Malta: submerged landscapes and early navigation

Abstract

The island of Malta is best known for its spectacular stone temples built by Neolithic farmers about 6000 years ago, who traded regularly with Sicily and other areas in the central Mediterranean. At a distance of over 100 km to the nearest continental land mass, it is generally assumed that Malta was uninhabited before the Neolithic period and was then occupied by competent Neolithic seafaring colonists. However, radiocarbon-dated pollen assemblages from fluvial sediments indicate an earlier phase of Maltese prehistory that preceded the period of the temple builders and included agriculture at a time when sea level was c. 6 m lower than the present day. These submerged coasts would have served as landing places for early navigators and offered fertile land nearby, but they have not yet been subject to systematic underwater archaeological survey. There is also the possibility of even earlier habitation at a time when Malta was connected to Sicily by dry land.