Excavations at Tas-Silg, 1996

For the first time ever, the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta conducted its own excavations at the site of Tas-Silg which is located at Marsaxlokk in the south-east of the island of Malta. These excavations were directed by the authors, who would like to thank Mr Simon Mason and Mr Nicholas Vella who were responsible for the field supervision. We would also like to thank the area supervisors, namely Mr Andrew Appleyard, Ms Carmen Michelle 'Buhagiar, Ms Aloisia de Trafford, Mr Joseph Magro Conti, Mr Paul C. Saliba as well as Mr Andre Corrado; the latter agreed to act as an area supervisor for a while when the need arose. Obviously, we do also appreciate very much all the hard work of the "diggers" who were in fact students from.the aforementioned Department of Classics and Archaeology, the foreign and local students who formed part of the first Summer School in Archaeology which was organized by the International Office of the University of Malta, and some very eager and hard-working volunteers.peer-reviewe

Excavations at Tas-Silg, Malta : a preliminary report on the 1996-1998 campaigns conducted by the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta

The area known as Tas-Silg is situated in the south-eastern part of the island of Malta, close to Marsaxlokk harbour. In reality the place name refers to the small church dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows (hence Tas-Silg) situated at the point where the narrow · road from Zejtun forks out in two directions: to Delimara and Xrobb il-Ghagin due south-east and to Marsaxlokk village due south-west. A British-period fort occupying the highest point of the elongated hill further south along· the first road also carries the same place name. The lower and more compact hill on which the excavations have been conducted is called 'Ta' Berikka' , but since it is so close to the above-mentioned church (only 50 m to the north) the tradition of calling it Tas-Silg is now well established and there is no sense in changing it. The site has a commanding view of the Marsaxlokk harbour to the south and overlooks two other bays, Marsascala and St Thomas's bay, to the north-east. On all sides the slope is broken up by man-made terraced fields There is no doubt that the topography of the site must have been a determining factor in its choice for the establishment of a religious centre in the Temple period of Maltese pehistory (3000--2500 BC), though one must keep in mind that close to Tas-Silg there are three other prehistoric temple sites. each one with a completely different topography. The Temple people were quite introverted in their cultural isolation and do not seem to have been much interested in seafaring and in the outside world. The situation changed radically in the following age, the Bronze Age. when the island was occupied by people who set up villages on naturally defensible hilltops, occasionally fortifying them with artificial ramparts. The Tas-Silg hill with its temple ruins was occupied by these people, but it is not as yet clear for what purpose. The scenario changed again in historical times when the central and western Mediterranean started to be parcelled out among the commercial powers originating in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks do not seem to have even tried 10 colonize Malta as they did in neighbouring Sicily. The Phoenicians, however, did occupy the island, apparently through a slow process of peaceful penetration and eventual political and cultural assimi lation. It was in this period that the ruins of the megalithic temple were transformed into a Phoenician extraurban shrine dedicated to Astarte, which in time expanded into a full y-fledged sanctuary with an international reputation. The last chapter in the millennia- long history of the site was written when the colonnaded courtyard in front of the old temple was transformed into an early Christian church. Any use made of the site in the following Arab period is, once again, poorly understood.peer-reviewe

How to Read Ancient Texts

How to Read Ancient Texts foregrounds the principles of interpretation that scholars employ when reading ancient inscriptions. In order to better come to grips with Canaanite, such as Phoenician, inscriptions, we need to first understand how people wrote and read texts in the ancient Mediterranean world, including that of the Greeks and Romans. The use of continual script and lack of punctuation did not pose insurmountable problems to the ancients, since spoken language is not built on a division between words but on two-second spurts of sounds with pauses in between. This shows the crucial role that lectors and consequently orality played in antiquity. It is clear that philological analysis is crucial when it comes to reading Phoenician inscriptions, such as those examined here. However, in texts with no word division, no punctuation, and no vowels (such as Phoenician inscriptions), context plays a crucial role. That context turns out to be threefold: the textual context that an inscription itself provides, its archaeological context, and also (as in the case of the papyrus inscription examined as a case study here) the wider Mediterranean context, such as that of ancient Egypt. In the case of the Phoenician inscription CIS I, 123 it is the archaeological context that allows us to pin down one highly probable interpretation out of multiple philological solutions that are theoretically possible. The Phoenician inscriptions examined here show us more clearly and with greater probability that the Phoenicians in Malta did practice child sacrifice and that they also had very strong links with the Phoenicians in Egypt

Arabic in context : essays on language, dialects, and culture in honour of Martin R. Zammit

It is difficult to honour properly someone who is self-effacing, intelligent, practical, and always ready to help. We are referring to Martin Zammit, whose contributions to the field of Semitic Studies need no introduction. However, it is worthwhile to write something about Martin’s background (both personal and academic), in order to better appreciate his contributions to the fields of Arabic, Arabic dialectology, Syriac, and, not least, comparative Semitic lexicography.peer-reviewe

Archaeology, epistemology, and the earliest phase of Maltese prehistory

This document contains the Table of Contents, the List of Illustrations, Figures and Tables, and Introduction.The relationship between archaeology and philosophy in general as well as that between the former and epistemology in particular has become a commonplace in archaeological research. This paper is not concerned with such vast themes in general; it simply purports to throw some light on the relationship between archaeology and epistemology as exemplified in the earliest phase of Maltese prehistory, and it aspires to do this via the presentation and application of the epistemology advocated by a philosopher still virtually unknown in archaeology.peer-reviewe

Archaeological fragments and other sources of information

The word 'science' is normally taken to mean what is generally understood as the hard sciences, namely subjects like physics, biology, and chemistry. In reality there are two broad types of science: the one just mentioned, as well as that which deals with subjects that have the human person and his activities as their object of methodical and rigorous study. It is self evident that subjects like art, philosophy, and history fall under the latter category. Although nowadays archaeology cannot do without the aid of the hard sciences, still it essentially falls within the area of the 'human sciences' specifically functioning as a special form of history. Archaeology attempts to reconstruct the story of our ancestors on the basis of the material remains that it extracts from the earth or from the seabed. The problem is that the evidence is generally random and fragmentary and the crux of the problem lies in trying to come to terms with this state of affairs without giving up on reconstructing the story of our ancestors on the basis of their material remains that have been retrieved. If we keep in mind some basic points that characterize our human cognitional structure we can find a way forward.peer-reviewe

How to read ancient texts : with a focus on select Phoenician inscriptions from Malta

This book foregrounds the principles of interpretation that scholars employ when reading ancient inscriptions. In order to better come to grips with Canaanite, such as Phoenician, inscriptions, we need to first understand how people wrote and read texts in the ancient Mediterranean world, including that of the Greeks and Romans.peer-reviewe