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| Bronze Age Malta | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bronze Age Malta |
| Period | Bronze Age |
| Dates | c. 2500–700 BCE |
| Region | Malta (island), Gozo, Comino |
| Preceding | Mġarr phase, Tarxien culture |
| Following | Phoenician colonization of Malta |
Bronze Age Malta The Bronze Age in Malta spans roughly c. 2500–700 BCE and marks a transition from the Neolithic temple-building Tarxien culture to new social forms influenced by Mediterranean networks. Excavations at sites such as Naxxar, Borg in-Nadur, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, and Skorba reveal changes in settlement, material culture, and external contacts with peoples associated with Sicily, Sardinia, Crete (island), Mycenae, and later Phoenicians. Scholars from institutions including the University of Malta, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the British Museum have published syntheses integrating radiocarbon dates, typology, and isotope studies led by teams such as those at the University of Cambridge and Sapienza University of Rome.
Bronze Age sequences on Malta (island) and Gozo are commonly divided into early, middle, and late phases tied to typological changes in pottery and metallurgy identified by researchers at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, the University of Oxford, and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Radiocarbon campaigns coordinated with laboratories at Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit and Mannheim Radiocarbon Laboratory refine dates that overlap with the Middle Bronze Age (Mediterranean) and the rise of the Sea Peoples movements and the Late Bronze Age collapse. Chronologies reference ceramic horizons comparable to those in Sicily (island), Pantalica, Lipari, and contexts analogous to the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia.
Major fortified settlements and hinterlands include Borg in-Nadur, Casal Paola, Ta' Ċenċ, Mġarr ix-Xini, Qala, and the sanctuary complexes at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra which show continuity and reuse by later communities linked to Phoenician Malta. Excavations by teams from the National Museum of Archaeology (Malta), the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico "Luigi Pigorini", and the École française de Rome exposed megaron-like structures, megalithic façades, rock-cut tombs at Xagħra, and shore installations at Marsaxlokk with lithic, ceramic, and metal assemblages comparable to finds from Selinunte and Hellenistic Sicily. Coastal watch-points and inland farmsteads reveal landscape use patterns studied in projects funded by the European Research Council and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
Ceramics transition from decorated temple ware to burnished and wheel-made fine wares analogous to styles from Aegean Bronze Age contexts and Sicilian Bronze Age pottery. Metalworking produced tools and ornaments in copper and bronze paralleling sequences in Cyprus, with artifacts comparable to finds from Enkomi, Kition, and Hala Sultan Tekke. Stone-working continued with monumental reuse; lithic items from quarries at Għar Dalam and Ta' Għammar show techniques related to those documented at Malta (island) Neolithic sites. Textile production evidence, spindle-whorls, and bone tools relate to craft traditions similar to those in Mycenae and Lefkandi. Analytical studies by laboratories at University College London and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History applied metallurgical, petrographic, and stable isotope analyses.
Maritime exchange networks connected Maltese communities to trading centers such as Carthage, Tyre, Sidon, Ugarit, Gadir, and ports in Sicily (island), Sardinia, and the Iberian Peninsula. Commodities included copper from Cyprus, tin likely via continental networks, agricultural produce including cereals and olives paralleled by archaeobotanical assemblages studied by teams from the University of Pisa and University of Sheffield, and animal husbandry evidenced by faunal remains matching husbandry patterns in Sicily and Magna Graecia. Shipwreck evidence in the central Mediterranean like that investigated by the RPM Nautical Foundation and the Hellenic Institute suggests maritime routes connecting Malta to the broader Late Bronze Age trade sphere.
Burial customs display diversity: rock-cut chamber tombs at Xagħra, pit burials near Mdina, and reused Neolithic hypogea show continuity and change analogous to practices in Sicily and Sardinia. Grave goods include bronze implements, faience beads likely imported from workshops linked to Egyptian New Kingdom contacts, and local ceramics comparable to assemblages curated by the National Museum of Archaeology (Malta). Osteological analyses undertaken by teams at the University of Malta and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL indicate diet, mobility, and demographic profiles reflecting links with Southern Italy and North Africa populations.
Megalithic temples such as Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra show ritual reuse and architectural continuities into the Bronze Age documented in comparative studies with Megalithic Temples of Malta published by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and examined by the Malta UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Artifacts suggesting continuity of cult practice include votive figurines, libation vessels, and carved stone altars comparable to ritual paraphernalia from Minoan Crete and Mycenaean sanctuaries. Interpretations advanced by scholars at University of Cambridge and Sorbonne University propose complex syncretism involving indigenous traditions and imported ideologies from Phoenician and Aegean contexts.
Evidence of contact includes imports and imitations of Mycenaean pottery, metals with isotopic signatures consistent with Cyprus (island), and Levantine-style objects linked to Phoenician colonization of Malta phases. Textual and iconographic parallels drawn with material from Ugarit, Egypt, Assyria, and Phoenicia inform hypotheses about cultural transmission examined by researchers at British School at Athens and Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica. Later historical records from Classical antiquity by authors preserved in collections at the Vatican Library and archives in Valletta provide retrospective frameworks for Bronze Age transformations and the island’s integration into Mediterranean geopolitics.
Category:Prehistory of Malta