In-Nuffara

Abstract

The excavations at In-Nuffara, Gozo, were undertaken as part of the ERC funded FRAGSUS Project.2 In 2015, work focused on the excavation of two Bronze silo pits located on the southeastern aspect of the plateau identified over the course of survey work in 2014. The plateau had formed a substantial, naturally defended Bronze Age hilltop settlement with steep sheer rock sides around much of its perimeter. The goal of the 2015 fieldwork was to address some of the FRAGSUS questions relating to the end of the Temple Period that could explore how landscape, culture and economy changed in the second millennium bc. Our aim was to excavate, record and sample sealed archaeological deposits for radiocarbon dating, zooarchaeological, palaeobotanical and geoarchaeological analyses. Such material had the potential to illuminate the chronology and economy of these poorly known aspects of the Maltese Bronze Age, as well as give context to the broader environmental changes of Malta after the end of the third millennium bc. The Maltese Bronze Age has suffered from a lack of recent systematic fresh archaeological research, given that the major sites for the period at Borġ in-Nadur (Murray 1923, 1925, 1929; Vella 2015; but see Tanasi & Vella 2011) and Baħrija (Evans 1971; Peet 1910; Trump 1961) were last substantially excavated over half a century ago, before routine scientific sampling and dating were possible. In this respect, the data retrieved from the 2015 excavations on In-Nuffara have yielded important insights into the diet, economy and landscape of the Bronze Age settlement, an aspect that could not be considered during the 1960 excavations at In-Nuffara (Evans 1971). The information obtained from In-Nuffara also provides important context for post-Temple Period Malta and enables a more nuanced understanding of changes within the Maltese environment and economy over the course of prehistory (§8.4.1, Excavation rationale). This understanding links with the broader environmental changes that are recorded and discussed in Volume 1 of the Project, and with our discussions of the role of Malta within the central Mediterranean area in later prehistoric times.