Prehistoric Malta -- Malta fil-preistorja

Prehistoric Malta

 

One of my favourite subjects from my country of birth is its history, rich like no other, and which is taught to Maltese students at their school benches.  To me the most fascinating, and unfortunately the one treated in the least detail, is its prehistory.

 

I understand the difficulty in talking about a time when writing did not exist, and the difficulty we have in finding out what happened so many thousands of years ago, when literally many clues are buried underground, have become embedded in rock or are under water!

 

Recently a few books on the subject have come my way which I am relishing reading.  The first1 considers evidence for the presence in Malta of man of the Magdalenian culture (20 to 10 thousand years before present), in the last part of the paleolithic (from 3 million to 10 thousand years ago characterised by the use of stone tools).  These humans in Europe were associated with the hunting of deer and other large mammals towards the end of the Ice Age, when these cold-intolerant animals migrated down from the north of Europe towards the south.

 

Groups of these animals and possibly man probably crossed to Malta during the last two glacial periods.  It it thought that during the penultimate period (Riss, 180-130 thousand years ago), the sea level decreased by 50 metres compared to the present time, such as to form a land bridge between Sicily and Malta, and in the last glacial period (Würm, 70-10 thousand years ago) it decreased to 90 metres, such that the land bridge extended from Malta extended up to the mainland of what is now Italy.

 

In fact, not only deer were found in Malta, but also hippos, elephants, foxes, bears and wolves, primarily at Għar Dalam, but also amongst others at Imqabba, Mellieħa, Qrendi, Ħaż-Żebbuġ in Malta, and Dwejra and Wied il-Għasri in Gozo.

 

More fascinating was the discovery at Għar Dalam, in the archaelogical layer of the Würm period, that includes remains of the aforementioned animals, of human molars with a condition called 'taurodont', where the central tooth cavity is higher than normal and the roots are shallower than normal.  This is a characteristic of molars of the human Neanderthal species.  In animals, this condition is found in ungulates, where are hoofed animals like horses, cows and others which are generally herbivores, and use their teeth to chew well the grasses and leaves forming their diet.

 

In the case of the human Neanderthal, it is thought that these teeth were useful to chew animal skins in the necessary production of clothing in the cold of that era.

 

Another really interesting book was about the conclusion of Malta being one of the remnants of the island known as Atlantis.2  This island had been named Atlantika by the Greek philosopher Plato.  The authors explain that although the name is today associated with the omonimous ocean, in the past several ancient writers such as Seneca and Cicero used to refer to the Mediterranean sea as the Atlantic sea.

 

The authors' thesis is that the size of today's Malta is far too small to sustain the large and extensive amount of its megalithic architecture, the wide network of cart ruts that are still being discovered today, some of which reach the end of a cliff and terminate abruptly, and others lead into the sea.  All of this indicates that the Maltese land mass was much larger that it is today, most of which has lowered under the sea surface, under which not only cart ruts have been lost but also at least one temple at Xrobb l-Għaġin.

 

At the very least, the presence of cart ruts also on Filfla indicates that there was continuous land from Malta to this rock some 4 km away.

 

There are also similarities in the flora and fauna of the Pelagic Isles (Lampedusa, Pantelleria, Linosa, Lampione).  These include plants whose seeds are not consumed by birds and are not spread through wind action.  It also includes several related species of lizards, with each species being found in one group of islands but not in another.  This indicates a large territorial mass in the past, which fractured and resulted in the evolution of sub-species of lizards.

 

It is thought that the African continental shelf which is pressing on the Eurasian one leading to pressure towards the north-west, mainly between the Malta of today and the island of Linosa, and up to Pantelleria, with the last two islands becoming volcanic.  The land in between sheared and descended under the sea, with the Maltese islands ending up leaning towards the north-east and the Pelagic islands towards the south-west.  The cataclysm happened some time from 5000 BC onwards.

 

All of this demonstrates how the history of our forefathers' land is even more fascinating than we were taught in our childhood, and how proud we should be of the place we came from.

 

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Malta fil-preistorja

 

Wieħed mis-suġġetti l-iktar interessanti ta' pajjiż twelidi huwa l-istorja tiegħu, li għandha għana liema bħala, u li l-istudenti Maltin jitgħallmu mill-bankijiet tal-iskejjel.  Għalija l-iktar parti affaxxinanti, u li diżgrazzjatament l-inqas li kienet trattata fid-dettall, kienet il-preistorja.

 

Jiena nifhem id-diffikultà li titkellem fuq perjodu ta' żmien meta l-kitba ma kinetx teżisti, u d-diffikultà li għandna li nkunu nafu x'ġara fil-passat ta' tant eluf ta' snin ilu, meta litteralment ħafna ħjiel huma midfuna taħt l-art, saru parti mill-blat jew jinsabu taħt il-baħar!

 

Dan l-aħħar ġew f'idejja xi kotba fuq is-suġġett li tgħidx kemm qed nieħu gost naqrahom.  Wieħed minnhom1 jittratta l-evidenza għall-preżenza f'Malta tal-bniedem fil-kultura Magdalenjana (20 elf sa 10 elef sena ilu), fl-aħħar parti tal-Paleolitiku (minn 3 miljun sa 10 elef sena ilu kkratterizzat mill-użu ta' għodod tal-ġebel).  Dawn kienu bnedmin fl-Ewropa assoċjati mal-kaċċa taċ-ċriev u mammali kbar oħra lejn l-aħħar taż-żmien tas-silġ, fejn dawk il-ħlejjaq li ma jissaportux il-kesħa emigraw mill-Ewropa tat-tramuntana lejn in-nofsinhar.

