Introduction

Abstract

Island cultures tend to be insular but are rarely, if ever, isolated. Unique cultural manifestations, like the Maltese temple culture, stand a better chance of emerging and developing in an insular context, but that does not mean that they cannot emerge and reach their climax in a broader continental, or mainland, context. Witness the cultures that produced the rock art around Mont Bego in the French Maritime Alps and in Valcamonica, not to mention the Great Zimbabwe culture. Against that background, recent research on the Mediterranean islands has shown that they have dynamic histories, some more than others. Recent works have highlighted the fact that island societies have often been able to structure and maintain distinctive identities, probably abetted by their insularity, without however, being really isolated.