenant Governor of Gozo. had clearlyemptied out a good deal of the central cavern. and haddisturbed an Unknown quantity of archaeological deposit. Thiscavity too, had been refilled to the ground surface.Throughout the fill we found remnants of early activity,thoroughly disturbed through a combination of natural andhuman processes. The remnants consisted of potteryfragments, flint, chert and obsidian and occasional polishedstone axes, shell ornaments, and great numbers of brokenhuman bone. Only in the final 50-70cm of deposit did wefind intact deposits, lef t as they had been placed by prehistoricman 4500 years or more ago.The base of the caves (we excavated two adjoining caverns)was not flat and smooth, but instead presented a moon-scapeof hollows, ridges and different levels, carved out millenniabefore by water action. Neolithic man had then modified theinterior of the caves with the construction of rough walls andsteps closing of f side niches. There had been standingmegalithic stones forming altars and a fine screen of smoothedmegaliths partly enclosing a deep carved hollow containing

Fig. 2. Five of the nine schematized cult figurines.

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a large stone bowl. Within the individual niches and hollowsthere were dense concentrations of human bones, manypartially articulated, and representing successive generationsof burials from the nearby community of Xaghra and perhapsall Gozo. Few bodies had remained intact, because the burialrite had been communal and collective which is typical ofmany contemporary societies in the Neolithic Mediterranean.Each new burial in the site involved the disturbance of earlierones, with bones and skulls pushed to the sides and generallytidied up, thus it is not surprising that perhaps as few as 20%of the bones were still semi-articulated. Some of the mostintact burials lying at the base of the deposits, some 5m belowthe ground surface, also had simple Neolithic grave goods.These included a few complete Tarxien period offering bowls,shell and bone beads and pendants, flint and chert blades,polishing stones, and in one particular hollow, a number ofsmall clay figurines of the familiar corpulent form. These findswere all exciting, because they provided the first securecontext for them. Early finds, most indeed of the magnificentmaterial housed in the National Museum, come from earlywork on the temple sites and Hal Saflieni, where workmennoted down almost nothing of the finds' location, and inconsequence, we can understand little about their significanceor meaning.At the Brochtorff Circle, every find is located to the nearestcentimetre on a three dimensional grid, and thus it should bepossible to relate minute finds to their original context, suchas beads of a necklace around the neck of an actual individual.The most spectacular discoveries are generally thought to bethe group of nine cult figures which were found in tight bundlebeneath the fallen cave roof near a megalithic altar. Six figuresare schematic oblong figures with carved heads in varyingstages of completion. Some have the skirts and belts similarto some of the familiar figurines in the National Museum.The carved faces are unparalleld and surely must becontenders for some of the most accomplished art in ancientEurope. The other major find, and one that seems to be gettingmore than its fair share of publicity is the small stone carving

of two seated figures on a bed. Again the standard of carvingis very fine, and added to this is the polychrome finish,suggesting the figures had been coloured with red ochre andblack carbon. This figure was found close to the cache ofnine, beside the stone bowl. This central area of the maincave appears to have been some sort of shrine where thegreatest density of complete burials have been found togetherwith the ritual and cult figures.The nearest structural parallel to the Brochtorff site is ofcourse the unique and magnificent man-made construction,the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni. Yet, this site was carved fromsoft Globigerina limestone, and enlarged several times todeeper and deeper levels to accommodate the corpses ofgenerations of Neolithic Maltese. It was estimated, on thebasis of admittedly, the bones from one chamber only, thatHal Saflieni might have contained as many as 70QO burials.At Brochtorff, we believe we may have recorded as many asa thousand, but in scattered and broken form. Study of thismass of material takes great skill and experience and vastamounts of research time. Each bone must be cleaned, andthen sorted and identified. Records are made of size, age,physical condition, diseases and trauma, so that eventuallywe should be able to provide a complete analysis of this earlyMaltese population. However, it takes time and money, andthe latter in particular, is not plentiful, so our researches willtake manymonths as the bone specialists work through thematerial. Yet, the end result will be far more importantscientifically than all the figurines put together. Almost noprehistoric cemeteries in the Mediterranean have beensubjected to the level of care and analysis that has beeninvested in the Brochtorff Circle, so the results will beimportant at not only the local Maltese level, bu tinternationally. The broken bones may hold more clues aboutthe figurine worshipping temple builders than can be obtainedfrom artefacts and monuments alone. The Brochtorff Circlerevealed an unexpected cave of death that offers us a firstsecure glimpse at how the early Maltese perceived death andthe afterlife, and how the early art might have assisted themin their beliefs.

