This book represents the culmination of a decade of research by Sagona on the archaeology of Malta. The greatest value of this title is that it has finally provided a foundational and synthetic book for Maltese archaeology and offers to scholars and amateurs an immediate medium to connect with the fascinating past of the Maltese islands. However, the book is flawed in its lack of balance between the three parts, Prehistory (chapters 1–5), Phoenician-Punic era (chapters 6–7) and Roman era (chapter 8): Sagona, reflecting her specialization, treats the Phoenician-Punic period at substantial and perhaps unwarranted length, at the expense of suitably extensive discussion of prehistoric and post-Punic phases. In particular, and as—in part—a function of this imbalance, the section on ‘Prehistory’ incorporates several problematic interpretations that are worth being addressed critically.
Chapter 1 presents a very clear history of archaeological investigations in the archipelago from Antonio Annetto Caruana (1880s–1890s) to the most recent activities of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the research of the FRAGSUS project. Chapter 2 delves into the culture of the first settlers and farmers, describing in an incisive way the main sites and pottery production of the Għar Dalam, Grey Skorba and Red Skorba phases and emphasizing the peculiar cross-cultural mixture between Sicily and Malta which characterizes this period.
Chapter 3 opens with the very original choice to avoid the phrase ‘Temple Period’ to define the Late Neolithic, traditionally subdivided into the Early Temple Period (Żebbuġ, Mġarr, Ġgantija) and Full Temple Period (Saflieni, Tarxien), and instead uses the new label ‘Culture of the Megalith Builders’. The brief discussion concerning the function of the megalithic structures is problematic, yet consideration of shamanism and altered states of consciousness to link rituals, religious beliefs and the labyrinthine and hallucinatory iconography of some Tarxien artistic patterns is also original and compelling.
Chapter 4 serves primarily as an opportunity for the author to stress one of her signature theories. Cart ruts are one of the most iconic landmarks of the Maltese archaeological landscape and their puzzling chronology adds a mysterious aura to their interpretation. Sagona re-presents here the hypothesis that they are instead field-furrow scars. She uses this evidence as support for a discussion of the development of agriculture and strategies for ancient field production in the Late Neolithic. In the final part of the chapter, Sagona discusses the idea of the intentional closure of the Neolithic sites and their decommissioning in the frame of a ceremony of ritual cleansing. This is an innovative concept that the author recalls several times throughout the book, leaving behind the traditional view of Maltese archaeology as a sequence of breaks in occupation and the cultural sequence. This concept is not, however, fully developed.
The following two chapters represent the most controversial and problematic of the prehistoric section of the book and for this reason their structure and contents deserve to be analysed in detail. At the centre of chapter 5 is the discussion of the transition between the Neolithic era and the Early Bronze Age and the passage between the Early (Tarxien Cemetery) and the Middle (Borġ in-Nadur) Bronze Age. The chapter opens with the problematic emergence of the so called Thermi Ware in Malta, which marks a hiatus with the Neolithic cultural experiences. The author embraces the hypothesis that the circulation of this peculiar pottery class, with a wide distribution area from Turkey to the Adriatic Sea and from southern Italy to Sicily, marks the beginning of an interim phase which precedes the blossoming of the Bronze Age, an argument which this reviewer considers highly problematic. Sagona moves forward by discussing the main features of the Tarxien Cemetery cultural assemblage, focusing on ceramic shapes and decorative repertoire. The chapter continues with the definition of the transition between the Early and the Middle Bronze Age, recalling the traditional hypothesis about the arrival of new settlers to justify the emergence of the Borġ in-Nadur phase, but at the same time underlining the absence of a hiatus in several sites, a discussion which is problematic in ignoring or glossing some of the newer data.
No less controversial is chapter 6, which deals with the thorny issue of the end of the prehistoric period in Malta and the beginning of a brand-new cultural era with the arrival of the Phoenicians in the archipelago. Sagona's treatment here is complicated by a more thorough reading of the data, and it is not clear to this reviewer that the interpretation the author constructs can be borne by the excavated material. The transition from prehistory to the Phoenician era indeed represents a Gordian Knot which, in the absence of a secure context and radiocarbon data, cannot really be untied, despite the efforts of Sagona to defend her argument. After this problematic start, the second part of the chapter changes gear and delves in a thorough and fully detailed historical and archaeological frame for the nature of the Phoenician presence in the West.
Chapter 7 is the backbone of the book and the best structured and argued. It deals with Sagona's phases Melita II and Melita III, and partly IV, corresponding with the floruit of Punic culture in the archipelago. The first part of the chapter moves from the analysis of the ancient sources, describing the two main settlements for this period—Melita city and Chersonesus—to an in-depth survey of the archaeological record aimed at localizing the two cities, namely in Mdina-Rabat and Żurrieq. A discussion about the organization of rural properties and the economic activities characterizing the countryside in this period follows. It has been argued that it is impossible to conjecture a rural Punic Malta due to the scarcity of archaeological data and the current impossibility of distinguishing the traces of later human agency from the older. Sagona's point of view is instead diametrically opposed. Her argument is entirely based on the suggestion that the distribution of villas of Roman Republican and Imperial dates mimics an earlier Punic pattern. This proposition is not, however, strongly supported by any archaeological evidence, but by a fragmented patchwork of circumstantial evidence, and it is on that circumstantial evidence that the author builds her case. Therefore, major Roman countryside sites as Żejtun, Ta’ Kaċċatura and San Pawl Milqi are discussed in order to emphasize their uncertain Punic origin. Even the ubiquitous presence of Punic pottery, reported during many archaeological surveys in open terrain, is mentioned as supporting evidence for the existence of a Punic ‘rural’ Malta. Defensive round towers, largely used during the Roman period and interpreted as being of Punic origin, are added to the picture of a rural landscape dotted by farmsteads on the basis of loose parallels in other parts of the Punic World. The section on rural landscapes closes with a discussion on the activities carried out in the countryside, ranging from textile production and dyeing to cereal production and grape and olive pressing. A brief description of the shape repertoire of the Punic Crisp Ware (Melita III–IV phases) follows. The last part of the chapter is dedicated to cult and funerary religion.
