Geocultural activity in seventeenth and eighteenth century Malta

Abstract

Throughout history any rock material used as dimension stone in the building industry had a special significance to mankind. However, it is difficult to objectively determine whether the relationship between man and stone came about through accident or by design. Certainly the implications of such a bond are far reaching. Stone was the handmaid to civilization for millennia. "Man spent many generations perfecting the technique of grinding stone, acquiring re- markable skill and achieving admirable results the material he used to build houses and other structures; he bartered with it, fought with it, used it to indicate his social status" (Kukal et al., 1989). As in several other cultures, the Maltese building tradition has centred around local limestone since time immemo-rial. Numerous remains and buildings illustrate that their builders differentiate clearly between limestone formations. No written records of the skills and knowledge known to the Neolithic builders exist. Builders of the prehistoric 'temples' noticed the variability in the quality of local limestone. They distinguished between the harder, more durable Coralline Limestone Formations and the softer, less durable Globigerina Limestone Formation. The former was used for external walls. These walls are bare from carvings. Limestone from the Globigerina Limestone Formation was carved and used for interiors. The carvings present are difficult to make on the harder limestone even with contemporary machinery. An equally, more elaborate growing sophistication in the use and exploitation of local limestone was present during the stay of the Knights of the Order of St John (1530- 1798 A.D.). The Order had a number of both local and foreign experts. In the late eighteenth century Guy S. Tancrède de Dolomieu, a French Knight, was such a person (Schermerhorn, 1929).