Human bones at the base of the Rock Cut tomb of Zebbug Perio d (4000-3700 BC). (Shad ed areas are Red Ochre).Malta Archaeological Review Issue l 1996 3

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Ggantija and Tarxien period pottery -large and miniature offering cupsMalta Archaeological Review Issue I 1996 5

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THE STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN MALTAANTHONY BoNANNO

T he University of Malta has made a late entry in thefield of archaeology. The first graduate coursesstarted only in 1987. One recalls with satisfaction,however, that Professor Temi Zammit, the distinguishedMaltese archaeologist, was Rector of the Royal Universityof Malta between 1920 and 1926, and that for a shortperiod, in the years 1938-1939, John Ward Perkins, thenat the beginning of his brilliant and influential career, wasappointed Professor of Archaeology. Furthermore, JohnEvan's work on the prehistoric antiquities of the Malteseislands in the fifties, published in his widely read Malta( 1959) and his monumental Survey ( 1971 ), was monitoredby a Committee set up to administer a grant made availableto the Royal "university by the Inter-University Councilfor Higher Education Overseas and chaired by the thenRector, Professor J. Manche.A full-time lectureship was instituted in 1969 and it wasfilled by an Italian archaeologist from Palermo, DottoressaRita Virzi. During her term of office in Malta ( 1970-1971)Dottoressa Virzi conducted full-scale excavations on theprehistoric site at Ras il-Pellegrin and some minor andpartial explorations at Ghar ta ' Iburdan and a cistern at IlBidnija, limits of Mosta. It is most unfortunate that, apartfrom a very short account of her exploration at Ghar ta 'lburdan published in Kokalos (1976-7), no report of theexcavations has been published. What is even worse is thatboth the photographic documentation and measureddrawings of the excavations were taken away and neverreturned, with the net result that virtually nothing can bedone by anyone to attempt an academic publication of theexcavated material which is still housed at the University.Attempts made by the undersigned to acquire thisdocumentation proved futile, and any help on this matterwould be appreciated.The undersigned was appointed Assistant Lecturer in theDepartment of Classics in March 1971 with duties to teachin both the Classics and Archaeology. But Archaeologywas not destined to develop and flourish for the next sixteenyears. In the early 1970s we barely managed to introduceArchaeology as a subsidiary area of study in the eveningB.A. course. After that course was completed, Archaeologyhad to wait for the change of government in 1987 to reemerge, first as a subsidiary area, but soon after, as a mainarea of study within the B.A. programme.The first two graduates were Mr Anthony Pace and MrGeorge Said, both of whom proceeded with their postgraduate studies in Archaeology abroad. Mr Pace won thepost of Assistant Curator of Archaeology at the MuseumsDepartment and was promoted to Curator soon after. Twoother graduates from our Department, Mr Nathaniel Cutajarand Mr Reuben Grima, joined the Museums Departmentas Assistant Curators ofArchaeology in 1992. Both of themhave since then undertaken postgraduate courses abroad.

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Meanwhile, the Department of Classics, which was reinstated together with the Faculty ofArts in 1987, changedits name to the Department of Classics and Archaeologyin 1992. This was made possible after Dr Anthony Frendojoined the staff of the Department. Archaeology startedbeing offered as a B.A. Hons subject in 1992, and lastNovember we had the first three Hons graduates, alongwith four others graduating B.A. Two of last year'sgraduates are pursuing further studies in England,providing further confirmation of the recognition of bothour degrees overseas. As from this year we have also ourown post-graduate students, one being registered for anM.A., the other for an M.Phil.The above historical account reflects directly the presentsituation in terms of courses and levels at whichArchaeology can be studied at this University. In brief, alllevels are available, from B.A. to Ph.D. As from next year,in collaboration with the International Office of theUniversity, it is ou r intention to hold also "SummerSchools" to cater for the international market. These willinvolve practical sessions which will see the participantsin these courses working along with our own students inthe Department's dig.This leads me to the subject of the Department's currentinvolvement in excavation activity. Up to last summer, asone can make out from another article in this issue, thisDepartment has been involved in a joint researchprogramme focussed on Gozo. The excavation part of it isnow concluded. What remains to be done is the postexcavation processing and eventual publication of the data.The research project included also a regional study of Gozobased on a field walking survey of a transect across thewhole of Gozo. This part of the project is still on and theDepartment will keep it s commitment to it until it scompletion.All this means that from this year the Department will needits own site to conduct annual summer excavationcampaigns, mainly to provide a proper field training forits students. I am pleased to be in a position to announcethat we have had the approval in principle to our requestfor the southern section of the Tas-Silg site, both from theMinistry for Justice, Youth and Culture and from theDepartment of Museums. All we need to do now is to settlethe conditions and details of responsibilities connected withthe site itse lf and its excavation.Th e declared objectives of the undergraduate courseprogramme in Archaeology is to provide our students withas broad a base for this discipline as possible. Theprogramme starts with a four-credit, compulsory,introductory study unit, followed by a series of other study

