What is it about?
Collection of papers delivered in the Conference held in Malta in 1985 dealing with this subject from Prehistory down to Classical Times, including Phoenician and Punic. Maltese prehistory and archaeology feature prominently in several papers.
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Why is it important?
the papers represent the status quaestionis of this controversial subject around 1986. The conference was crucial for placing the Maltese megalithic culture on the map of the prehistoric Mediterranean, and to bring together scholars from opposite schools of thought for discussion of the subject, including that of Mother Goddesses. It served also as a launching pad for the setting up of a joint research project between the University of Malta, the Museums Department and the University of Cambridge, which saw the excavation of a second underground necropolis contemporary with the megalithic temples.
Perspectives
With financial support from a private institution and the University of Malta I was personally responsible for the organisation of the Conference and for the editing and publication of the papers within a year, in 1986. In the meantime correspondence between Professor Colin Renfrew and myself set the ball rolling for the setting up of a joint research project (the Gozo Project) to undertake excavations on two identified sites: a modest-sized site of a domestic nature (Mgarr Road, Ghajnsielem) consisting of remains of two prehistoric huts; and a major subterranean necropolis originally surrounded by a circle of standing megaliths.
Anthony Bonanno
University of Malta
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean, January 1986, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/zg.15.
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