Megaliths, people and palaeoeconomics in Neolithic Malta

Caroline Malone, Finbar McCormick, Rowan McLaughlin, Simon Stoddart

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

56 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The communities of Neolithic Malta developed within a restricted island environment that provided limited opportunities for economic expansion or success. The development of the curious Temple Culture in the fourth-third millennia BC nevertheless demonstrated an exceptional level of sustainable, yet dense, population with a distinctive civilisation. Towards the end of the third millennium the traditional system broke down, the temples were abandoned, and there may have been related environment/or economic failure which brought in a new Bronze Age cultural system, and with it, a far less sustainable approach to managing a marginal place. This paper described how new environmentally focused research is tackling the issues of reconstructing past economies and environments, and attempts to interpret the factors that underpinned the balance between people, place and their megalithic monuments.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMegaliths – societies – landscapes: early monumentality and social differentiation in Neolithic Europe: proceedings of the international conference »Megaliths – Societies – Landscapes. Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe« (16th–20th June 2015) in Kiel
EditorsJohannes Muller, Martin Hinz, Maria Wunderlich
Place of PublicationBonn
PublisherVerlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
Pages753-69
Volume2
ISBN (Print)9783774942134
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Publication series

NameEarly Monumentality And Social Differentiation / Frühe Monumentalität und soziale Differenzierung
PublisherVerlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
Volume18

Keywords

  • landscapes, prehistory, megaliths, societies, economics, subsistence, architecture, Neolithic, zooarchaeology, plants, palaeobotany, environment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities
  • General Environmental Science
  • General Social Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Megaliths, people and palaeoeconomics in Neolithic Malta'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this