The scope of the research cluster is to bring together multiple researchers who have a past or active interest in researching and studying all aspects of pottery from the Maltese Islands.
The main aims are to:
1) create an accessible platform on which to contact researchers as well as disseminate up-to-date research, projects and publications; and
2) provide a framework in which future collaborative projects can be created, discussed and launched.
Maxine Anastasi (Coordinator; University of Malta) works on Punic and Roman-period pottery from Maltese and central Mediterranean contexts, focusing on themes such as economy, trade, typology, fabric characterisation and chronology.
John C. Betts (University of Malta) works with, and develops methods and techniques used to characterise archaeological pottery, with a particular focus on student training and sourcing of local Maltese ceramic fabrics.
Babette Bechtold (University of Vienna) is interested in the study of pottery from the south-central Mediterranean region. She conducts a number of studies on the provenance and commercial interaction of Phoenician and Punic pottery and transport amphorae from western Sicily and Malta.
Anthony Bonanno (University of Malta) has a general interest in pottery as an essential tool for archaeologists to understand the chronological sequence and material culture of the successive inhabitants of these islands. From the very beginning of his archaeological career he realized the importance of building up a pottery sequence for the archipelago. He went on to restore some fragmented pots and inventoried much of the rest of the pottery from the 1983-84 Melita Excavation Project in Rabat. He also restored some fragmented pots and in the process of cataloguing the Borg in-Nadur pottery from Context 41 of a silo-pit excavated at In-Nuffara, Gozo, in 2015.
Catriona Brogan (University of Malta) is a Marie Curie Fellow studying early Maltese ceramics (specifically the Għar Dalam, Skorba and Żebbuġ phases). Her main interests include the use of 3D laser-scanning and automated classification software for typology analysis, fabric characterisation, chronology and trade.
Nathaniel Cutajar (Heritage Malta) has research interests that cover a range of subjects including medieval archaeology, cultural heritage studies and archaeological methodologies. In particular, his research has concentrated on the study of the ceramic productions in use in Malta between Late Antiquity and the Early Modern Period. His research on ceramic studies includes basic typological characterisation, but also extends to the use of the ceramic record for the mapping and interpretation of long duree processes of change, both social and economic.
Caroline Malone (Queen’s University Belfast) has established expertise on Maltese prehistoric pottery from the earliest Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Her work has included the reports on the Xaghra Brochtorff Circle, and the forthcoming Fragsus project studies of important prehistoric pottery from Skorba, Kordin, Ggantija, Santa Verna, In-Nuffara and Tac Cawla. Studies include typological work, thin section analysis and geology, chronology and the wider links of Maltese prehistory with Sicilian material, whilst her PhD work focused on the parallel ceramic sequence in Sicily and southern Italy and provides an important reference to Maltese ceramics. Additional research interests include ceramic decoration methods, pottery production, design and aesthetics, exchange, raw materials, and feasting paraphernalia.
Russell Palmer (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) has research interests in the post-medieval archaeology of Europe and the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the study and characterisation of post-medieval ceramics and glass.
Alessandro Quercia (Soprintendenza Archeologia belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Alessandria Asti e Cuneo, Turino) focuses on the Punic and Roman pottery used for ritual purposes at the sanctuary of Tas-Silg (Malta). He has also worked extensively on the survey of archaeological assemblages investigated by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (Malta) and the University of Malta, where he analysed Phoenician, Punic and Early Roman pottery from several Maltese contexts. His main interests are in understanding the production, function and consumption of Greek, Punic and Roman coarse and cooking wares and other material culture, with a particular emphasis on their role in ancient cult and ritual practices.
Claudia Sagona (University of Melbourne) has research extensively on the classification of Maltese prehistoric, Phoenician and Punic-period pottery from Maltese funerary and ritual contexts. Her interests include the interaction between the indigenous and early Phoenician settlers to the Maltese islands in the early first millennium BC and the evolution of Maltese funerary assemblages in the Phoenician and Punic period.
Cynthianne Spiteri’s (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Tübingen, Germany) main research interests lie in the application of biomarker and stable isotopic techniques to palaeodietary research. She is particularly interested in changes in diet during periods of transition, and how these relate to the general health, economy and social dynamics of a community. She extracts lipid residues that become absorbed into the fabric of porous ceramic vessels during their use-life, and identifies the contents of the different vessels using chromatographic, spectroscopic and isotopic analyses. This methodology produces direct evidence for vessel use, and informs on the culinary preferences and cooking techniques of ancient communities. Her work also includes a strong focus on method development, validation and experimental work. She also targets dietary lipids trapped within dental calculus using Thermal Desorption-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Dental calculus traps within its matrix a wealth of biomolecules which provide direct palaeodietary evidence, with the added advantage of enabling us to target populations further back in prehistory, prior to the introduction of pottery.
Davide Tanasi (University of South Florida) has conducted a number of studies on the typology, technology, petrography and characterisation of Maltese pottery from the Middle/Late Bronze Age (Borg in-Nadur culture). His interests include the mobility and exchange between the Maltese archipelago, Sicily and Mycenaean Greece in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, residue analyses and chemical characterisation of Maltese prehistoric pottery from Malta and Sicily.
Daniel A. Vella (University of Malta) is affiliated with the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, where his main research interest focuses on the production and application of modern ceramic materials in the form of thin films and nanoparticles for protective and optical applications; however, his work also includes the characterisation of ancient ceramic materials using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrography (LIBS).
MariaElena Zammit (Heritage Malta) works in the Prehistoric Sites Department with the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum as her main responsibility. Her research interests include excavation methodology, site-formation processes, visitor management and the Maltese prehistoric ceramic sequence.