Queen's Research To Study Prehistoric Malta

Queen's University Belfast is engaging in a new €2.49m research study to help uncover Malta's prehistoric past.

The five-year programme will examine the environmental and cultural background of prehistoric Malta.

Nineteen senior scholars from Queen's, Cambridge University, the University of Malta, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Heritage Malta are involved in the project.

The project will enable researchers to study sites and settlements of the early Maltese to assess how the prehistoric people developed.

They hope examination of the early economy may identify changes in farming systems, while analysis of human bones will reveal diet, disease and population structure of the ancient Maltese.

Dr Caroline Malone from Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, and leader of the research, said: "This exciting project will explore the changing environmental and cultural background of Malta during prehistory from the first occupation of Neolithic farmers around 5,500BC until medieval times. It will also provide us with invaluable data on how we can best protect such priceless heritage sites in the future.

"Previous studies conducted by Queen's and the University of Malta have already shown that the climate and environment were unstable during the last few millennia BC and that instability would have impacted on the lives of prehistoric societies. Our new work on a series of pollen cores extracted from across Malta will build a detailed understanding of the changing flora/vegetation of the islands."

(IT/CD)