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The large stone temple structures on Malta are amongst the earliest such constructions in the world, long before the pyramids were built in Egypt. This super book forms a pictorial record of all the temples on Malta, whilst also providing background information on the social and cultural history of the period. Built between c.3500 and 2500 BC, the temples reflect, and were part of, a period of great development on Malta and Gozo, especially in artistic and architectural terms. This is a clear, well illustrated account of the temple-building period, as well as of what went before and what came after. ... Read more

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Best guide to Malta's prehistory I've found
"The great temples of Malta lay claim to be the world's most impressive prehistoric monuments.They stand out as the single great achievement of the society which created them - a society without cities or written records or any attributes of a civilization other than the monuments themselves.Most of the temples were built before 3,000 B.C. and perhaps several centuries earlier, and this in itself makes outside inspiration unlikely.
This book presents a superb pictorial record of all the temples, hypogea, and other sites. It describes the wonderful statuettes, pottery, and other material that has been excavated from each site, with more than 300 photographs and illustrations, in full color ... explore[s] key themes such as dating, architecture, stratification, ceramics, and the artistic objects found in the temples ... features a detailed visual treatment of 30 key sites with photography, artwork, and maps of Malta and Gozo, showing the exact locations of the prehistoric temples."-- from the back cover.
Great diagrams and photos and still affordable!
CAUTION: "Hardcover" and "Paperback" attached to this entry are not the same book. ... Read more

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Malta offers a rare opportunity to examine the Punic settlements of the west Mediterranean from the first appearance of Phoenician traders and immigrants around 900 BC to approximately 200 AD when the local culture finally became Romanised. This book has brought together and thoroughly examined an immense body of new data from diverse sources - museum holdings, manuscript material and photographic archives. At the heart of this volume is a coherent and logical developmental sequence and chronology of Punic pottery. The evolution of the shape and structure of the rock-hewn tombs, and their distribution across the Maltese archipelago, have also been traced. Future researchers will find this work an invaluable tool for the study of Phoenicians abroad generally, as it presents many hitherto unpublished tomb groups and individual items from generally inaccessible collections. A detailed gazetteer of several hundred maltese Punic tombs has been described as a truly monumental effort. ... Read more

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Supported by numerous colour photographs by Daniel Cilia, this well-presented book surveys the archaeological heritage of Malta, focusing on the classical period rather than the island's more celebrated prehistoric past. Photographs, plans and reconstruction drawings present archaeological sites, tombs, coins, ceramics, artworks, extraordinary objects and other items from everyday life, dating to the Phoenician, Punic and Roman periods in turn, representing 1,500 years of history. Bonanno's narrative discusses this material evidence and considers what it reveals about the identity, culture, interaction, funerary beliefs, economy and government of Malta's rulers. The physical organisation of the island is explored through maps while inscriptions are examined as sources for religion and administration. Significant archaeological remains survive from these periods, including towns, villas and harbours, demonstrating the significance of Malta within the Mediterranean as a major trading stop. This book provides an invaluable guide to that heritage. ... Read more

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The story of Malta's Middle Ages, from the end of Roman rule to the arrival of the Knights Hospitallers, extends across centuries of exciting changes and dramatic events retold for the very first time in an attractive volume by Charles Dalli. ... Read more

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Another mistake
Why is this book on Australia attached to a record for a different book on medieval Malta?Just because that have the same author doesn't make them the same book! ... Read more

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The urban, cultural, and political profile of the Maltese islands is deeply marked by the presence for 268 years of the knights of St John. The Order has left its mark decisively in the collective memory of the Maltese. Malta: The Order of St John gives a global picture of this multinational institution in those crucial years when Grand Master L'Isle Adam moved the convent from Rhodes to Malta, when legendary Grand Master Valette withstood the Turkish assault in 1565, when Grand Masters Wignacourt, Cotoner, and Carafa turned Malta into a centre of Mediterranean corsairing, and Grand Masters Vilhena and Pinto tried to imitate the Central European absolutist princes. It all came to a sudden - but not unexpected - end in 1798 when Grand Master Hompesch handed Malta over to the rising star on the European horizon, Napoleon. The various diplomatic attempts of the knights to regain their island all failed. The book also provides the reader with an overview of the most important monuments connected with the knights on Malta and Gozo. ... Read more

