Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MaltaPot (Archaeometric Analysis of Maltese Prehistoric Pottery)
Reporting period: 2018-06-01 to 2020-05-31
MaltaPot Is a two-year research project designed to investigate the nature and source of materials in Għar Dalam, Skorba and Żebbuġ Neolithic phase (6000 to 3640 BC) pottery found in Malta. The Department of Classics & Archaeology of the University of Malta led the project, supported by Heritage Malta, the national agency for museums, conservation practice and cultural heritage. It was funded by the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under a Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement, the Principal Researcher for which was Dr Catriona Brogan of Northern Ireland.
The project is socially relevant as it explains the nature of the mobility of the earliest societies in Maltese prehistory, and their capability to adapt to the local environment and utilise its material resources. In addition to providing two years of training and experience for the Principal Researcher, the research objectives were:
1) to analyse and describe the earliest pottery materials found in Malta
2) to determine whether this pottery was fabricated locally or transported here.
The project is socially relevant as it explains the nature of the mobility of the earliest societies in Maltese prehistory, and their capability to adapt to the local environment and utilise its material resources. In addition to providing two years of training and experience for the Principal Researcher, the research objectives were:
1) to analyse and describe the earliest pottery materials found in Malta
2) to determine whether this pottery was fabricated locally or transported here.
Potential clay sources such as il-Qarraba (fig. 1) were sampled to permit analysis of clay and associated materials. A set of 381 archaeological pottery sherds, representing the phases relevant to the project, was selected from the collections of the National Museum of Archaeology. An example from an Għar Dalam phase sherd is shown in fig. 2. Permission was obtained from the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage to section and analyse the sherds. The principal researcher classified and documented the appearance and characteristics of the pottery sherd fabrics. The fabrics were classified in fifteen groups with particular characteristics, benefiting the understanding of the manufacture of Maltese pottery and changes in fabrication practice. These descriptions complement and inform earlier published classifications based on pottery shape and use.
Some of the results provide fabrication details. All the pottery was manufactured in open fires at temperatures below 900°C. Similarities were noticed between the appearance of Għar Dalam and Skorba sherd fabrics, although the fabrics were found to be different. Pottery from these two phases includes limestone and calcite temper, which reinforces the clay; several Żebbuġ phase sherds, on the other hand, utilize small broken fragments of pottery. These and other observations denote changes in the techniques used.
Sherds from each of the groups were analysed in depth using a range of laboratory techniques . Fig. 3 shows an Għar Dalam sherd section in polarized light, showing calcium carbonate temper (in green and white). The comparison of mineral and fossil components in the pottery to those present in the geology of Malta indicate, with a high level of probability, that the earliest cultures which settled here could produce pottery using local materials. Comparisons of pottery forms and appearance had revealed that cultural mobility played its part, as there are similarities between Maltese and Sicilian pottery styles, although each developed its particular stylistic characteristics; but it is becoming clear that this mobility was of skills and knowledge, rather than just products.
The information generated by the project is being curated, and will include over 15,000 images and analytical data describing the materials in the pottery and clay, which will be made openly available to researchers. An online catalogue of images describing the fabric of most sherds included in the project will be presented in an online catalogue of fabrics, which will be hosted by Heritage Malta. Research results are being compiled and reviewed for publication in open access journals. An online workshop for stakeholders in research on pottery found in Malta will be held in February 2021, continuing the project’s promotion of the association of researchers in interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
Presentations for specialist and general audiences have been and will be held, and a temporary exhibition is planned for display at the National Museum of Archaeology. Lectures on clay and archaeological pottery have been delivered to archaeology students, and a lesson set is being prepared for secondary schools. Potifer, a citizen science project inviting members of the public to assist research is being developed to engage people to count and identify the small fossil remains of single-celled foraminifera present in the pottery (fig. 4 shows an electron microscope image of sherd with several foraminifera included). This will launch in 2021. The adoption of online communication, lectures and citizen science methods were prompted by the COVID-19 situation in 2020.
Some of the results provide fabrication details. All the pottery was manufactured in open fires at temperatures below 900°C. Similarities were noticed between the appearance of Għar Dalam and Skorba sherd fabrics, although the fabrics were found to be different. Pottery from these two phases includes limestone and calcite temper, which reinforces the clay; several Żebbuġ phase sherds, on the other hand, utilize small broken fragments of pottery. These and other observations denote changes in the techniques used.
Sherds from each of the groups were analysed in depth using a range of laboratory techniques . Fig. 3 shows an Għar Dalam sherd section in polarized light, showing calcium carbonate temper (in green and white). The comparison of mineral and fossil components in the pottery to those present in the geology of Malta indicate, with a high level of probability, that the earliest cultures which settled here could produce pottery using local materials. Comparisons of pottery forms and appearance had revealed that cultural mobility played its part, as there are similarities between Maltese and Sicilian pottery styles, although each developed its particular stylistic characteristics; but it is becoming clear that this mobility was of skills and knowledge, rather than just products.
