Domesticating islandscapes : Sicily and the Maltese Islands in the Later Neolithic and Eneolithic Ages (IV-III millennium BC)

Abstract

The Late Neolithic and the early phases of the Eneolithic period in Sicily and Malta are an ideal theatre for island archaeology in general, and in particular for exploring the relationships between islands and the extra-insular world (Evans 1977), according to the most up-to-date studies on the Mediterranean island communities, specifically the Aegean in the Early Bronze Age (EBA) (Broodbank 2000). In the last decades an increasing amount of archaeological research has been focused on the long-term interconnections between the Maltese Islands and Sicily during the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC (Cazzella 2000a; 2000b; Cultraro 2000; Procelli 1981; 1991) (Fig. 1.1). Whereas specific studies on the EBA Castelluccio culture have provided significant data in order to establish the main cultural relationships between Sicily and Malta (Bernabò Brea 1966; Procelli 1981; Bonanno 2001), the investigation of the Late Neolithic Period and the early Eneolithic does not seem to have received great emphasis, except for rare cases (Cazzella 1994; 2000a; Giannitrapani 1997). Malta and Sicily are a special case with regard to their later cultural evolution, especially after about 3500 cal. BC when both islands were involved in independent developments. The result was the emergence of different cultural trajectories, such as the monumental temple architecture in Malta (Renfrew 1973: 147-166; Bonanno et al. 1990-91: 192), whereas in the case of Sicily local and external networks flourished in the same period.