In many ways, the impact aviation has had upon Malta is obvious; one only has to see how its airport dominates Malta’s landscape, the importance of tourism to its economy (an industry almost wholly reliant upon civil aviation) or even walk into its capital to be confronted by the bombed remains of the Royal Opera House to evidence this. In this paper, in addition to briefly outlining some of the ways aviation has directly impacted upon the archaeology of Malta, its other more subtle, hidden and unacknowledged impacts will also be examined. In doing so, new information and insights are revealed to uncover the true depth of Malta’s aviation archaeological heritage, and how it continues to influence and shape Malta to this day.

Malta Archaeological Review 2024, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2024.3
Received: 28 December 2023 | Accepted: 25 March 2024 | Published online: 12 April 2024

The post Hiding in plane sight: the unrecognised impact of aviation on the Maltese landscape appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

Highlights from the years 2021-2023.

Malta Archaeological Review 2024, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2024.2

The post Society Activities 2021-2023 appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

As ancient burials constitute the bulk of archaeological evidence in the Maltese islands due to their degree of preservation and survival, the general typology of ancient tombs in these islands is quite well known. However, one type of ancient burial seems to stand out for its uniqueness in the Maltese islands, even though it seems to have been widespread in the Roman world. This is the burial known as ‘alla cappuccina’: a very simple burial that employs slabs or tiles set gable wise to cover the corpse beneath. Surviving documentation provides meagre representation of this burial type in the Maltese islands. So far, it had only been documented once in Gozo with another possible instance from Malta. Another burial of the same kind was discovered in Gozo in 1933. Yet, for some reason, it failed to attract any attention to the effect that it was only unofficially documented by means of a contemporary newspaper article. It is thanks to the latter, however, that the poor corpus of this type of burial in the Maltese islands is being enriched with another, better documented example. The current contribution also seeks to move a step further by putting this burial not only in its regional context, but also within the wider context of the contemporary Mediterranean and Roman world.

Malta Archaeological Review 2023, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2024.1
Received: 3 September 2023 | Accepted: 2 December 2023 | Published online: 12 April 2024

The post A burial ‘alla cappuccina’ discovered on the north-western outskirts of Victoria, Gozo appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

A badly damaged Roman marble base now in Valletta, Malta, was first published in 1647 and then in 1787. It has been neglected since, mainly because there have been doubts about whether or not it is a genuine antiquity. This study argues for its authenticity, and contextualizes the relief sculpture that decorates three of its sides. The front carries a depiction of Sicilia, the personification of the Roman province of Sicily to which the Maltese Islands belonged. The image is set in context within the small group of known personifications of Sicilia elsewhere. Identical side panels each show a man with what is interpreted here as a turtle balanced on his knee, an apparently unique depiction of these creatures in Roman sculpture. It is suggested that turtles, now scarce in the Mediterranean, were once plentiful in the waters off both Malta and Sicily. In a secondary period, perhaps in the late eighteenth century, the base was badly mutilated during its conversion for use as a fountain. Whether it ever functioned as such is uncertain.

Malta Archaeological Review 2022, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2023.2
Received: 11 April 2023 | Accepted: 4 July 2023 | Published online: 10 October 2023

The post A forgotten Roman marble base in the National Museum of Archaeology appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

A sketch book by Filippo Vassallo is a primary source for late nineteenth-century documentation of archaeological sites in the Maltese Islands. Other than revealing the documentation process behind the first plan of St Paul’s Catacombs (Malta), the extensive use of surveying and the attention for detail make the sketch book an important witness to the evolving contemporary Maltese recording of archaeological finds. It also throws light on how A. A. Caruana’s 1898 book on Maltese ancient burial sites was put together.

Malta Archaeological Review 2022, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2023.1
Received: 8 November 2022 | Accepted: 1 June 2023 | Published online: 10 October 2023

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The Maltese Islands in the central Mediterranean are renowned for their prehistoric archaeological record, particularly the megalithic ‘temples’ and associated ceramics and artwork. The temples were built by a society lacking metal technology, who relied on stone and organic materials. Knapped stone tool (lithic) technology, to produce sharp edged tools for tasks like cutting, hide working, and wood shaping offers insights into human behaviour in Malta, as well as into themes of exchange and connectivity. As well as imported chert and obsidian, local chert was widely used to make stone tools in prehistoric Malta. The local chert has generally been described as low-quality, yet relatively little research has been conducted on its distribution, characteristics, and use. In this paper I report a survey of chert sources, identifying a wider distribution of chert outcrops along the west coast of Malta than previously discussed. Some general macroscopic properties are outlined, as well as aspects of variability in the chert sources. Knapping experiments were then conducted on samples of chert collected, allowing clarification of its characteristics. These observations are used to offer some insights into lithic technology in Neolithic and Temple Period Malta, such as the hypothesis that the high frequencies of multidirectional flake production and subsequent ‘scraper retouch’ reflect adaptations to the characteristics of local chert.

Malta Archaeological Review 2022, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2022.1
Received: 9 Augist 2021 | Accepted: 25 July 2022 | Published online: 5 December 2022

The post Maltese chert: An archaeological perspective on raw material and lithic technology in the central Mediterranean appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.

A. Pessina and N.C. Vella (eds), 2021a. Malta and Mediterranean Prehistory: Luigi Maria Ugolini, Politics and Archaeology between the two World Wars. (508 pp.), illustrated. Malta: Midsea Books. ISBN 978-99932-7-758-3

A. Pessina and N.C. Vella (eds), 2021b. Luigi Maria Ugolini’s Malta Antica I: I templineolitici di Tarscien/The Tarxien Neolithic Temples. (524 pp.), illustrated. Malta: Midsea Books. ISBN 978-99932-7-397-4

A. Pessina, N.C. Vella and A. Bugeja (eds), 2021c. Luigi Maria Ugolini’s Malta Antica II: I maggiori templi neolitici e /’ipogeo/The Major Neolithic Temples and the Hypogeum. (252 pp.), illustrated. Malta: Midsea Books. ISBN 978-99932-7-398-1

A. Pessina, N.C. Vella and A. Bugeja (eds), 2021d. Luigi Maria Ugolini’s Malta Antica Ill:Templi neolitici minori e monumenti megalitici/Minor Neolithic Temples and MegalithicMonuments. (158 pp.), illustrated. Malta: Midsea Books. ISBN 978-99932-7-399-8 (hardback €335)

Malta Archaeological Review 2022, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2022.2
Received: 5 Augist 2022 | Published online: 5 December 2022

The post Review articles and reviews appeared first on The Archaeological Society Malta.