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This study investigates the origins and consolidation of Latin Christianity and consequent way of life in the Maltese Islands, up to around 1530 AD. It is the outcome of several years of research on the written and unwritten sources, the partial, and at times conflicting, results of several independent aspects of which have been reported and discussed. The volume is, therefore, an analysis and interpretation of conclusions and hypotheses that have been circulating over the last decade. Chapter 1) The Shipwreck Controversy - Pauline Legends and Traditions; Chapter 2) The Roman Prelude to Early Christian Malta; Chapter 3) Rock-Cut Tombs and Miniature Catacombs; Chapter 4) Tas-Silg and San Pawl Milqi; Chapter 5) Byzantine Malta; Chapter 6) The Arab Conquest and the Change to Islam; Chapter 7) The Muslims of Norman Malta; Chapter 8) The Christianization of Malta; Chapter 9) The Late Medieval Churches; Chapter 10) The Latinization of Malta and the Maltese Diocese. ... Read more

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Anthony Bonanno's simple and lucid account makespleasant, uncomplicated reading; its authenticity backed by solidscholarship and thorough good sense.The superb photographic recordmatches to perfection his impressive account on the early history ofMalta, making it a publication that is a pleasure to handle, visuallyrewarding to leaf through, reliable and informative to read andassimilate.This new update edition contains eight pages on therecent acquisitions following excavation of the prehistoricunderground cemetary at Xaghra Circle in Gozo. ... Read more

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Excellent introduction for the non-specialist
Malta has been inhabited for around six thousand years, and its archeological remains are very rich.It had a remarkable civilization by the fourth century B.C. during which large temples, regarded as theearliest free-standing structures in the world, were built, while duringthe long Roman domination (218 B.C. - A.D. 535) Malta had a flourishingeconomy. Professor Bonanno's slim book, with its splendid photographs byMario Mintoff, includes a series of short but authoritative introductionsto such topics as the stupendous underground Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, but theemphasis is on illustrationsand pithy captions.This is a bookI wouldcertainly recommend to the non-specialist who has only a few days toexplore Malta's archeological heritage. ... Read more

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This analysis draws on a wide range of excavation evidence; it demonstrates what the state of knowledge is on Punic Maltese burials, and also provides a broader record of inhabitation on the island, by using the burial evidence in historical and archaeological context. Contents: Malta in the Punic Period - A Historical and Archaeological Background; The Punic Tombs and Their Setting; The Tombs and Land Use; The Tombs and Social Hierarchy; The Tombs: Their Dating and Use; Population Estimates in the Punic Period and Punic Settlements: A Comparative Study with Later Historical Settlement Patterns. ... Read more

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Amongst the earliest stone architecture in the world, the Neolithic temples and hypogea of Malta testify to a sophisticated island culture. Explored in the early twentieth century, the subterranean burial temple, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, was cleared of its burials and artefacts without detailed record. Late in the twentieth century, excavation at Xaghra on Gozo rediscovered a second cave cemetery that provides a unique comparison through the investigation of a substantial portion of the buried site using modern scientific techniques. This revealed one of the largest prehistoric burial assemblages of human remains yet discovered in the Mediterranean, amounting to some 220,000 bones, together with a rich assemblage of animal bone, figurative sculpture, symbolic artefacts and architectural remains. The detailed factual and interpretative report on this site, supported by fresh scientific data on raw materials, landsnails and environment, isotopes, radiometric dating and statistical analysis, is placed in the broader framework of the domestic and ritual landscape of the Maltese islands. The result is one of the most comprehensive studies of the incipient complexity of this mature, agricultural, but non-urban, island society so far published. ... Read more

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Malta's national museum of archaeology is housed in one of the most stylish baroque buildings still distinguishable in Valletta, more precisely at the Auberge de Provence, in Republic Street. The ground floor hosts artefacts from Malta's unique neolithic period, which spans from the ghar dalam phase to the tarxien phase. Artefacts of particular distinction are The Sleeping Lady and The Venus of Malta. The display includes numerous artefacts used as implements, human and animal figurines, as well as personal decorative items. A number of monumental architectural altars illuminate the art of the ancient prehistoric craftsmen. ... Read more

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Lying in the centre of the Mediterranean, Malta is a natural staging post for migrant birds crossing from Africa to Europe in spring as well as for migrants returning from their breeding grounds in Europe to the African continent in autumn. Birds have attracted man's attention for a long time, and this book shows images of birds in pre-history, in art, on stamps, coins, antique embroidery, etc. It also speaks about birds in all aspects of Maltese culture, from folklore to language. Additionally, it is a photographic record of many of the birds that regularly visit the islands and features ones that are rare or have been recorded only a handful of times. The book also contains several unpublished records dating back from 1958. ... Read more

