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The ‘Dolmens’ of Malta and the Origins of the Tarxien Cemetery Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

John D. Evans
John D. Evans
Affiliation:
Professor of Prehistoric European Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University of London
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Extract

The material from the cremation cemetery which was found by Sir T. Zammit in 1915 stratified above the earlier remains in the Tarxien temples raises some of the most fascinating and intricate problems in the whole of Maltese prehistory. Who were these bizarre people, whence did they come to Malta and at what date ? The excavator, basing himself on the ‘Copper Age’ appearance of the culture and the various parallels with early Trojan, Cycladic and Cypriote materials to be observed in it, suggested that their arrival in Malta should be placed somewhere about 2000 B.C. and that they had probably come from the East. Zammit's parallels were, as I hope to show here, basically correct as far as they went, but his chronological inference was invalid because he did not allow sufficient time for the relatively slow cultural movements which brought material of this type from the Eastern to the Central Mediterranean. This was largely due to a failure to trace the intermediate steps in detail, a failure which has not subsequently been made good by any other student. Professor Childe has compared the metal types of the Tarxien Cemetery with Danubian and Sardinian ones, and the two-storied urns with Italian Iron Age types, but admitted that at that time the date of the culture might by reasonably placed anywhere between about 1800 and 800 B.C. The dating question is of great importance, since, if the Tarxien Cemetery can be confidently dated to some period in the second millennium B.C., it provides us with the first known examples of inurned cremation in the Western Mediterranean.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 22 , March 1957 , pp. 85 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1957

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References

page 85 note 1 Zammit, , Prehistoric Malta, 1930, p. 121Google Scholar.

page 85 note 2 The Down, 4th ed., p. 249Google Scholar.

page 85 note 3 A single instance of inurned cremation as a burial rite in the late second millennium B.C. has recently been found in Sicily. See Evans, J. D., ‘The Prehistoric Culture-Sequence in the Maltese Archipelago,’ Proc. Prehist. Soc., 1953, Pt. 1, p. 86Google Scholar, n. 4.

page 85 note 4 op. cit., p. 85.

page 86 note 1 M.D.O.G., Nr 86, 1952, pp. 37–47Google Scholar.

page 86 note 2 J. D. Evans, op. cit., p. 65.

page 86 note 3 Ashby, , ‘Excavations in Malta, 1908–11’, P.B.S.R., Vol. VI, p. 8Google Scholar.

page 88 note 1 J. D. Evans, op. cit., Fig. 10.

page 88 note 2 ibid.

page 88 note 3 ibid.

page 88 note 4 Murray, , Excavations in Malta, Pt. III, p. 19Google Scholar.

page 88 note 5 I was assisted on this occasion by Mr G. R. H. Wright, who also drew the plan.

page 89 note 1 J. D. Evans, op. cit., pp. 71 and 88. The greater part of a basin of this type made in a ware very like that of the Tarxien Cemetery was found recently in a rock-tomb of Period I which I excavated at Xemxija, Malta. This closely resembles op. cit., fig. 14 from Caltagirone in Sicily in its shape.

page 89 note 2 This refers to a group of six rock-cut tombs, of which the tomb mentioned in the previous note is one, on the Xemxija plateau, near St. Paul's Bay, Malta, which were excavated by me in 1955, and which I hope shortly to publish.

page 90 note 1 Orsi, , B.P.I., XXIV, 1898, p. 201 ffGoogle Scholar. and figs 13 and 14.

page 91 note 1 See Gervasio, , I Dolmen e la Civiltà del Bronzo nelle Puglie, Bari, 1913Google Scholar. Jatta, , La Puglia Preistorica, Bari, 1912Google Scholar, also contains some very useful information.

page 91 note 2 Puglisi, , ‘Le culture dei capannicoli sul promontorio Gargano,’ Atti della R. Accad. dei Lincei, Ser. 8, 1948–1950Google Scholar.

page 91 note 3 Jatta, op. cit., pp. 147 ff. for this and list of monuments. Pigorini, , B.P.I., XXV, pp. 178 ff.Google Scholar, gives a description of some of the Otranto dolmens, with some good photographs (pls. IX and X).

page 92 note 1 Jatta, op. cit., fig. 93.

page 93 note 1 Jatta, op. cit., p. 147.

page 93 note 2 op. cit., p. 148.

page 93 note 3 See above, p. 85, n. 2.

page 93 note 4 Mon. Ant., XXXI, pl. XIV, 8.

page 93 note 5 J. D. Evans, op. cit., fig. 10.

page 93 note 6 See Zambotti, P. Laviosa, ‘La ceramica della Lagozza,’ etc., B.P.I., n.s. IV, 1940Google Scholar for an account of the chief types, with illustrations. Further illustrations in Peet, The Stone and Bronze Age in Italy, pl. III.

page 93 note 7 A.J.A., vol. LI, 1947, pp. 287, ffGoogle Scholar. and pls. LXXI and LXXII.

