Description
Hunter-Gatherers and Early Farmers at Both Sides of the Gozo Channel
Game-changing research
In 1991, the authors discovered and published the rich prehistoric past of the Latnija cave near Cirkewwa. Thirty years later, a project of the Max Planck Institute accidentally stumbled on mesolithic levels of 6500 BC. The publication in Nature caused a short-lived hype, mainly focused on these hunter-gatherers’ ability to bridge the distance to Malta. The authors however proved already in 1992 that the early neo- lithic people, their successors, criss-crossed this stretch of sea around 6000-5800 BC, and frequently.
A closer look at their fieldwork of 1987-1991 yielded at least ten more mesolithic sites, all at early neolithic settlements. So, both cultures can hardly be seen separately from each other. All the more because they must have lived within sight of one another for several centuries, an exciting and scientifically challenging fact. Perhaps most spectacular is the evidence of an own Maltese neolithization process. Though compact, this book resumes the essence of 40 years of research departing from innovative archaeology, symbolic anthropo- logy, and art history, all aimed at detecting culture, among which the Very First Maltese Art, by women!
