Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/24375
Title: Għar Dalam Cave : a review of the sediments on the cave floor stratigraphy
Authors: Savona-Ventura, Charles
Mifsud, Anton
Keywords: Għar Dalam (Birżebbuġa, Malta)
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Malta -- Birżebbuġa
Caves -- Malta -- Birżebbuġa
Geology, Stratigraphic -- Holocene
Sequence stratigraphy
Issue Date: 1998
Publisher: Malta Chamber of Scientists
Citation: Savona-Ventura, C. & Mifsud, A. (1998). Ghar Dalam Cave : a review of the sediments on the cave floor stratigraphy. Xjenza, 3(1), 5-12
Abstract: The Ghar Dalam cave floor excavations conducted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have identified a number of stratigraphical divisions containing several fossil animal remains. The original excavation reports are reviewed and correlated to the presently existing floor sample pillar and wall, and the stalagmite structure situated at about 115 feet from the cave entrance. The study confirms the definite presence of eight stratigraphical layers making up four definite faunal stages and a sterile layer. The oldest faunal stages - Eliomys (Maltamys) sp. (=Leithia cartei) stage and Pitymys melitensis stage - have been dated to the Upper Pleistocene by absolute and relative dating techniques specifically to the Riss-Wurm interglacial and the Wurm glacial. The uppermost two faunal stages - Apodemus sylvaticus stage and Rattus rattus stage - have been assigned to the Holocene period.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/24375
Appears in Collections:Scholarly Works - FacM&SOG

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