page 94 note 1 Baumgartel, , ‘The Cave of Manaccora, Monte Gargano,’ Pt. II, P.B.S.R., vol. XXI, 1953, pp. 1 ff.Google Scholar

page 94 note 2 e.g., op. cit., pl. II, 13.

page 94 note 3 op. cit., pl. III, 11.

page 94 note 4 e.g. M. A. Murray, Corpus of the Bronze Age Pottery of Malta, pl. XX, 10 and pl. XXII, 12.

page 94 note 5 Baumgartel, op. cit., pl. IV, 10.

page 94 note 6 e.g. Brea, L. Bernabò and Cavalier, Madeleine, ‘Civiltà preistoriche delle isole Eolie e del territorio di Milazzo,’ B.P.I., n.s., X, vol. 65, 1956Google Scholar, fig. 31, e.

page 94 note 7 Baumgartel, op. cit., pl. IV, 4.

page 94 note 8 e.g. Rellini, La più antica ceramica dipinta in Italia, fig. 52, from Scaloria, for example.

page 94 note 9 Baumgartel, op. cit., p. 2.

page 94 note 10 Mingazzini, P., ‘Il santuario della dea Marica alle foci del Garigliano,’ Mon. Ant., vol. XXXVIIGoogle Scholar, pl. XXXIII, 1, 5 and 6.

page 95 note 1 J. D. Evans, op. cit., pp. 85–6.

page 95 note 2 Parallels with earlier Greek pottery are noted by Peet, op. cit. p. 218 and Frankfort, , Studies in the Early Pottery of the Near East, II, 132Google Scholar.

page 95 note 3 Personal information.

page 95 note 4 Heurtley, , ‘A West Macedonian Site and the Dorian Invasion,’ B.S.A., XXVIII, pp. 158–200Google Scholar.

page 95 note 5 One matt-painted jar from Drachmani even has the ‘two storied’ shape recalling the Tarxien Cemetery pots mentioned above, p. 85. See Wace and Thompson, Prehistoric Thessaly, fig. 140, h.

page 96 note 1 Brea and Cavalier, op. cit., fig. 30, bottom left. Cf. Laviosa Zambotti, Le più, antiche culture agricole europee, pl. XX, 6, for a similar pot of Rakhmani type from Greece. The corresponding Early Macedonian form is given in Heurtley, Prehistoric Macedonia, nos. 229, 257, 269, 270, 285–90. The form also occurs in the Polada culture. The similarity between the pottery of the Tarxien Cemetery and Capo Graziano on the one hand and Polada on the other might well be due to the ultimate dependence of all three on Early Macedonian.

page 96 note 2 Heurtley, , ‘Excavations in Ithaca,’ II, B.S.A., XXXVGoogle Scholar, pl. 6.

page 96 note 3 op. cit., fig. 20.

page 96 note 4 op. cit., fig. 12, 82. These peculiar ‘helmet vases’ might well be a degeneration of some kind of double-spouted ‘sauce boat,’ e.g. the gold one from Troy, illustrated by Schliemann, Ilios, No. 772. A similar vessel belonging to the Bubanj Culture is illustrated by Milojčič, in ‘South-eastern Elements in the Prehistoric Civilisation of Serbia,’ B.S.A., XLIV, p. 287Google Scholar, Fig. 10, no. 8. Pots which slightly resemble the ‘helmet vases’ have been found in the Piano Quartara culture of Lipari. See Brea and Cavalier, op. cit., fig. 22. For ‘helmet vases’ from Malta see J. D. Evans, op. cit., pl. XII, no. 3, and M. A. Murray, op. cit., pl. XII, 10 and pl. XXIV.

page 96 note 5 Heurtley, op. cit., fig. 30.

page 97 note 1 Dorpfeld, , Altithaka, IIGoogle Scholar, Beilage 68 b.

page 97 note 2 Soteriadhis, Εφ. Αρχ., 1908, Πιναξ Παρενθετος γ́,1 no. 2 (facing cols. 95, 96). Cf. Zammit, op. cit., pl. XXI, Type XV.

page 97 note 3 There is a double-necked vase from Tsangli in Thessaly, illustrated in Wace and Thompson, op. cit., p. 109, fig. 59, c. It is made in the 3 ware, which belongs to the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in Thessaly, Double-vases also occur in the earliest Bronze Age assemblage at Töszeg in Hungary. The ware of this earliest Bronze Age pottery of Toszeg is remarkably similar to that of the Tarxien Cemetery, and the shapes include similar heavy-rimmed bowls. No direct connection can be considered, but the Early Bronze Age wares of Töszeg may reflect a spread of similar elements North-westward from Greece or Western Anatolia.

page 97 note 4 Zammit, P.M., pl. XXI, Type XIX. J. D. Evans, op. cit., p. 68.

page 97 note 5 Drawn in the Museum at Syracuse. Also published by Orsi, , B.P.I., IGoogle Scholar.

page 97 note 6 Blegen, , Troy, IGoogle Scholar, plates 253; Lamb, Thermi, pl. XXXII, 5a and 6.