Chapter 8 deals with the period from the Roman conquest of Malta (218 bc) to the full second century ad (Melita IV to Melita VI). For a chapter that covers four centuries of history and archaeology, it seems rather rushed and short. After a brief historical introduction, the chapter focuses on Rabat, its urban layout, defensive system, and on the majestic domus located immediately southwest of Mdina. The site of San Pawl Milqi, previously discussed for its possible Punic origin, is presented as a case study of a substantial Roman rural house and olive-pressing facility. Subsequently, the bathhouse of Għajn Tuffieħa and the puzzling structures of Marsa, possibly interpreted as connected with maritime commercial activities, are briefly presented. Pottery production, the repertoire of shapes and the fabrics characterizing these phases are discussed with the usual abundance of detail. A brief and circumstantial section is also dedicated to the localization of the temple of Apollo at Mdina and the temple of Proserpina at Mtarfa. The complete lack of discussion about the emergence of Christianity and the use of catacombs, which represent a tenet of Roman archaeology in Malta, baffles the reader, almost suggesting an unimportant role for the island during the Imperial period. It is rather curious that emphasis is instead given in support of the supposed popularity of the cult of Mithras in the archipelago, which is another signature theory of Sagona.
Sagona has produced a priceless research tool for scholars, students, amateurs and most importantly for the Maltese people themselves. In front of such an accomplishment, the scholarly critiques once addressed can be considered another voice of the choral narrative of the Maltese archaeological past. However, it is important to keep in mind that the archaeology of Malta, and especially its prehistory, cannot be fully grasped without comparing it with the contemporaneous cultural developments of Sicily, a fact which is rather central in the general discussion of the author. However, too often references to Sicilian archaeology come not from specialist works on that subject, but from publications loosely referring to it. Elsewhere, certain problematic cases are taken for granted to support general ideas without any further detailed study. For example (pp. 25–6), the reference to links between Għar Dalam culture and Sicilian sites as Monte Kronio, Piano Vento and Ognina is not substantiated. Furthermore, to validate the evidence of Għar Dalam ceramic imports in Vulpiglia without the support of geochemical analyses is risky. Għar Dalam and Stentinello wares are, in typological, stylistic and technological (i.e., macro-scale) terms, essentially identical; in the absence of archaeometric provenience data demonstrating likely area of origin, the evidence from Vulpiglia cannot, therefore, be taken as indicative of ‘two-way inter-island journeys’. Furthermore, this underestimation of the importance of Sicily in the attempt at decoding Maltese prehistory emerges from the absence of a chronological comparative chart for the main cultural phases of the two islands and updated comparisons for the radiocarbon dates. Without these, a non-expert reader can get lost in the array of names of facies. For this reason, the complex problem of chronological discrepancy behind the cultural interchanges between Sicily and Malta, especially during the Bronze Age, just does not emerge.
More generally speaking, the lack of thematic synchronic and diachronic site-distribution maps does not help to contextualize the evidence in the topographic context. Figure 1.2 alone is not enough to navigate through the dense information about rural development between prehistory and the Roman period. Better proofreading and pagination would have also improved the book (some missing references: p. 29, n. 55, Borg 2008; p. 48, n. 13 and p. 54, n. 37, p. 77, n. 126; p. 154, n. 100, Leighton 2009; figures of sites without the north arrow: figs 2.4,1 and 3.2,2; quite often the reference to figures and the figures themselves are pages apart, as with the reference to fig 7.9 on p. 259, fig. 7.9 being on p. 245).
On another note, the extensive use of ethnographic comparisons, which Sagona uses to simplify interpretations of complex phenomena, is a breath of fresh air in studies of Mediterranean archaeology and engages the reader to know more. In the same way, the ‘spot on’ boxes scattered throughout the eight chapters of the book are a valuable source of information and data that perfectly supplement the text, opening new perspectives on further readings. Appendix B, including the Gazetteer of the sites in Malta and the Index of features and cultural phases at sites, is a priceless add-on which surpasses the catalogue of sites in Evans (Reference Evans1971, 229–34), in particular for the presence of an updated bibliography and Google Earth geo-coordinates for each site of the gazetteer.
The digital elaboration of the drawings of sites and ceramics, taken from a myriad of publications, the choice of presenting them in a thematic way for the prehistoric section, the abundance of photographs taken on site by the author, are the crown jewels of the book. Thanks to such a well-organized graphic palimpsest, the reader is easily guided through the chapters by visual storytelling. However, the use of black-and-white macro pictures for ceramic fabrics, without stating the enlargement factor and providing any petrographic comment, remains questionable (figs. 2.3,21–22; 2.5,25; 3.8,18).
In conclusion, if paired with some specialist readings for the Bronze Age and the Roman period, Claudia Sagona's book represents a new cornerstone in the literature of Maltese archaeology. Despite its high cost, it is a bibliographical goldmine for scholars, a window on a new enticing horizon for the general public, an invaluable resource for students and, above all, it is the memento for the Maltese people of the grandiosity of their past.
