FRAGSUS: Fragility and Sustainability in the restricted island environments of Malta
Introduction
罢丑别听听project based in the Queen's University Belfast, Cambridge and Malta,听has been formed to study the sustainability and subsequent radical change amongst the Maltese Temple Building populations of prehistoric Malta in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC.
Key questions posed are:
- Why do some cultures manage to sustain their civilization for centuries or millennia, while others collapse in response to the impact of changing conditions in the wider environment?
- What factors lead to socio-economic decline and failure in a society?
- Can science, by employing a suite of interdisciplinary approaches, begin to explore and understand how humans interacted with and impacted on, the changing natural environment?
Human history is punctuated by the succession of changing cultures and civilization, many of which emerged and failed within decades or centuries. Change and instability imposed stress on these societies, causing either extinction or adaptation and evolution. However, there are few studied examples of the immensely important issue of adaptation towards sustainability in ancient society. In this project, we bring together key interdisciplinary approaches in environmental science, chronology, archaeology and biological anthropology to explore factors that underpinned the sustainability of a specific European island society. This research, using innovative fieldwork analysis and synthesis, may provide answers that are relevant today at a continental and even global scale.听
There are two primary areas of research carried out by the Cambridge team in the current FRAGSUS project (please see听below for more information):
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NEWS:
- Eoin Parkinson (and colleagues) win Bill White prize for Best Student poster -听The Brochtorff-Xag魔ra Circle digitising project at听BABAO听(British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology),听Annual Conference 2015.听You can view the poster听here
- 听Recent press reports can be found听
- A film by Rupert Barker on the project can be found听here
The latest project news is tweeted at:听
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The first phases of the mortuary analysis have concentrated on the social anthropology of the human remains. Current work is now focusing on inferences from the human remains of health, stress and diet.听
Teeth and Individual bones have been selected from specific contexts to look at changing lifestyles over time. Work has started on the most clearly closed contexts: the Zebbug chambered tomb and the stacks of articulated burials in the Tarxien period central shrine at the site. Innovative work includes the three dimensional scanning of long bones to analyse bone engineering. A parallel project will digitise a substantial sample of the locations of the c. 220,000 human bones recovered from the Circle to increase the analytical potential of contextual information.
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Principal Collaborators
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The landscape component of the project is examining the human influenced and built environment of Malta, and more particularly Gozo. Charly French and Sean Taylor are examining the soils and terracing of the landscape. Simon Stoddart is involved in sampling the individual sites by excavation. The work is closely coordinated with a survey undertaken by David Redhouse and colleagues from Belfast and Malta.
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Principal Collaborators
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The most recent reports of the project can be found in the听European Archaeologist听(Stoddart 2014;听McLaughlin et al. 2015;听Stoddart et al. 2015), on the听听and on the听.
Barratt, R., Bennett, J. and Malone, C. 2014. Photogrammetric recording 鈥� new approaches to reconstructing archaeological features at the site of Ta膵-膴awla, Gozo.听听78: 14-16.
Malone, C., Stoddart, S., Trump, D., Bonanno, A., Gouder, T and Pace, A (eds.) 2009.听Mortuary Ritual in Prehistoric Malta.听The Brochtorff Circle Excavations听(1987-1994). Cambridge, McDonald Institute.
Malone, C., Barrowclough, D.A. and Stoddart, S. 2007. Introduction. In Barrowclough, D and Malone, C. (eds.)听Cult in Context. Oxford, Oxbow, 1-7.
McLaughlin, R, Stoddart, S. and Malone,听 C. 2015. Studying Sustainability and fragility in prehistoric Malta.听听European Archaeologist听45: 32-35.
McLaughlin, R, Malone, C.听and Stoddart, S.听2015. The Xaghra plateau. A focal point in Gozo鈥檚 past.听Festa Marija Bambina听2015: 42-45.
Stoddart, S. 2014. FRAGSUS. Fragility and sustainability in prehistoric Malta.听European Archaeologist听41: 20-24.
Stoddart, S., Hunt,听 C., Malone, C, Pace, A., Stroud, K and Vella, N. 2015. FRAGSUS. Steady State, florescence and bust: an alternative insular model from Malta.听European Archaeologist听45: 27-29.
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The current project grew out of a long-standing collaboration between the听University of Malta, the听91探花视频, and the then Museums Department of Malta, and latterly听Heritage Malta听and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage for Malta, led most recently by听Queen's University Belfast. In 1985, Anthony Bonanno of the University of Malta held a conference on ritual in Malta to which he invited听Colin Renfrew. Colin Renfrew took this opportunity to suggest renewed Anglo-Maltese collaboration to Maltese colleagues, and on receipt of a warm reception to this idea, invited David Trump,听Caroline Malone听and听Simon Stoddart听to collaborate with Tancred Gouder of the Museums Department and听Anthony Bonanno听of the University of Malta. The resultant Cambridge听Gozo Project听undertook fieldwork between 1987 and 1995, implementing geophysical and regional survey, environmental reconstruction (through the work of Patrick Schembri and Christopher Hunt on land snails), excavation of a remnant domestic structure, and, most importantly, the detailed excavation of c. 220,000 fragments of human bone from the Brochtorff Xaghra Circle. Further study of this material was undertaken and the results published (Malone et al. 2009). More work was undertaken in 2005-2007, principally by Caroline Malone, to develop wider ritual understanding of the Maltese monuments with the support of the Templeton Foundation (Malone et al. 2007). The project thus brings together a team where many members have been working together for almost thirty years.