page 97 note 7 Baumgartel, , B.P.I., LIGoogle Scholar, pl. VIII, 2. Similar bowls from Chassey are illustrated by Déchelette, , Manuel, I, p. 560Google Scholar, fig. 208, 6, 8 and 10. In this case the thickened rim is present once more.

page 97 note 8 Brea and Cavalier, op. cit., fig, 31, a.

page 98 note 1 Stevenson, in his article ‘The Neolithic Cultures of South-eastern Italy’, P.P.S., 1947, p. 99Google Scholar, notes the resemblance of a pot from a rock-cut tomb in Apulia illustrated by Quagliati, Q., La Puglia Preistorica, p. 164Google Scholar, Fig. 69, to amphorae of Rakhmani IV type. We may look forward to more evidence of this kind from the post-Neolithic deposits of South-east Italy. Concentration of interest hitherto on the early painted pottery has probably had much to do with obscuring somewhat later connections with Greece for which the only evidence is the duller and less distinctive plain wares.

page 98 note 2 Rellini, op. cit., Mayer, Molfetta u. Matera, Stevenson, op. cit., Frankfort, op. cit., II, p. 130 ff. See also Brea, , La Sicilia Prehistorica y sus Relaciones con Oriente, Madrid, 1954, fig. 4 and his comments on pp. 148 f.Google Scholar

page 99 note 1 Brea, , ‘Il Neolitico a ceramica impressa e la sua diffusione nel Mediterraneo,’ Riv. Internazionale di Studi Liguri, 1950Google Scholar. Idem, Gli scavi nella caverna delle Arene Candide, Pt. I, vol. 2, Bordighera, 1956, pp. 185–98. Also distribution map in idem, La Sicilia, etc., fig. 1.

page 99 note 2 ‘Bossed Bone Plaques of the Second Millennium,’ Antiquity, vol. XXX, pp. 80–93, June, 1956Google Scholar.

page 99 note 3 M. A. Murray, Excavations in Malta, Pt. II, pl. XVII, 11, and Peet, , ‘The Study of the Prehistoric Period in Malta,’ P.B.S.R., vol. V, pp. 141–63Google Scholar and pl. XV, 52, 61 and 69.

page 99 note 4 Brea and Cavalier, op. cit., p. 58, and fig. 40, f.

page 99 note 5 Finds of one or more are recorded from:—

(1) Sesklo. Five. See Tsountas, p. 346–7 and figs. 380–82. According to Wace and Thompson, op. cit., p. 73, all came from the fourth layer.

(2) Tsani. One. Wace and Thompson, op. cit., p. 202.

(3) Orchomenos. Wace and Thompson, op. cit., p. 237.

(4) Chaeronea and Elateia. Soteriadhis, Εφ. Αρχ., 1908, p. 65; Πιναξ Παρενθετος β′, 6 and 9.

(5) Pagasae. One. Wolters, , Atth. Mitth., 1889, p. 266Google Scholar.

(6) Eutresis. Five. Goldman, , Eutresis, p. 196Google Scholar and fig. 269, 1 and 3.

(7) Aegina. One fragment. Goldman, , Eutresis, p. 196Google Scholar.

(8) Asine. One. Frodin, and Persson, , Asine, p. 250 fGoogle Scholar. and fig. 177, 1.

page 99 note 6 Heurtley, , Prehistoric Macedonia, p. 203Google Scholar, fig. 67 f-j, illustrates examples from Servia, Kritsana (2), Armenochori and Saratse.

page 99 note 7 Mikov, V., ‘Fouilles du site préhistorique, près de Mikhalitch’, Fouilles et Recherches, Sofia, 1948Google Scholar, Fig 10, a. I owe this reference to the kindness of Prof. Childe.

page 99 note 8 Heurtley, , ‘Excavations in Ithaca,’ II, B.S.A., XXVGoogle Scholar, fig. 31.no. 154.

page 99 note 9 Brea and Cavalier, op. cit., p. 58.

page 99 note 10 Heurtley, , Prehistoric Macedonia, p. 203Google Scholar, fig. 67, k.

page 99 note 11 Mikov, op. cit., fig. 10.

page 100 note 1 Schliemann, , Ilios, p. 376Google Scholar, Nos. 342, 343; Lamb, op. cit., pp. 160 f., pl. XXIII, 30, 51 and pl. XXIV, 31, 78.

page 100 note 2 See above, p. 22, n. 61, No. 8.

page 100 note 3 See above, p. 22, n. 59.

page 101 note 1 Except for that portion of the coast immediately opposite the Lipari Islands, nr. Milazzo, the culture of this region seems to be rather different. However, one small piece of evidence may be cited in favour of some sort of connection. Among the material from the Barriera Caves is a conical clay funnel-shaped object (Orsi, , B.P.I., 1907Google Scholar, fig. 28). There is one exactly similar from the Tarxien Cemetery. The Barriera Caves also produced a very roughly made basin with a central septum.