Environmental analyses based on molluscan and other sedimentological remains

Abstract

The University excavations at Tas-Silġ offered an opportunity to apply scientific environmental analyses in an attempt to reconstruct the environment of the site and to detect the impact that human activity throughout the periods might have had on the site and its surroundings. To date, much of what is known about the Maltese environment in antiquity has mainly been based on ancient literary sources and some archaeological remains that implied particular agricultural activities. Scientific investigations of plant macro remains and pollen from archaeological deposits prior to 1996 were rare but shed important light on the environment of the Maltese Islands during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The information gained from these different methods, however, was either rather general or valid only for a specific period at a specific spot. The Tas-Silġ site, on the other hand, is a multi-period one where the age of the deposits ranges from the Neolithic to the present day. Hence, the various deposits excavated at the site offered the unique opportunity to study the environment and how it has been changed through human activities.