https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50516 2026-04-14T19:46:12Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50163 Title: Tobacco pipes from an underwater excavation at the quarantine harbour, Malta Authors: Wood, John Abstract: This excavation was carried out in an area earmarked for development just off the lazaretto on Manoel Island in Marsamxett harbour (Figs. 2 and 3), between 22 and 29 June 2001.'7 The topography of the seabed consists of a steep slope descending from 4 to 27m at an angle of 55 degrees, values approximate. The top of the slope is littered with war damaged and discarded worked stone blocks (some of archaeological value) and a variety of debris. The main sediment consists of a mixture of grey silt and sand. Artefacts recovered ranged in date from before the era of the Knights of Saint John to Royal Naval issues (1530-1930). Seaweed and silt were removed from the artefacts before desalination.35 of the 42 pipes are stylistically Ottoman chibouks - ceramic bowls which would have had perishable reed or wooden stems. The other 7 fragments have origins in northern Europe. 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50156 Title: Malta Archaeological Review, Issue 7 Editors: Camilleri, Patricia Abstract: Malta Archaeological Review, Issue 7 (2004-2005) Description: Contents : From the president / Patricia Camilleri - Society activities - List of contributors 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50154 Title: Ognina - a puzzling prehistoric site in Sicily Authors: Trump, David Abstract: In 1965, Prof. Bernabo Brea of Syracuse excavated a site on the small island of Ognina, off the east coast of Sicily 12 km south of Syracuse. He found two levels of prehistoric occupation, a lower one of the Early Neolithic Stentinello Culture, and an upper one dating to the Early Bronze Age. At these periods, however, it may not have been an island but rather a small promontory beside a sheltered inlet, making an ideal small port. The Bronze Age material contained none of the Castelluccio Culture, widespread in South-east Sicily at the time, but pottery which Brea recognised as being closely similar to some which John Evans had found in Tarxien Cemetery contexts in Malta. He therefore suggested that the site had been refounded at this period, after standing empty since the Early Neolithic, by emigrants from Malta, who had probably established it as a trading post for their commercial interchanges with the Sicilians. This was adopted as the orthodox view by Italian prehistorians down to the present day. However, some uneasiness was felt among those studying Maltese prehistory, on the grounds that there was very little evidence for a sea-faring tradition in that early period, and though there were undoubtedly some raw materials imported into the islands, this was on a comparatively small scale 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50144 Title: Le modele architectural du Tarxien reconstitue par Ugolini : la solution? Authors: Le Chevretel, Roger Abstract: Two fragments of evidence are compared. The first is a Globigerina Limestone fragment found at Tarxien, that appears to represent the plan of a rectilinear building resting on a circular podium. A hypothetical reconstruction was proposed by Ugolini to suggest what the entire model may have looked like. Since then however, the model has attracted only limited debate. The second piece of evidence is one of the lithographs published in 1787 by Jean Houel in his monumental Voyage Pittoresque des isles de Sicile, de Lipari, et de Malte. It shows a plan of a circular building of megalithic construction. Within the megalithic circle, traces of a rectilinear structure are clearly shown. Attention is drawn to the striking similarity between these two representations, which only appears to have been noted once in the existing literature, in a passing reference by Ugolini. A new interpretation is then proposed. It is suggested that Houel 's illustration faithfully represented the Xaghra Stone Circle in Gozo. It is further argued that the model from Tarxien represented a building belonging to the same category as the Xaghra Circle. It is proposed that the rectilinear structures that appear in both examples are representations of buildings that formed part of the superstructure of funerary complexes such as the Xaghra Circle or the Hal Safiieni Hypogeum. Such buildings may have performed functions related to the first stages of the burial ritual. 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z