This research focuses on the collection of firilli boats found at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, Malta. The objectives were to document and record this boat type, by collecting knowledge from oral traditions and literature, paintings and photographs, tools and materials and ideologies. An environmental and historical background is outlined at the beginning of this study, providing the context for the firilla boat. Following this, previous literature dealing with documentation of traditional craft is presented. The methodology applied to document the primary sources is explained, along with a brief description of the secondary data collection. The subsequent section describes the results of the boat documentation, leading to a discussion of the most prominent differences.

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The post A stratigraphic study of the giren at ix-Xagħra l-Ħamra, limits of Mellieħa, Malta appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

Of all the abundant papers focusing on museum environments, few dismantle the decisionmaking process which characterizes the planning of displays and site presentations, going beyond space restrictions and physical needs of ancient artefacts. Such an approach is essential to understand why these decisions matter. A natural question which is seldom asked is, why display to the public in the first place? The present paper will start with this question, discussing briefly the two main theoretical stances in current western discourse on the subject. Two local case-studies will follow, supplemented by examples of projects which revolve around archaeology and communities. In the conclusion, theory and case-studies will be brought together in order to explain the link between archaeologists and nonarchaeologists vis-à-vis archaeological heritage presentation.

The post Deciding what to exhibit in museums: does it really matter? appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

This paper argues that the institution of the Missione Archeologica Italiana a Malta in 1963 is the offspring of the archaeological policies endorsed by the Nationalist Party (PN) that guided Malta to Independence. By looking at the archaeological debate in 1950s – early 1960s Malta this paper suggests that the revival of post-prehistoric studies by the Italians suited the cultural aspirations of the PN government and provided an effective answer to the colonial control of the discipline set out earlier by the British with the Malta Ancient Monuments Survey.

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The nineteenth century witnessed an explosion in the use of glass as a material from which containers and tableware were made. No longer confined to the packaging and consuming of liquids, a wealth of products were packaged in branded and patented containers. This article presents an initial analysis of glass recovered from archaeological investigations at the Inquisitor’s Palace, Vittoriosa, which in the second half of the nineteenth century was an army mess house and officers’ quarters. Focusing on function, key groups of glass finds are described. Where possible, brands and manufacturers are contextualised through  complementary documentary sources, providing a broader focus and relevance to the material. From baby food jars to hard liquor bottles, the glass finds present a picture of daily life that stretches beyond typical views of military life and highlights the importance of glass finds to understanding post-medieval contexts.

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Possibly late during the Roman occupation of Malta, a young deceased girl had a funerary monument set up in her memory by her loving mother. Analysis of both epigraphic content and iconographic elements on this monument would show that the mother, at least, is likely to have been originally a public slave but later achieved manumission, a status which remained to be enjoyed by herself and by her daughter. Moreover, they seem to have adhered to the then commonly held beliefs regarding the nature of death and afterlife. Yet, identifying their beliefs on the nature of death and afterlife did not prove sufficient to determine their religious identity as such beliefs were evidently shared by different religious groups.

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The alleged inscriptions in the south-east hypogeum of Taċ-Ċagħqi (within the premises of St Nicholas College in Rabat, Malta) were discussed in depth by Mons. Benedetto Rocco in 1972. Rocco interpreted the glyphs as Neo-Punic, with a long ‘inscription’ supposedly consisting of a prayer to appease the deceased through the offering of a gift, and an alleged minor ‘inscription’ addressing the dead to ‘rise’. These readings were discussed against the notion of possible libation rites that may have been a custom within the hypogeum, as suggested by the tomb furniture in situ. Rocco based his readings of the script and types of letters on his previous study of further alleged Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions within cave sites in Palermo and Favignana (Sicily), in combination with semantic analysis of Biblical Hebrew. Nevertheless, the supposed Taċ-Ċagħqi inscriptions come across as ambiguous sets of glyphs that are illegible, and actually cannot be deemed Punic or Neo-Punic script.

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This paper reconsiders the Late Neolithic of the Maltese Islands from a broader perspective. It argues that the prevailing narrative centred on passively inherited cultural baggage obscures the dynamic narrative created by the ancient inhabitants. It is argued that a fuller understanding of the period requires an engagement with concepts of time and tradition, which are seen here on multiple scales. This enables a fuller reading of the period, particularly in terms of how people created and redefined time.

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