Placing and remembering the dead in late Neolithic Malta

Bioarchaeological and spatial analysis of the Xagħra Circle Hypogeum, Gozo

Bibliographic Data

ID3919620
AuthorsJ Eric Thompson (0000-0002-9389-0545, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, corresponding author), Eóin W Parkinson (0000-0002-0848-3153, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), T Rowan Mclaughlin (0000-0003-4923-1339, Queen's University Belfast), R P Barratt (0000-0001-5550-0051), Ronika Power (0000-0002-1092-8131, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), Bernardette Mercieca-Spiteri (Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, Valletta, Malta), Bernardette Mercieca‐spiteri (0009-0000-1331-5368, Heritage Malta), Simon Stoddart (0000-0002-5480-7075, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), C Malone (0000-0002-7710-0013, Queen's University Belfast)
Year2020
Volume52
Issue1
Pages71-89
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.2019.1745680
OpenAlexW3023634516
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited46

This paper integrates the results of recent bioarchaeological and spatial analyses at one of the largest collective burial sites in Europe, the Xagħra Circle Hypogeum on Gozo. This suite of new approaches has addressed demography, funerary practices, interactions with the dead, and the changing use of space. Modelling structural events and reconstructing funerary practices from 2900 to 2350 cal BC, we trace persistent variation and flexibility in the use of space over time. Taphonomic analysis shows that young individuals (from foetal age and above) were included within the burial space, and their depositions occasionally informed subsequent interments. Such results resonate beyond this site and enhance our understanding of society in third millennium BC Malta. We advance a model of broad accessibility to the burial space, strengthening emerging narratives of heterarchical social dynamics in the Maltese islands

Archaeology · Geography · Maltese · Taphonomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Paleopathology and ancient diseases