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Chapters: Archaeological Sites in Malta, Megalithic Temples of Malta, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, Ġgantija, Ta' Ħaġrat Temples, Tarxien Temples, Brochtorff Circle, Misrah Ghar Il-Kbir, Xagħra Stone Circle. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 57. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Megalithic Temples of Malta are a series of prehistoric monuments in the Maltese archipelago. Archaeologists believe that these megalithic complexes are the result of local innovations in a process of cultural evolution. This led to the building of several temples of the gantija phase (3600-3000 BC) and culminated in the large Tarxien temple complex, which remained in use until 2500 BC. After this date, the temple building culture disappeared. The gantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. In 1992, the UNESCO Committee further extended the existing listing to include five other megalithic temple sites. These are aar Qim, L-Imnajdra, Ta' arat, Ta' Skorba and Tarxien. Heritage Malta today protects the sites, while ownership of the surrounding lands varies site-by-site. They are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth. A trilithon at MnajdraMany of the names used to refer to the different sites carry a link with the stones used for their building. The Maltese word for boulders, 'aar' is common to Taarat and aar Qim. While the former uses the word in conjunction with the marker of possession, the latter adds the word 'Qim' , which is either a form of the Maltese word for 'worship' or an archaic form of the word meaning 'standing'. Maltese folklore describes giants as having built the temples, which led to the name gantija, meaning 'Giants tower' . The Maltese linguist Joseph Aquilina believed that Mnajdra was the diminutive of 'mandra' , meaning a plot of ground...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5959512 ... Read more

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Despite the fundamental importance of the senses in human experience, archaeologists have, until recently, tended to neglect the abundant sensory dimensions of the material world they investigate, with the exception of the sense of sight, which has dominated archaeological theory and practice. In this book Robin Skeates establishes a well-defined methodology for an archaeology of the senses, produces a challenging new interpretative synthesis of Maltese prehistoric archaeology, and provides a rich archaeological case-study for the emergent interdisciplinary field of sensual culture studies. Using the combined methods of reflexivity, inventory, experimentation, thick description, and creative writing, Skeates explores the senses of sight, sound, smell and taste, touch, spatiality, the emotions, and their synaesthesthic interplay. Over space, three particular types of sensory domain are considered in detail within the wider context of the Maltese islandscape: dwelling places, monumental buildings, and the underworld.And over time the character, dynamism, and diversity of the successive sensual cultures of prehistoric Malta are defined. ... Read more

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The artist Joseph Briffa chose to bequest a number of his works to the National Museum of Fine Arts on his death in 1987. Briffa applied his artistic talent to paintings on the ceilings of several churches in the Maltese islands and also helped shape Malta's artistic movement. His bequest has ensured that a nucleus of his works has remained accessible to others who wish to learn more about one of the foremost artists of the 20th century. This publication is a testimony to Briffa's bequest and work. ... Read more

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The idea of carrying out research on the Maltese archipelago during the Roman and Byzantine periods stems from the author's participation in the activities of the Missione Archeologica Italiana, which had resumed in Malta in 1995 in order to complete research conducted on the sites of Tas-Silg and San Pawl Milqi. These archaeological sites are today considered amongst the most important on the archipelago. Their stratigraphy spans an extensive timeframe - from prehistory to the modern era - making them important points of reference and comparison, not least in the classification and study of ceramic remains. Contents: Introduction; Chapter I: The Historical Picture: from the Roman Conquest to the Islamic Occupation; Chapter II: The Archaeology of the Roman and Byzantine Periods: Current Studies and Prospective Venues of Research; Chapter III: Land and Environment; Chapter IV: Settlement and Population: Inhabited Centres, Sanctuaries, Villas and Landed Properties; Chapter V: Economic Activity and Patronage: the Main Players; Chapter VI: The Exploitation of Local Resources; ChapterVII: Did the Islands Produce Foodstuffs and Amphorae?; Chapter VIII: An Analysis of Two Maltese Sites: the Tas-Silg Sanctuary and the Villa at San Pawl Milqi; Chapter IX: Importation of Goods: Evidence from the Amphorae; General Conclusions. ... Read more

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To celebrate this new Definitive Set, MaltaPost, in collaboration with Midsea Books Ltd., is publishing a book titled The Historical Collection Celebrating Maltas Heritage Through Stamps. The book, published together with the philatelic material, narrates Maltas history through a number of essays by specialist historians, including A Bonanno, M. Buhagiar, R. Cachia Caruana, J.M. Pirotta, C. Dalli, R. Grima and K. Gambin.A uniquely numbered Souvenir Sheet bearing the 17 stamps, with a face value of 11.42, is also be included in the first 2,500 numbered copies of this publication. Both the Souvenir Sheet as well as the book will bear a matching number. ... Read more