Chapter 7 : cultural landscapes from 2000 BC onwards ; Temple landscapes : fragility, change and resilience of Holocene environments in the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age has always been a focus of considerable debate (Bonanno 1993a & b; Stoddart 1999, 141) (see Volume 2, Chapter 10), ever since the transition was recognized, most prominently by Zammit in Tarxien temple. Early debate dwelt on substantial changes in material culture and rites of death, and emphasized the abandonment silts of the Tarxien temple detected by Zammit (1930, 45–7; Evans 1971, 149–51). These data, interpreted in a cultural historical framework, suggested that not only was there radical change in the population, but a substantial period of abandonment (Trump 1961a & b, 303; Evans 1971, 224). As more stratigraphies began to be investigated at Skorba, Xagħra Brochtorff Circle and Tas-Silġ in the second half of the twentieth century, distinct relationships between the two succeeding societies were suggested, as outlined in the previous Chapter 6. What is becoming clearer is that the so-called Bronze Age transition emerged in the final centuries of the third millennium bc, evolved, albeit in punctuated and uneven steps through to its demise at the start of the first millennium bc and lasted a remarkable 1200 years or so. It remains a complex and still poorly understood episode of distinctive ceramics, monuments and landscapes that deserves better understanding and chronological refinement, through fresh problem oriented fieldwork similar to the FRAGSUS Project. [excerpt] ; This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-2007-2013) (Grant agreement No. 323727). ; peer-reviewed