The domestic environment

Abstract

The investigation of the domestic environment was considered an important component of the Cambridge Gozo Project. Although most effort was concentrated on the excavation of the Circle, a sampling scheme for field survey was designed to examine the wider context. The proposal was to investigate two transects which cut across the geology and topography of the island departing from a point on the Xagħra plateau. The Xagħra plateau itself was entirely investigated (allowing for land use), a small area was also covered around the Għajnsielem Road site to place that excavation in context (within the southern transect), and the western transect was completed between the Xagħra plateau and Ta’ Kuljat. Funding, the time-limited permit, and above all the unexpected enormity of the funerary complex, precluded the completion of this work, although it is hoped it will continue in collaboration with Maltese colleagues, in as much as the landscape still survives. Material was collected by field, but since these were generally small terraces, the recovered densities give a good pattern of offsite distribution. In the subsequent analysis of the recovered field material, potsherds and other items (flint, obsidian) were quantified to produce an understanding of the spreads of material in the Gozitan landscape. Few securely contextualized concentrations were recovered and it is these that are reported here in summary form, leaving a complete analysis to a later date with fresh funding.