Editing Malta (section)

===Prehistory===
{{See also|Megalithic Temples of Malta|Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum|Għar Dalam}}

Malta has been inhabited from at least circa 6500 BC, with the arrival of [[Mesolithic]] hunter-gatherers likely originating from Sicily. Discoveries at [[Latnija Cave]] led by the Maltese archaeologist Eleanor Scerri included the remains of hearths, stone tools and an abundant and diverse range of animal bones. These included indigenous red deer that are now extinct, fish and marine mammals, as well as abundant edible marine gastropods. To arrive on Malta, these hunter-gatherers had to cross around 100&nbsp;km of open water, documenting the longest yet-known sea crossing by hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Scerri |first=Eleanor M. L. |last2=Blinkhorn |first2=James |last3=Groucutt |first3=Huw S. |last4=Stewart |first4=Mathew |last5=Candy |first5=Ian |last6=Allué |first6=Ethel |last7=Burguet-Coca |first7=Aitor |last8=Currás |first8=Andrés |last9=Carleton |first9=W. Christopher |last10=Lindauer |first10=Susanne |last11=Spengler |first11=Robert |last12=Boxleitner |first12=Kseniia |last13=Asciak |first13=Gillian |last14=Colucci |first14=Margherita |last15=Gauci |first15=Ritienne |date=May 2025 |title=Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08780-y |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=641 |issue=8061 |pages=137–143 |doi=10.1038/s41586-025-08780-y |issn=1476-4687|pmc=12043505 }}</ref> The extinction of the [[Hippopotamus melitensis|dwarf hippos]], [[Cygnus falconeri|giant swans]] and [[Palaeoloxodon falconeri|dwarf elephants]] has historically been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3096/palaeol.html |title=Palaeolithic Man in the Maltese Islands |author=A. Mifsud |author2=C. Savona-Ventura |author3=S. Mifsud |access-date=8 July 2019 |archive-date=17 January 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990117003916/http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3096/palaeol.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> However this seems unlikely since recent work suggests these animals went extinct many thousands of years before the arrival of the first people,<ref>{{Cite book |last=van der Geer |first=Alexandra |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444323986 |title=Evolution of Island Mammals |last2=Lyras |first2=George |last3=de Vos |first3=John |last4=Dermitzakis |first4=Michael |date=2010-08-03 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-9009-1 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444323986}}</ref> and no such animals were found in association with the earliest known Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.<ref name=":0" /> The claim for an earlier occupation of the island by [[Neanderthal|Neanderthals]] is widely rejected.<ref name=":0" /> <sup>Supplementary Information</sup> [[Early European Farmers|Neolithic Farmers]], also originating from Sicily, are thought to have arrived on the islands by around 5400 BC.<ref name=":0" /> Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the [[Early Neolithic]] include the [[Għar Dalam]] cave site in the uppermost layers associated with domesticated animals.<ref name="Skeates2010">{{Cite book |last=Skeates|first= Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOjDB8M27wkC&pg=PA124 |title=An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-921660-4 |pages=124–132 }}</ref> The Neolithic population on Malta grew [[cereals]], raised livestock and, in common with other ancient Mediterranean cultures, worshipped a [[mother goddess|fertility figure]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=History|publisher=Maltese Italian Chamber of Commerce|url=https://www.micc.org.mt/en/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1235&Itemid=821&lang=en|access-date=8 October 2021|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008001147/https://www.micc.org.mt/en/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1235&Itemid=821&lang=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Ggantija Temples, Xaghra, Gozo.jpg|thumb|[[Ġgantija]] [[megalith]]ic temple complex]]
A culture of [[megalith]]ic temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period. Around 3500 BC, these people built some of the oldest existing free-standing structures in the world in the form of the megalithic [[Ġgantija]] temples on [[Gozo]];<ref name="otsf">{{Cite web |title=Old Temples Study Foundation |url=http://www.otsf.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208014817/http://otsf.org/ |archive-date=8 February 2014 |access-date=31 March 2009 |publisher=OTSF}}</ref> other early temples include those at [[Ħaġar Qim]] and [[Mnajdra]].<ref name="b1">{{cite book|first=Daniel |last=Cilia|title=Malta Before History|year=2004|publisher= Miranda Publishers| isbn=99909-85-08-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRGrRy7S750C&pg=PA87 |title=Malta |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7614-0993-9 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Archaeology and prehistory |url=http://users.aber.ac.uk/jpg/malta/arch.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212031419/http://users.aber.ac.uk/jpg/malta/arch.html |archive-date=12 December 2008 |access-date=31 March 2009 |publisher=Aberystwyth, The University of Wales}}</ref> The temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex [[trefoil]] design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BC. Tentative information suggests that [[animal sacrifice]]s were made to the goddess of fertility, whose statue is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Museum of Archaeology |url=http://www.visitmalta.com/museum-of-archaeology  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329164847/http://visitmalta.com/museum-of-archaeology |archive-date=29 March 2010 |website=Visitmalta.com}}</ref> Another archaeological feature of the Maltese Islands often attributed to these ancient builders is equidistant uniform grooves dubbed "cart tracks" or "cart ruts", which can be found in several locations throughout the islands, with the most prominent being those found in [[Misraħ Għar il-Kbir|Misraħ Għar il-Kbir ("Clapham Junction")]]. These may have been caused by wooden-wheeled carts eroding soft limestone.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 April 2009 |title=Ancient mystery solved by geographers |url=http://www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/news/archive2009/april2009/title,94480,en.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229050005/http://www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/news/archive2009/april2009/title%2C94480%2Cen.html |archive-date=29 December 2010 |access-date=14 November 2010 |website=Port.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mottershead, Derek |last2=Pearson, Alastair |last3=Schaefer, Martin |year=2008 |title=The cart ruts of Malta: an applied geomorphology approach |journal=Antiquity |volume=82 |issue=318 |pages=1065–1079 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00097787 |s2cid=162827926 }}</ref> The culture apparently disappeared from the islands around 2500 BC, possibly due to famine or disease.

After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until an influx of [[Bronze Age]] immigrants, a culture that [[Cremation|cremated]] its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called [[dolmen]]s.<ref>{{cite web|first=Daniel|last=Cilia|url=http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html|title=Malta Before Common Era|work=The Megalithic Temples of Malta|access-date=28 January 2007|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607074024/http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html|url-status=live}}</ref> They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from [[Sicily]] because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there.<ref name="Piccolo-dolmens">{{Cite book |last1=Piccolo|first1=Salvatore |title=Ancient Stones, The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily |last2=Darvill|first2= Timothy |publisher=Brazen Head Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-9565106-2-4}}</ref>