Modern technologies, past realities : GIS-based approaches to the layered making of the Maltese landscape

Abstract

With few ground-breaking exceptions, mainly framed in the context of archaeological research, GIS and quantitative methods have not been used so far in Malta to better understand the development and layered making of the landscape in relatively recent historical times. The present work aims at describing the main achievements of the authors’ research (developed in the context of the five-year ERC-funded FRAGSUS project) into the Maltese economic and historical landscape and will provide insights into how modern GIS-based quantitative approaches can be used in conjunction with qualitative data (for instance, cadastral maps and ethnographic accounts) to shed light on human-environment interaction in Malta during the last two centuries.