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SociETY REPORT FOR 1994D ring 1994 the Society continued to g r o ~ steadilyin membership, and attendance at meetmgs opento the public demonstrated the extent of interestin archaeology.The Society is greatly honoured by having the Presidentof the Republic as its Patron. The Hon. Dr. Michael Refalonow Minister with responsibility for Museums andArchaeology has shown characteristic vigour in setting inmotion a radical change in the management of archaeologywhich is of immense importance.Professor John Evans who has done so much forarchaeology in Malta and whose classic volume ThePrehistoric Antiquities of Malta remains the standard text,is an Honorary Vice-president of the Society.During the year a number of meetings were held at theNational Museum of Archaeology, which were very wellattended.Professor Anthony Bonanno, Professor of Archaeology atthe University of Malta, gave a talk on Roman Malta inwhich he outlined the wide range of remains dating fromnearly 600 years of the Roman imperium, ranging fromsophisticated villas to large country estate establishments.Dr. George Zammit Maempel, Honorary curator of theGhar Dalam Museum, spoke about the geology and fossilfauna of Pre-Human Malta and how the remains of dwarfelephants and hippos, as well as giant swans and dormice,had adapted to the environment of islands cut off by a risein sea levels.The Archaeology of the Emergence of Ancient Israelwas the topic chosen by Dr Anthony Frendo, Lecturer inarchaeology at the University. He described thearchaeological evidence for the conglomeration of thetribes that formed Israel probably after the widespreadseries of population movements initiated by movementfrom the north of what is now Greece and the AegeanIslands.

From page 6

units covering almost the whole of the chronologicaldivisions of Mediterranean archaeology from Prehistoryto Medieval. Study units focussing on Maltese archaeologyof the same periods are also provided. Other units areconcerned with aspects closely related to Archaeology,such as Photography, Surveying and Draughtsmanship,Principles of Conservation and Scientific Applications ofArchaeology.

Malta Archaeological Review Issue I 1996

SEMINAR ON THE BROCHTORFF CIRCLE

In September the Society held a one day conference to markthe end of the final season of excavation by a joint AngloMaltese team on the burial complex at Xaghra, Gozoknown as the Brochtorff Circle.As this coincided with the visit of a Bristol Universitysummer school the first part of the meeting consisted ofan update overview of the archaeology of the MalteseIslands, mainly for the benefit of our visitors. An audienceof about two hundred, headed by the President of Maltaattended. Minister the Hon. Dr Michael Refalo opened theproceedings with a speech which emphasised his intentionof tackling the many administrative and funding problemsfacing archaeology in Malta.The first paper was by Dr David Trump, now of Cambridge,a leading authority on the Pre-History of theMediterranean, who has ha d a long and fruitfulinvolvement in Maltese archaeology. He set the scene bya masterly review of Mediterranean pre-history during theperiod covered by the use of the Brochtorff burial complex,from the Zebbug to Tarxien periods (4000-2500).

'Professor Patrick Schembri gave an account of the probablenatural environment of the burial complex during its periodof use, deduced from a study of.the remains of snails andother species; he came to the conclusion that it wassomewhat arid and not very different to present conditions.The Phoenecian and Punic period in Malta were reviewedby Dr Tancred Gouder and Professor Anthony Bonannocovered the Roman period. Dr Mario Buhagiar spoke onthe little known era when Malta was part of the Byzantineempire. The change in landscape from an essentiallyagrarian one to the beginning of urbanisation that followedthe arrival of the Order of St. John was described byDominic Cutajar.The afternoon session concentrated more closely on theBrocktorff Circle excavations. Dr Tancred Gouderexplained how the Anglo-Maltese Gozo Project cameabout. Dr Caroline Malone then gave an account of theexcavations on the site from 1987 to 1994.The fascinating art objects found during the course of theexcavations were described in terms of their context byProfessor Bonanno, while Andrew Townsend spoke aboutthem in relations to other comparable objects from the restof the Mediterranean. With the help of the Curator ofArchaeology many of these unique artefacts were ondisplay for the first time during the seminar.Carol Brown, John Dixon and Robert Leighton were theauthors of a paper that analysed some of the artefacts andparticularly the exotic symbolic axes found in the burialcomplex. Another paper by Cristina Sampedro gave an

