Archaeologists digging in Malta have uncovered evidence suggesting humans lived on the island archipelago nearly a thousand years earlier than previously thought. The discovery challenges long-held views about human capabilities and settlement patterns in the Mediterranean during the Mesolithic period.
Findings from an excavation site named Latnija in northern Malta show traces of hunter-gatherers dating back approximately 8,500 years. Previously, researchers believed the first inhabitants were Neolithic farmers who arrived later.
The new finding includes stone tools made from local limestone, charred hearths, and animal bones. Analysis of the tools indicates they were used for hunting and gathering, unlike the sharper materials preferred by later farming cultures.
Hunter-gatherer groups were thought to avoid small, remote islands like Malta due to the challenges of long sea travel and limited land resources. The island is located about 100 kilometers south of Sicily, requiring a significant open-water journey.
The evidence indicates these early inhabitants successfully adapted to life on Malta, utilizing marine resources such as mammals and gastropods alongside wild terrestrial fauna. Their varied diet appears to have allowed them to sustain themselves despite the island's size.
The study suggests Mesolithic communities across the Mediterranean, including those near Sicily, likely contributed ancestry to these early settlers. Researchers note populations carried ancestry from post-Ice Age “Villabruna” populations, potentially providing the foundational knowledge for sea travel.
Dylan Gaffney, a palaeolithic archaeologist at Oxford University not involved in the research, stated it was previously unknown that hunter-gatherer groups could reach Malta. He said experts thought people settled islands in the Mediterranean only after agricultural groups arrived.
Professor Eleanor Scerri of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Malta led the research. She indicated the findings highlight the capabilities of late European hunter-gatherers.
"It's helping us to understand what that transition to the Neolithic looks like in this region," Scerri said.
