A landscape archaeology approach to the study of the Maltese girna : a case study based on the areas of ix-Xaghra l-Hamra, Id- Dar il-Bajda and Ta’ l-Ghansar in Northern Malta.

Abstract

This dissertation departs from the assumption that the girna is a structure forming part of the Maltese landscape, a landscape that is largely artificial and fashioned by humans. Consequently, it is possible for the archaeologist to analyse the Maltese landscape retrogressively, by “peeling” away layer after layer of human interventions in a process which resemble the stratigraphic excavation of an archaeological site. This work proposes that in order to understand the girna one has to unravel the history of the landscape in which the girna stands. This work aims to propose a methodology to study the girna and to answer four particular questions that, it is felt, were not completely answered in past works on the Maltese girna: 1. How can archaeology be applied to understand and date securely a structure such as the Maltese girna? 2. What forces led to the building of the girna? 3. What is the relation between the girna and other structures that are found in the Maltese rural landscape? 4. How can the development of the girna be compared with the development of the corbelled huts of the Mediterranean region? It is felt that before starting with the proposal of the method, it is important to understand the development of the study of corbelled huts in Europe and the Mediterranean region. For this reason, a short description of the study of the corbelled huts in Europe and the Mediterranean will be presented in this chapter. Furthermore, a short history of the study of the girna will also be presented. However, before commencing to this exercise it is crucial to define the characteristics of the corbelled hut.