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Frompage7initial account of the vast collection of skeletal remains,much of them very well preserved, gathered during theexcavations. These constitute potentially the mostimportant material from the project and will require animmense amount of study. They date from the Zebbugperiod to the Tarxien though there seemed to be significantgaps in the Temple building period.The final paper was by Dr Simon Stoddart who spoke ofRites of Death Amongst the Prehistoric Maltese in whichhe examined evidence from the Brocktorff Circle and theHypogeum burial complex at Hal Saflieni whereunfortunately the bulk of the skeletal remains had beendiscarded without proper examination.

continued from page 1

FROM THE PRESIDENTthe museums will aim to fulfill the custodial and scientificfunctions of the Museums Department and at the same timeoffer a coherent, informed and attractive display, that willno doubt enhance the public interest and awareness that isvital for the future of archaeology.The excavation of the Brocktorff Circle was of majorimportance and once more puts the Maltese Islands on theinternational archaeological map. The excavations, carriedout to the highest modem technical standards, were anexcellent example of the cooperation that is essential ifsufficient resources and expertise are to be mustered. Oneof the most interesting aspects of this excavation mightwell at some future date be a study of genetic materialfrom the enormous collection of bones recovered from thisnecropolis.

OVERSEAS SITE VISIT TO AEOLIAN ISLANDSThe first overseas site visit was to the Aeolian Islands. Sixmembers sailed to the Islands in the Presidents sloop SANMICHELE. They visited the acropolis in Lipari wherelayers of remains from neolithic to Roman times have beenexcavated, as well as the excellent museums containingmaterial from Lipari and the other islands as well as themainly wrecks that have been excavated in the surroundingsea. They also visited the dramatic setting of a village onthe promontory of Punta Milazzese that spans thefourteenth century B.C., and the site at Capo Graziano onthe island of Filicudi. Obsidian from Lipari was importedinto Malta from some time early in the 5th millenium; itwas agreed that an approach by sea gave a new perspectiveto appreciating some of the problems of the prehistoricculture of the islands. '

At last the winds of change seem to be blowing favourably;the setting up of a Department of Archaeology at theUniversity will make a very major contribution to the futureof Maltese archaeology, and indeed one hopes furtherafield. Already its graduates, having undertakenpostgraduate studies abroad, occupy key posts in theMuseums Department; others are also completingspecialised studies at the presenf time. The strongleadership of the Minister concerned will no doubt harnessthe enthusiasm and new ideas of these to accomplish theHerculean task confronting them.This cannot be achieved without public backing and cooperation. In the reality of life today, archaeology can nolonger be regarded as an arcane and esoteric mystery,sacred to its initiates, but must perforce reach out andembrace the understanding and educated sympathy of thepublic.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY COMMITTEE

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PatronHonorary Vice PresidentPresidentVice President (ex officio)Hon. SecretaryHon. TreasurerLibrarianMembers

H.E. The President of the Republic of MaltaProfessor J.D. EvansProfessor A. H. B. de BonoProfessor Anthony Bonanno Graham FaircloughBrian NorrisDr. Mario BuhagiarAnn Monsarrat, Dr. John Samut Tagliaferro,Dr. Anthony Frendo, Keith Sciberras

Application for membership should be made to the Hon. Secretary,The Archaeological Society, c/o National Museum ofArchaeology,Auberge de Provence, Republic Street, Valletta, Malta.Copies of the Malta Archaeological Review are available free to members of The Archaeological Society and at a cost ofLml.OO per copy to non-members from either Archaeology Building or University Bookshop, University Campus, Msida andfrom leading bookshops in Valletta, Sliema and Rabat - Gozo.

PRINTED AT DORMAX PRESS ON RECYCLED PAPER 0Malta Archaeological Review Issue I 1996