The Maltese islands are famous for the monumentalisation of architecture in the fourth and third millennia BC. These ritual locales are well known for their architectural space (e.g. Ggantija, Hagar Qim, Mnajdra) and reasonably well known for the disposition of liturgical furniture (e.g. Tarxien). What is missing from this picture is an understanding of detailed practice. One solution lies in the examination of a characteristic technique present in both ritual and domestic structures: torba, a calcium carbonate 鈥減laster鈥� matrix tempered with cultural debris, applied wet in successive layers, repaired and polished over short and longer timescales.
This project proposes to sample the walls and floors of the large ritual structures, the mortuary complexes, and domestic sites to interrogate the detailed practice of elaborate ritual. The main focus of the project will be to collect data on the spatial variation of informative content of the plasterings. 听The plasterings typically contain, microcharcoals, bone, ferrous replacements of organics, shell and pottery sherds听 from pilot studies (Hardisty 2009). A more experimental approach will be to establish the frequency of plasterings in different contexts and as part of this exercise an experimental approach听 will be applied to investigate the periodicity of these plasterings by dating, with AMS radiocarbon dating, the microcarbons within the structures. 听听Samples are already collected from the Ghajnsielem domestic structure and their pilot analysis suggested a very ordered sense of purity and waste in the Tarxien period (3000-2400 BC) (Malone et al. 2009: 44-48). 听The project will assess and expand these initial conclusions.
The good relations fostered in the context of the project will permit the sampling of third millennium BC floors from the Brochtorff mortuary circle听 at Xaghra, and floors and walls from the Neighbouring Ggantija 'temple', as well as听 other ritual (Santa Verna, Ta Marziena) and domestic sites (Tac Cawla, In Nuffara) studied in the fieldwork phases 听of the Fragsus project (2014-5). The Fragsus project provides an important logistic context for the proposed sub-project. The environmental data and other evidence of living practice recovered during the project, as well as the intellectual exchange of the research team will provide a substantial framework for this sub-project. Many of the fieldwork expenses will be similarly covered.
The theoretical underpinnings of, and questions asked by, 听the听 project will be similar to those already implemented in studies of plasterwork at Catal Huyuk (Boivin 2000). What shape does the detailed practice of ritual take in prehistoric Malta? Can the cyclicity of ritual in formal, mortuary and domestic contexts be distinguished? Are important details of ritual practice embedded in these regular plasterings of floor and wall surfaces? How do these details vary between different contexts, both within and between structures?
The successful applicant will need to have, or be trained in, the skills of micromorphology. (S)he will need to be multidisciplinary in approach, showing a willingness to develop appropriate anthropological theories of ritual in tandem with the recovered scientific data. All candidates from the UK, continental and island Europe are invited to apply for AHRC support or to other appropriate sources of funding.
The project will be jointly supervised by Prof. Charly French and Dr. Simon Stoddart, with broader intellectual advice from Prof. Cyprian Broodbank and Dr John Robb in Cambridge, Dr. Caroline Malone in Belfast, and Dr Reuben Grima, Dr. Nicholas Vella and Dr Antony Pace in Malta.
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Boivin, N. 2000. Life rhythms and floor sequences: excavating time in rural Rajasthan and Neolithic Catalhoyuk. World 91探花视频 31 (3): 367-88.
Hardisty, H. 2009. Micromorphological descriptions of analysed samples. In Malone, C. A. T., Stoddart, S. K. F., Trump, D., Bonanno, A. & Pace, A. (eds.), Mortuary ritual in prehistoric Malta. The Brochtorff Circle excavations (1987-1994).听 Cambridge: McDonald Institute, 401-2.
Malone, C. A. T., Grima, R., Magro-Conti, J., Trump, D., Stoddart, S. K. F. & Hardisty, H. 2009. The domestic environment. In Malone, C. A. T., Stoddart, S. K. F., Trump, D., Bonanno, A. & Pace, A. (eds.), Mortuary ritual in prehistoric Malta. The Brochtorff Circle excavations (1987-1994).听 Cambridge: McDonald Institute, 41-56.