 

Gruppi ta' dawn l-annimali u possibilment il-bniedem aktarx qasmu lejn Malta fl-aħħar żewġ żminijiet tas-silġ.  Huwa maħsub li f'ta' qabel tal-aħħar (Riss, 180-130 elf sena ilu), il-livell tal-baħar naqas b'50 metru taħt il-livell tal-lum, tant li fforma pont bejn Sqallija u Malta, u f'ta' l-aħħar (Würm, 70-10 elef sena ilu) naqas b'90 metru tant li l-pont minn Malta estenda wkoll sal-Italja.

 

Fil-fatt, mhux biss fdalijiet ta' ċriev ġew misjuba f'Malta, imma wkoll ippopotami, iljunfanti, volpi, orsijiet u lupi, f'Għar Dalam primarjament, imma wkoll fost l-oħrajn fl-Imqabba, il-Mellieħa, il-Qrendi u Ħaż-Żebbuġ f'Malta, u d-Dwejra u Wied il-Għasri f'Għawdex.

 

Iktar affaxxinanti kienet is-sejba f'Għar Dalam, mal-faxx arkeoloġiku tal-perjodu Würm, li jinkludi l-fdalijiet tal-annimali msemmija qabel, ta' dras umani b'kundizzjoni msejħa taurodont, fejn il-ħofra fiċ-ċentru tas-sinna tkun għolja iktar mis-soltu u l-għeruq tas-sinna jkunu iktar baxxi mis-soltu.  Din hija karatteristika tad-dras tal-ispeċje umana Neanderthal.  Fl-annimali, din il-kundizzjoni tinstab fl-ungulati, mammali b'dwiefer kbar bħaż-żwiemel, baqar u oħrajn li peress li ġeneralment huma erbivori, iridu jomogħdu sew il-ħxejjex u weraq li jieklu.

 

Fil-każ tal-bniedem Neanderthal, huwa maħsub li dawn is-snien kienu utli biex jomogħdu l-ġlud tal-annimali fil-produzzjoni neċessarja tal-ħwejjeġ fil-kesħa ta' dawk iż-żminijiet.

 

Ktieb ieħor interessanti ferm kien dwar il-konklużjoni li Malti hija waħda mill-fdalijiet li baqa' tal-gżira magħrufa bħala Atlantis.2  Din il-gżira hija msemmija Atlantika mill-filosfu Grieg Platun.  L-awturi jispjegaw li għalkemm l-isem illum huwa assoċjat mal-oċejan tal-istess isem, fil-passat diversi kittieba tal-antik bħal Seneca u Cicero kien jirreferu għall-baħar Mediterran bħala dak Atlantiku.

 

It-teżi tal-awturi hija li l-kobor tal-lum ta' Malta hija żgħira wisq biex issostni l-ammont kbir u estensiv tal-arkitettura megalitika tagħha, u x-xibka kbira ta' gandotti tal-karrettun (cart ruts) li għadhom jinkixfu sal-lum, uħud minnhom jaslu ta' xifer l-irdum u jintemmu ħesrem, u oħrajn jibqgħu sejrin fil-baħar.  Dan kollu jindika li l-massa tal-art Maltija fil-passat kienet ħafna ikbar milli hi llum, ħafna minnha tbaxxiet taħt il-livell tal-baħar, fejn intilfu gandotti kif ukoll mill-inqas tempju wieħed f'Xrobb l-Għaġin.

 

Xejn xejn, il-preżenza ta' gandotti fuq Filfla jindika li kien hemm art kontinwa minn Malta sa din il-blata xi erba' kilometri 'l bogħod.

 

Hemm ukoll similiaritajiet fil-flora u l-fawna mal-gżejjer Pelaġiċi (Lampedusa, Pantelleria, Linosa, Lampione).  Dawn jinkludu pjanti li ż-żerriegħa tagħhom ma jittiklux mill-għasafar u ma jitferrxux bir-riħ.  Jinkludu wkoll diversi speċji relatati ta' gremxul, li kull speċje tinsab fi grupp ta' gżejjer imma mhux f'oħrajn.  Dan jindika massa ta' territorju ikbar fil-passat, li inqasam u rriżulta fl-evoluzzjoni ta' sub-speċje tal-gremxul.

 

Huwa maħsub li l-ixkaffa kontinentali Afrikana li qed tagħfas fuq dik Ewro-Asjatika qed twassal għar-rassa sseħħ lejn il-majjistral l-iktar minn bejn Malta tal-preżent u l-gżira ta' Linosa, tippressa lejn Pantelleria, b'dawn it-tnejn tal-aħħar isiru vulkani.  L-art ta' bejniethom tqaċċtet u niżlet taħt il-baħar, bil-gżejjer Maltin jispiċċaw imilu lejn il-grigal u dawk Pelaġiċi lejn il-lbiċ.  Il-katakliżma seħħet f'xi żmien minn 5000 q.K. 'l hawn.

 

Dan kollu juri kemm l-istorja ta' pajjiż missirijietna huwa saħansitra iktar affaxxinanti milli tgħallimna fi tfulitna, u kemm għandna nħossuna kburin bil-post minn fejn ġejna.

 

 

1Dossier Malta: Evidence for the Magdalenian; A. Mifsud & S. Mifsud; Proprint Co Ltd; 1997

2Malta: Echoes of Plato's Island; A. Mifsud, S. Mifsud, C. Agius Sultana &C. Savona Ventura; The Prehistoric Society of Malta; 2001

1Dossier Malta: Evidence for the Magdalenian; A. Mifsud & S. Mifsud; Proprint Co Ltd; 1997

2Malta: Echoes of Plato's Island; A. Mifsud, S. Mifsud, C. Agius Sultana &C. Savona Ventura; The Prehistoric Society of Malta; 2001