
Doggerland and Malta
Gillis Kersting explores the lost worlds of Doggerland and prehistoric Malta through two new exhibitions at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

Gillis Kersting explores the lost worlds of Doggerland and prehistoric Malta through two new exhibitions at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

The Phoenicians occupied the coast of the Levant for over 1,000 years, but knowledge of their trade network and practices remains elusive. In 2007, an ancient wreck containing a large cache of ceramic containers was discovered off Malta. This ship proved to be one of only a handful of known Phoenician vessels. Since 2014, further exploration of the site has yielded some very exciting results. Project Director Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods reveal some of its mysteries, and the challenges of excavating a shipwreck 110m below sea level.

There is much we don’t know about the people who lived in Neolithic Malta, but they left their mark on the islands through vast temples and tombs. Luc Amkreutz and Sharon Sultana explore what these impressive structures and the figurines found in them can tell us about a vanished civilisation.

The initial exploration of an ancient Phoenician shipwreck discovered off the Maltese coast was reported on in CWA 88. Now, thanks to groundbreaking technological developments, the wreck can be explored underwater in minute detail using virtual reality in a new online museum. Timmy Gambin, Lucy Woods, and Maja Sausmekat take us for a closer look.

Taylor Downing reviews a classic war movie.

Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods report on the discovery and exploration of HMS Olympus, which sank off the coast of Malta in 1942.

In the first of an occasional series on conflict archaeology, Anthony Rogers reports on the evidence for the epic air battle above the island-fortress of Malta during the Second World War.

From Malta, we now travel to its sister-island Gozo, where Nadia Durrani encountered two new major restoration projects.

At the far end of Valletta, within the massive angular bulwarks of the fortress of St Elmo poking out at the entrance of the Grand Harbour, is a museum devoted to the town’s history and its struggle for survival.

The great Neolithic temples on Malta are among the oldest temples in the world, most of them erected before even the pyramids were built. Yet what were they and how did they work? The most important and illuminating excavations of this period were those that took place at the Brochtorff’s stone circle, at Xaghra, from 1987-1994.