Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory. - Day Two In Valletta (Part I)

Hello again one and all!

So today begins my new quest. Today, I have arranged to get a ticket. Thirty days, twenty-two sites and museums. As one person put it: "[That's] some Nicolas Cage shit right there".

Given that I am indeed planning on reaching all of these attractions, the updates are likely to be coming thick and fast - I don't want to run out of space on my camera (and I have been VERY snap-happy), so my best solution is to overload your ability to want to continue reading, by giving too many tales from my trip, and as such, I shall like so many before me, become irrelevant once again, my fifteen minutes of fame burned out in weeks.

But enough melodrama, back to the story.

Today's adventure took me to the Valletta Museum of Archaeology. I figured this was an appropriate place to start, as history is somewhat like a book, and it makes no sense whatsoever if we start in the middle. I'd prefer to think that I can keep people on the edge of their seats wondering only what happens next, not "how did this begin?"

The building is unassuming on the outside face. This is because everything else around it is of a similar architectural styling, meaning it is far from bland, it just doesn't stand out in this particular environment. This facade, however, gives way to a rather grand entrance hall, especially the ceiling. I'll have to return to the entrance and get a photograph of this, as it would seem that I hadn't copied it properly.

The museum is divided nicely enough into three primary wings - the ground floor encompasses Malta's neolithic history, highlighting the evolution of technology within the original stone-age inhabitants. The information is provided in small, easy to digest chunks, presented in almost a book-like fashion.

We have a very special menu prepared tonight, first we'll start with ancient cave man tools, followed by slightly less ancient cave man tools, before finishing up with a lovely serving of incredibly old-yet-not-so-old as the previous cave man tools, with a smattering of stone and bone jewellery. 

Allow me to be your guide through these phases:

Ghar Dalam phase

This is the original neolithic settlement within Malta. There are a couple of prominent theories as to how these people reached Malta, both of which involve that great cause for sudden human migration, climate change - in this instance, the last ice age. Given that sea levels were much lower, it is believed that the people would not have needed particularly modern sea-faring vessels. The Mediterranean is a fairly calm sea in this day and age, and one can safely assume that in the ice age it would have been more so. The other theory is the land bridge from southern Italy. I find this second to be less than likely, as the Mediterranean is roughly 100 metres in depth for the most part - while sea levels were significantly lower in that period, they were not that much lower.

But you aren't here for my conjecture. You're here for ancient treasures! Things taken by men in khaki with whips from temples which were protected with all manner of booby traps. Behold! The wonders of ancient Malta!

And if you look real close, you'll see that there is absolutely nothing which would have value to Spanish conquistadors.

As you'd expect from a stone age site, the majority of the items found are tools and weapons which could have been used by the people Ghar Dalam people. The above image shows a smorgasbord of stone arrow heads, smoothed stones to be used in slings, sharpened bones and fragments of some crudely made pottery. The Ghar Dalam site showed that the people who were living in this era  were able to make effective use of stone tools, however, the remainder of their technology was not particularly advanced. I'd imagine that going about mundane daily tasks, such as having a shave would have been quite painful or tricky with these tools, on the positive side though, getting a new blade is as easy as finding the next somewhat sharp pebble.

Skorba Phase

Following on from the Ghar Dalam period, there was the Grey/Red Skorba period. There were some minor differences between these two periods, however, there was not enough to entirely separate their artifacts into separate areas, as such, I shall be treating them as one.

Information showing the location of the Skorba period. I'll let you work out which colour represents which era.

The most significant difference which comes through in the Skorba period is the complexity of the pottery - not only do we have fully functional vases (which is pretty impressive for something over six thousand years old), but there are artifacts which serve no practical purpose - that is to say, there are ceramic decorations. The Skorba period Maltese were particularly interested in the female form - similar to so many other emerging societies (and lets be honest, nothing has really changed to this day). Again, like most early cultures, the belief is that the feminine form is most associated with fertility - hence, many of the features of the figurines were quite exaggerated.

Pottery fragments and whole examples. Though it may not be perfectly visible in this picture, another key feature of the Skorba period is the decorative nature of the pottery - many of these were inscribed with geometric patterns, thus showing that aesthetics were quite important to the people of this period.

More pottery and pottery fragments. The large black piece in the centre highlights the emergence of art within the Skorba society.

Pieces of what is believed to be fertility idols. This is also significant as it further emphasises the move away from traditional hunter-gatherer societies to an agrarian society.

The Skorba period also shows one more key importance of neolithic Maltese society - they had by this stage begun planning their settlements much more strategically - the Skorba location is protected from the elements and had soil which was fertile enough for planted crops - mostly a form of wheat - to grow.

Zebbug Phase

No society should be satisfied with only a single advancement in their technological and societal developments, and the neolithic Maltese were no different. Following on from Skorba is the Zebbug period. This period is not so drastically different from the previous, with the changes which occurred being much more subtle than the gargantuan leap between the last two phases, at least not on a first glance. The earthenware is primarily the same, adorned with geometric patterns - some of which was a bit more complex than that of their forebears, the same obsession with the feminine form and the same rudimentary artistic representations and tools. The social developments were much more significant, as there is clear signs of a religion emerging, specifically, the formation of an afterlife belief. There is evidence of the Zebbug era of ceremonies surrounding burial, as well as a large crypt cut into the stone - the Zebbug did not build, but rather hewed what they needed from the living rock.

Display of a typical Zebbug period burial chamber. While far from the grandeur we've all come to know and love of Egyptian burials, these more modest pits were for all members of Zebbugian society, not just the god-emperors. 

The most striking features of the burial chambers which show the theological development of the society are both the pottery and the figurines. Whilst there is no irrefutable proof of the belief in an afterlife, the placement of pottery in such a chamber is usually indicative of the belief in a need for these after death - material possessions to make the afterlife easier and more comfortable. The stylised figures are also important, as they provide an insight into the deities of the culture, or possibly act as guides for the spirit once the terminal breath has been drawn.

Zebbug period pottery and pottery shards. In terms of shape, the vessels are a bit more functional, as the tops have a smaller opening, thus making pouring easier. Beyond this, there are few differences between this and the Skorba period.

More pottery from Zebbug. We can see the further development of their pottery as many of the devices now have handles. Apparently this nifty little invention was over three thousand years in the making. Apparently, the people from Skorba had asbestos hands, and were totally immune to the scalding properties of hot liquids. A pity that the Zebbug people had lost this evolutionary advantage.

From this point onwards, there were very few changes which occurred in the development of neolithic technology or social constructs in the Maltese islands. The museum did, however, give a deeper insight into other aspects of neolithic living. Stay tuned for more tomorrow, when, armed with a thorough knowledge of the history as we are now, we will be able to find the gold that this ancient society so clearly had.

R&S