The information generated by the project is being curated, and will include over 15,000 images and analytical data describing the materials in the pottery and clay, which will be made openly available to researchers. An online catalogue of images describing the fabric of most sherds included in the project will be presented in an online catalogue of fabrics, which will be hosted by Heritage Malta. Research results are being compiled and reviewed for publication in open access journals. An online workshop for stakeholders in research on pottery found in Malta will be held in February 2021, continuing the project’s promotion of the association of researchers in interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
Presentations for specialist and general audiences have been and will be held, and a temporary exhibition is planned for display at the National Museum of Archaeology. Lectures on clay and archaeological pottery have been delivered to archaeology students, and a lesson set is being prepared for secondary schools. Potifer, a citizen science project inviting members of the public to assist research is being developed to engage people to count and identify the small fossil remains of single-celled foraminifera present in the pottery (fig. 4 shows an electron microscope image of sherd with several foraminifera included). This will launch in 2021. The adoption of online communication, lectures and citizen science methods were prompted by the COVID-19 situation in 2020.
A definition of ‘state of the art’ is ‘the highest current level of capability based on existing employed technologies’. MaltaPot achieved this by including use of modern instruments for identifying materials in pottery fabrics; the generation of 3-dimensional models of sherds to document these before sections were removed for analysis; and the creation of mosaics of microscope photos to produce magnified images of the fabrics which could be used for descriptive, cataloguing and analytical purposes An additional technique explored during MaltaPot, which will be investigated further during continuing work, is the use of X-Ray imaging at a microscopic scale level of detail. This allows the internal distribution of mineral particles, pores and foraminifera in a pot sherd to be investigated without damaging it.
After the conclusion of MaltaPot, the MaltaPot Continuity Project is expanding on the research on clay and archaeological pottery found in Malta, and continuing engagement in teaching and outreach. The core research team are compiling additional data from the investigations, and extending the approach to other samples from the same and subsequent phases in the archaeological record of the Maltese Islands; managing the data repositories; extending research on the experimental firing of local clays; and adopting and developing new methodologies. Statistical analysis of compositional data is expected to support the classification of sherds into groups carried out once completed. Part of the direct legacy of MaltaPot, the Compiling Fabric Identity for Pottery from Maltese Sites (CoFIPoMS) Project was launched in May 2020, one of a number of University of Malta projects selected for Government funding. It will continue the systematic approach to the analysis of Maltese pottery fabrics adopted and developed by MaltaPot to investigate Roman pottery fabrics found in the Maltese Islands.
MaltaPot’s societal implications include an increased engagement in archaeological science in Malta, and the contribution of the project and its derivatives to awareness of, and education on, interdisciplinary work between the humanities and sciences on cultural heritage materials. Project results will feed into an updated narrative for the National Museum of Archaeology, visited by thousands of local and foreign visitors annually. MaltaPot has also helped us understand, and hopefully communicate, that human migration and skills and knowledge mobility are a constant which has benefited Malta from the outset, bringing capabilities ranging from potters in the early communities, who showed a capability to adopt to local environments, to European Union-funded researchers to collaborate with local organizations.
After the conclusion of MaltaPot, the MaltaPot Continuity Project is expanding on the research on clay and archaeological pottery found in Malta, and continuing engagement in teaching and outreach. The core research team are compiling additional data from the investigations, and extending the approach to other samples from the same and subsequent phases in the archaeological record of the Maltese Islands; managing the data repositories; extending research on the experimental firing of local clays; and adopting and developing new methodologies. Statistical analysis of compositional data is expected to support the classification of sherds into groups carried out once completed. Part of the direct legacy of MaltaPot, the Compiling Fabric Identity for Pottery from Maltese Sites (CoFIPoMS) Project was launched in May 2020, one of a number of University of Malta projects selected for Government funding. It will continue the systematic approach to the analysis of Maltese pottery fabrics adopted and developed by MaltaPot to investigate Roman pottery fabrics found in the Maltese Islands.
MaltaPot’s societal implications include an increased engagement in archaeological science in Malta, and the contribution of the project and its derivatives to awareness of, and education on, interdisciplinary work between the humanities and sciences on cultural heritage materials. Project results will feed into an updated narrative for the National Museum of Archaeology, visited by thousands of local and foreign visitors annually. MaltaPot has also helped us understand, and hopefully communicate, that human migration and skills and knowledge mobility are a constant which has benefited Malta from the outset, bringing capabilities ranging from potters in the early communities, who showed a capability to adopt to local environments, to European Union-funded researchers to collaborate with local organizations.