Historic-period terrestrial environments and soil erosion in the Maltese Islands : evidence from mollucs assemblages from cave-fills at Għajn il-Kbira, near Victoria, Gozo

Abstract

In the Maltese Islands, much of the high-profile archaeological work of the last century or more has focused on the Neolithic period, which is blessed with spectacular remains of great international importance. Anthony Bonanno has been a strong voice arguing that there is also great interest and importance in the post-Neolithic archaeology, and particularly that of the Roman period.1 The focus of most modern environmental work has also been on the Neolithic period.2 In contrast, remarkably little is known about environments on the Maltese Islands during the later Holocene. Cereal cultivation in an open landscape is suggested by Hellenistic, Punic and late Roman pollen spectra recovered from the precincts of the Tas-Silġ temple complex in southern Malta and in the core at Marsa.3 A very degraded steppe landscape seems to be evident on Comino from Roman times to the present day.4 A single pollen assemblage of probable late nineteenth century age from Mistra Valley in Malta suggests cereal and cotton cultivation and areas of biodiverse maquis and steppe.5 Other than these records, evidence for the Late Holocene environment in the islands is lacking. In this paper, we supplement this record with evidence from a cave fill at Għajn il-Kbira, southwest of Victoria, on Gozo. These cave fills provide strong evidence for extremely open landscapes and vigorous soil erosion during the Roman period (sensu lato), followed by less intensively-used but still open landscapes in medieval and post-medieval times.