Sicily and Malta. Interactions and oppositions between the Early Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age

The topic of interactions between Sicily and Malta during the 2nd and early 1st millennia BC has been widely discussed in scholarly debate. New data though makes it worth revisiting as our understanding of the patterns of interactions between these two cultural spheres is now much enhanced. In particular, it is important to take into account not only the elements of similarity underlying cultural contacts, exchange and movements of small human groups between these two spheres, but also those aspects marking differences and “oppositions”, especially as regards the patterns of social organisation. In the Maltese Islands at the dawn of the Bronze Age the phenomenon of megalithic “temples” building and the ideology that had inspired it was over. New cross-cultural contacts, which were probably conveyed by small groups of Aegean origin, then appear to have strongly influenced the archipelago’s communities. This resulted in a reopening of the archipelago towards external connections with the adjacent regions: Sicily in the first place. Nonetheless traditional aspects endured, such as a profound link with “ancestral” places, namely some of the old megalithic complexes. The complex social dimension underlying the temple building and use, although not of a chiefdom type, might have favoured the early development of social inequality in the Early Bronze Age, as indicated by the grave goods at the cemetery of Tarxien. On the other hand, it was not before the mid-2nd millennium BC that a phenomenon of incipient social stratification emerged in Sicily, although the Castelluccio tombs hint at some social differentiations. This process of social inequality dramatically accelerated in Sicily between the end of the 2nd and the early 1st millennia BC, when this larger island became the source of both inspiration models and exports that were conveyed to the Maltese archipelago.