Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/768342
maltatoday, SATURDAY 31 DECEMBER 2016 17 archaeological professionalism and expertise, and resort to unsubstan- tiated conspiracy theories. On the other hand, a few well-established archaeologists have been more lib- eral in making allowance for fringe archaeological interpretations on their excavation sites, in the name of 'multivocality' (such as Çatal Höyük in Turkey)... without, how- ever, adopting them in mainstream academic discourse..." Interestingly, similar efforts have been undertaken on local excava- tion sites. "By way of anecdote, it should be said that once – in the summer of 1988, I believe... Trump experimented with the application to archaeology of an unorthodox methodology: 'rhabdomancy', or dowsing... 'the art of discovering ores, springs of water, etc. in the earth by means of a divining-rod'. I followed him while he used the rods to divine the existence of walls, thresholds, and even windows. The first two could be verified by physi- cal excavation; the third one obvi- ously not. That experiment only lasted one season of excavation at the Xaghra Circle; it had been com- pletely abandoned by the following season..." Turning back to Trump's con- cern with unanswered questions: have any of these questions been answered since then? And if a new technology or discovery might shed light on unknown aspects of Malta's prehistoric culture... what would Prof. Bonanno himself most like to shed light on? "There are two questions about Maltese prehistory that intrigue me personally and, I think, many of my colleagues. The first question is... where did the temple builders derive their profound and con- summate knowledge of engineer- ing manifested in their megalithic buildings? Since the overhaul of European prehistoric chronology resulting from radiocarbon dat- ing and tree-ring calibration in the 1970s, it has proved impossible to identify any outside source of in- spiration for such knowledge. One can legitimately resort to endemic geniality (the native genius) to ex- plain the rise of such refined art as expressed in the sculpture of Hagar Qim, Tarxien and the Xaghra hy- pogeum... but not to explain the engineering feats ably assessed by Prof. Alex Torpiano in his writ- ings..." The second question, he adds, is even more serious, and goes back to the discovery by Temi Zammit – the great-grandfather, so to speak, of modern Maltese archaeology – of two successive and clearly dis- tinct prehistoric cultures at Tarxien in 1915-19. "To explain the deposition of the respective stratigraphic layers, Zammit suggested a break, possibly of centuries, between the temple culture and the following Bronze Age culture (now known as Tarx- ien Cemetery culture). That, by the way, would logically do away with any notion of direct ancestry from the temple builders to the present – leaving aside, for this occasion, the other contested break immedi- ately after the Arab conquest of AD 870. Apart from a likely misinter- pretation by Zammit of the 'sterile' layer separating the above two lay- ers which postulates unnecessar- ily the centuries-long gap between the two cultures, the question of 'break or continuity' between the two cultures is a matter of contin- ued debate among archaeologists. The emerging school of thought would like to see a continuity of the same people into the Bronze Age, the cultural change being attrib- uted to a social upheaval which saw the collapse of one social structure and its replacement by another. I am personally not satisfied with this interpretation. I find the radi- cal change in all cultural aspects far too complete..." The gap between Neolithic and Bronze Age involves radical over- hauls in technology: the total loss of old building knowhow; the first use of metals. Bonanno identifies oth- er innovations suggesting a clean break between the two periods. "A new type of pottery repertoire arose, differing in shape, clay, deco- ration and firing technique. There was a radical change in religious practice and funerary ritual – with cremation replacing inhumation. Completely different artistic con- ceptualizing and rendering of the human form were developed, with- out any trace of continuity... with one exception. There is only one archaeological indicator that over- laps the two cultures: a type of pot- tery, called Thermi Ware, a hand- ful of specimens of which occur also in previous temple contexts. This raises one of the unanswered questions that you refer to. Some attempt has been made to answer it, but not everyone is happy with the answer, including myself." Interview Prof. ANTHONY BONANNO pays tribute to the late Dr David Trump, who set out to answer some of the most intriguing (and to date unanswered) questions about Malta's enigmatic prehistory mysteries of the past PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI