When did the arrival of humans take place to Malta, the Mediterranean island? New evidences allow us to know. The hunters-gatherers arrived on the island of Malta in vessels about 8,500 years ago. This is equivalent to about 1,000 years before the first farmers.
Stone tools, stoves and food remains cooked in a cave in northern Malta were found. This points to early human presence. The findings show that late hunters-gatherers were able to make advanced maritime trips.
Human remains
In an article it was published in Nature. The hunters-gatherers crossed at least 100 kilometers of open waters to reach Malta’s Mediterranean island 8,500 years ago. This report documents the oldest long distance navigation of the Mediterranean. It is before the invention of vela boats, an amazing feat for hunters-gatherers who probably used simple canoes.
«We rely on the superficial currents of the sea and the predominant winds. A journey of about 100 km is likely, at a speed of about 4 km per hour. Even on the longest day of the year, these navigators would have enjoyed several hours of dark in an open sea ». Professor Nicholas Vella, from the University of Malta, co -investigator of the study, explains it in a statement.
In the cave of Latinija, in the northern region of Mellieha, Malta, the researchers found human traces. They are in stone tools, stoves and remains of cooked food. «We found abundant evidence of a variety of wild animals. Even the red deer, which had been believed extinct for a long time, ”they explain. These deer hunted and cooked along with turtles and birds, including some large and extinct today.
Changing the story
The team of researchers found clear evidence of the exploitation of marine resources. “We find remains of seals, various fish, thousands of edible marine gastropods, crabs and sea urchins, all unquestionably cooked.”
These discoveries also raise questions about the extinction of endemic animals in Malta and other small and remote islands of the Mediterranean. The remote mesolithic communities could have been connected through navigation. The arrival of humans to Malta raises a paradigm shift. «The results add a thousand years to the Maltese prehistory. They force reassessing the marine skills of the last hunters-gatherers in Europe, as well as their connections and impacts on ecosystems ».
