Malta - a Mediterranean Jewel

When I arrived on the tiny Mediterranean Island of Malta in the early 50's I had no idea the effect it would have on my life.

I went there as Associated Press's photojournalist to cover the uprising by the Maltese population and government against the British Government, over a dispute concerning the Maltese Dockyard. My photographs appeared on the front of every newspaper in the world due primarily due to the fact that at the time I was the only international news reporter on the Island.

After things quieted down I joined Malta's Central Office of Information and was assigned to photograph the vast collection of paintings and artifacts left by the Knights of Malta when they abandoned the Island with a little push from Napoleon who marched into the capitol of Valletta on June 12^th 1798.

It was in the midst of this assignment that I encountered a chance meeting with Cambridge University Professor Dr. David Trump, and was invited to assist in recording the amazing work being carried out by David's team at the pre Christian catacombs beneath the ancient city of Rabat.

For the next 4 years I was consumed with an insatiable desire to devote my life to the field of archaeology and in particular the treasures that abound on this tiny little known island.

Allow me to wet your appetite!

One of the oldest sites was the subject of my last "World of Unexplained Mysteries" TV series. Ghar Dalam (Cave of Darkness) is an underground cavern extending about 145 meters into the hillside and has revealed fossilized deposits of animals extending back as far as 130,000 years ago. These animal remains give us a window of the history of Ice Age Malta. They bear witness to the existence of land bridges that extended from Sicily enabling these animals to arrive on the island which became isolated once the warm interglacial period set in. Animals such as Hippopotamus, several types of dwarf elephants as well as dormice and bats. In the more recent layers dating back as recently as 18,000 years we find European Red Deer, small Brown Bear, Red Fox and even Wolves.

What you might rightly ask about Humans? When did we arrive on this tiny speck of volcanic rock? Well according to the finds at Ghar Dalam the domestic animal layer shows definite indications of human presence from about 5,200 BC. Quite amazingly on my last visit a few years ago I bent down and picked up a piece of bone 'breccia' (pronounced 'brecha') as we refer to it, which dates back at least 125,000 years.

There are few if any archeological sites in existence where the general tourist can come so close to such fabulous finds!

In future articles I shall take you to some of Malta's exciting temples such as Tarxien and the nearby Hypogeum, to the neighboring island of Gozo and the temple of Ggantija which outdates the Pyramids of Egypt and is believed to be older than England's Stonehenge (3,600-3,000BC).

Enjoy - Dr. Peter J. Shield PhD - (http://worldofunexplainedmysteries.com).