Archaeology in Malta (7) : neolithic man : economic and social structure

Abstract

We have seen that when they started a new lease of life on their adoptive islands the first Maltese inhabitants brought with them an agricultural economy. The same type of subsistence economy remained practically unaltered till the end of the Neolithic. Cereals must have constituted the main product of this economy, intended to provide a supply of food that could be partly consumed immediately and partly stored away for later use. Carbonized grains of wheat, barley and lentils were recovered from Gnar Dalam levels at Skorba. From the same context a quern of coralline limestone confirms the grinding of grain to render it edible. One flint blade from a Grey Skorba level and two more from a Red Skorba level at the same site displayed a kind of gloss which is normally attributed to the effect of silica in grain stalks on harvesting tools. It should be assumed that other crops, of plants that by their very nature do not leave an archaeological record, were also cultivated by Malta's Neolithic farmers.