Naxxar : an archaeological profile

Abstract

The Naxxar locality is, in many ways, a microcosm of the Maltese islands. It encompasses areas of high ground, steep natural escarpments, deep valleys, and part of an alluvial plain. From the heart of the island, it stretches out to the open coastline and the anchorage at Salina Bay. Farming and fishing, stone-quarrying and building, and even the collection of sea-salt take place here side by side, as they have since remote antiquity. The principal activities that characterize the Maltese population both of yesterday and today are represented here, together with their preoccupations and problems, past and present. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that practically every significant chapter of man's presence in these islands is probably represented in this locality.To consider the archaeology of Naxxar and its territory is to encounter a condensed, but rich, overview of human experience In the Maltese islands.