The corbelled stone huts of the Maltese Islands

Abstract

In a study of the corbelled huts of Southern Africa published some years ago, I the theory was put forward that the corbelled hut originated in the Mediterranean probably in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age in the vicinity of Southern Italy from where it spread westwards and northwards through Sardinia, Spain and the British Isles to Scandinavia; and eastwards and southwards to Greece and Africa. No mention was· made of the Maltese Islands. The purpose of the present paper is to draw attention to the existence of corbelled stone huts in Malta similar to those described in the study , referred to above and to show that the Maltese Islands form part of the chain of the world distribution of these structures.