Projects per year
Abstract
The project focused on the integration of three key strands of Malta's early human history (environmental change, human settlement and population) set against a series of questions that interrogated how human activity impacted on the changing natural environment and resources, which in turn impacted on the Neolithic populations. The evidence from early sites together with the human story preserved in burial remains reveals a dynamic and creative response over millennia. The scenario that emerges implies settlement from at least the mid-sixth millennium bc, with extended breaks in occupation, depopulation and environmental stress coupled with episodes of recolonization in response to changing economic, social and environmental opportunities.
Excavation at the temple site of Santa Verna (Gozo) revealed an occupation earlier than any previously dated site on the islands, whilst geophysical and geoarchaeological study at the nearby temple of Ġgantija revealed a close relationship with a spring, Neolithic soil management, and evidence for domestic and economic activities within the temple area. A targeted excavation at the temple of Skorba (Malta) revisited the chronological questions that were first revealed at the site over 50 years ago, with additional OSL and AMS sampling. The temple site of Kordin III (Malta) was explored to identify the major phases of occupation and to establish the chronology, a century after excavations first revealed the site. Settlement archaeology has long been problematic in Malta, overshadowed by the megalithic temples, but new work at the site of Taċ-Ċawla (Gozo) has gathered significant economic and structural evidence revealing how subsistence strategies supported agricultural communities in early Malta. A study of the second millennium bc Bronze Age site of In-Nuffara (Gozo) likewise has yielded significant economic and chronological information that charts the declining and changing environment of Malta in late prehistory.
Original language | English |
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Place of Publication | Cambridge |
Publisher | McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research |
Number of pages | 856 |
Volume | 2 |
ISBN (Electronic) | ISBN: 978-1-913344-03-0 |
ISBN (Print) | I |
Publication status | Published - 17 Dec 2020 |
Event | National Museum of Archaeology - Malta Archaeological Socieyu - Valletta, Malta Duration: 31 Jul 2013 → … |
Publication series
Name | McDonald Monographs |
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Publisher | McDonald Institute for Archaeological Resrearch |
Name | Fragsus Project Monographs, with McDonald Institute Monograph series |
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Publisher | McDonald Institute Cambridge |
Volume | 2 |
Bibliographical note
Malone was editor, deviser of project and PI of the AD Grant from the ERC that funded the research project. She initiated the volume, determined the contents and authorships and contributed to each chapter very substantially. At least half the volume was written by her and the majority of illustration also undertaken by her. She edited the entire volume, and created the index.Keywords
- Malta, prehistory, temple, megalithis, economics, ceramics, lithics. archaeozoology, survey, chronology
- settlement, economy, pottery, artefact, zooarchaeology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Arts and Humanities
- General Environmental Science
- General Social Sciences
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Temple Places: Excavating cultural sustainability in Prehistoric Malta: Monograph 2 of the ERC Fragsus project'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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R6395ARL: Fragility and sustainability in restricted island environments: adaption, cultural change and collapse in prehistory
Ruffell, A. (PI), Blaauw, M. (CoI), Hunt, C. (CoI), Malone, C. (CoI), McCormick, F. (CoI), Reimer, P. (CoI) & Whitehouse, N. (CoI)
01/08/2012 → 30/04/2018
Project: Research
Impacts
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World Archaeology (Journal)
Malone, C. (Peer reviewer), Stoddart, S. (Peer reviewer) & McLaughlin, R. (Peer reviewer)
Dec 2018Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
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Hypogea and the Club House: Neolithic Malta's houses for the dead.
Malone, C. (Advisor)
05 Nov 2018Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Interdisciplinary approaches to work on the prehistory of Malta: the Fragsus Project
Malone, C. (Advisor)
24 Oct 2018Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Press/Media
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Neolithic Studies Group - Houses for the Dead Meeting
Malone, C.
05/11/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Behind the Science NVTV
Malone, C.
04/10/2018
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Malta: Film - Smithsonian Institution
Malone, C.
01/09/2017
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Temple Landscapes: Fragility, change and resilience of Holocene environments in the Maltese Islands.
Malone, C., Stoddart, S., McLaughlin, R., Hunt, C., French, C. & Grima, R., 05 Nov 2020, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. 569 p. (Fragsus Project Monographs; vol. 1)Research output: Book/Report › Book
Open Access -
Hypogea and the clubhouse: Neolithic Malta's houses of the living and the dead.
Malone, C., McLaughlin, R., Barratt, R. & Parkinson, E. W., 2019, Houses of the dead?: Neolithic Studies Group Seminar papers 17. Barclay, A., Field, D. & Leary, J. (eds.). Oxford: Oxbow, Vol. 17. p. 15-37 23 p. (Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review