Up until recently it was generally accepted that the first human inhabitants of the Maltese islands were Early Neolithic farmers who travelled to the archipelago around 7,400 years ago. A discovery made a few years ago, following by excavations and analyses has now pushed this date back by a millennium! A cave in the north of Malta has evidence that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers hunted, fished and foraged in the area. Research is ongoing but a first paper has been published on the project in the journal Nature. In this video I discuss this paper, as well as some earlier research that had suggested a Palaeolithic presence in Malta.
#ancienthistory #mediterranean #mesolithic
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
01:29 Neolithic Malta
05:13 The Mesolithic Site
09:46 Mediterranean Sea-faring
11:48 Neanderthals In Malta
17:42 Għar Ħasan Cave Paintings
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✨ REFERENCES
Keith, A., 1924. Neanderthal man in Malta. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 54, pp.251-260.
Malone, C., McLaughlin, T., Stoddart, S., Vella, N., Parkinson, E. and Grima, R., 2020, December. Temple Places: Excavating cultural sustainability in Prehistoric Malta: Monograph 2 of the ERC Fragsus project. In National Museum of Archaeology-Malta Archaeological Socieyu. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Mineo, M., Mazzucco, N., Rottoli, M., Remolins, G., Caruso-Ferme, L., & Gibaja, J. (2023). Textiles, basketry and cordage from the Early Neolithic settlement of La Marmotta, Lazio. Antiquity, 97(392), 314-330.
Rossi, S., Prampolini, M., Galea, C., Valle, G.D., Caruana, A. and Soldati, M., 2025. Geomorphological evidence of the Malta‐Sicily land‐bridge during the Last Glacial Maximum inferred from seismic profiles. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 50(2), p.e6061.
Scerri, E.M.L., Blinkhorn, J., Groucutt, H.S. et al. Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands. Nature (2025). A., 1924. Neanderthal man in Malta. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 54, pp.251-260.
Malone, C., McLaughlin, T., Stoddart, S., Vella, N., Parkinson, E. and Grima, R., 2020, December. Temple Places: Excavating cultural sustainability in Prehistoric Malta: Monograph 2 of the ERC Fragsus project. In National Museum of Archaeology-Malta Archaeological Socieyu. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Mineo, M., Mazzucco, N., Rottoli, M., Remolins, G., Caruso-Ferme, L., & Gibaja, J. (2023). Textiles, basketry and cordage from the Early Neolithic settlement of La Marmotta, Lazio. Antiquity, 97(392), 314-330.
Rossi, S., Prampolini, M., Galea, C., Valle, G.D., Caruana, A. and Soldati, M., 2025. Geomorphological evidence of the Malta‐Sicily land‐bridge during the Last Glacial Maximum inferred from seismic profiles. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 50(2), p.e6061.
Scerri, E.M.L., Blinkhorn, J., Groucutt, H.S. et al. Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands. Nature (2025).
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
CC BY 4.0 DEED
Images related to the Mesolithic site research, credit: Scerri, E.M.L et al in the paper referenced above.
Sea-level change since 20,000 years ago, credit: Rossi, S. et al in the paper referenced above.
Dugout canoe from Lake Marmotta, credit: Mineo, M. et al in the paper referenced above.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Latnija cave, credit: Bellina 09
Għar Ħasan, credit: Marika Caruana
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Maps and location pins
Other photographs, credit: MegalithHunter
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