Analysis of carbonized wood and seeds excavated from Scorba - a neolithic site datable to the Ghar Dalam phase (5200-4500 BC) - have confirmed that the in the early Neolithic period the islands had tree species like Cercis siliquastrum (Judas tree), Crataegus sp. (Hawthorn) and Fraxinus sp. (Ash) [Metcalfe, 1966]. Two species of wild plants Sherardia arvensis (Field Madder) and Scorpiurus sp. (Caterpillar plant) were also identified. The former may have been used to extract dye [Helbaek, 1966], while many of the other species have medicinal properties [Lanfranco, 1992].

The Early Neolithic farmers probably had a relatively simple agriculture utilizing a system of shifting agriculture in which land was roughly cleared of vegetation, cultivated for a few years and then abandoned. Carbonized seed analysis have confirmed that Early Neolithic man cultivated barley, wheat, leguminous plants - Lens esculenta (Lentil of Neolithic Anatolian type), two types of wheat - Triticum dicoccum (Emmer wheat) and Triticum compactum (Club wheat), and a hulled variety of barley [Helbaek, 1966].

Early Neolithic man also intentionally and unintentionally introduced a number of animal species to the Islands. He brought with him a number of domesticated animal species including pigs, sheep and goats. He also domesticated cattle. At Skorba with its Early - Late Neolithic phases, cattle bones seemed to be more frequent in the deposits of the earlier phases, though overall the commonest bones recovered belonged to goats and sheep [Gandert, 1966]. The reason for the change in animal husbandry is related to grazing patterns of the various species. Goats and sheep, unlike cattle, graze very close to the ground thus requiring poorer grazing grounds. In addition Early Neolithic man introduced the two rat species (Rattus rattus and rattus norvegicus), the House Mouse (Mus musculus), the Algerian Hedgehog (Erinaceus algirus), besides domesticated dogs and cats [Storch, 1970; Boessneck and Kuver, 1970]. Excavations at the Xemxija Tombs, dated to the beginning of the Late Neolithic Period (the Temple Culture period), have revealed a large number of bones belonging to a variety of domesticated and wild animal species [Pike, 1971].

XEMXIJA TOMBS ANIMAL REMAINS
DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
1. Sheep/Goat: large range of sizes, biggest approximating the modern Mediterranean sheep.
2. Bos sp.: Bone numbers less common than those of the sheep/goat. Size smaller than those of modern Mediterranean cattle.
3. Pig: Not a large species
4. Horse: Size comparable to those of the Dartmoor pony.
5. Dog: Size of a small terrier.
6. Cat: Size smaller than those of the modern domestic cat. Cat bones commoner than bones of dog.

WILD ANIMALS
1. Deer: Deer were common during the Pliestocene period being excavated from a number of sites. They apparently were existant even during the Early Neolithic Phase, but became eventually extinct because of hunting and loss of habitat.
2. Rabbit: may have been introduced by man as food.
3. Rat
4. Hedgehog: may have been introduced by man as food.
5. Bird: same size as domestic fowl, but could be sea-birds.

The domesticated animals were much the same, but cattle appear to have become less important, possibly because the better land was used for agriculture and there was less good pasture land available. Sheep and goats could be grazed on poorer ground abandoned by the farmer. The stresses placed on the soils made these liable to lose their fertility. Over a period of time shifting cultivation and heavy grazing altered the natural vegetation and resulted in the clearance of the woodland areas. The woodland apparently disappeared as farming became more intensive and the disturbed land was encroached by plant species best suited for this environment. It appears from the land snail species identified from deposits at Brochtorff Circle in Gozo that the area was probably a garrique environment which forms on the barren Upper Coralline Limestone and on which only a few hardy plant species survive [Schembri, 1994].

The stresses placed on the environment by the increasing agricultual efforts of Late Neolithic man contributed to the eventual decline of the community. The Neolithic Temple culture of the Islands of Malta in the Central Mediterranean disappeared around 2500 BC. Several attempts have been made to unravel the mystery of how and why this splendid civilization came to such an abrupt end after reaching heights of artistic and architectural achievement, but none of the theories suggested so far is entirely satisfactory. The most plausible one seems to be that the population was compelled to abandon the islands following a series of drought that ruined their triving, but sensitive, agricultural economy. Scarcity of food, with accompanying deaths from malnutrition and disease, broke down the social relationships of the Temple Culture. The abrupt climatic change could very easily have been caused by a series of volcanic eruptions in the region which gave rise to the fall of a number of Old World Eastern Civilizations, all of which apparently fell at about the same period [Weiss, 1996].

The direct and indirect effects of man and the continous efforts required to enable him to compete in the continously changing environment have resulted in the creation of a new group of stresses - both mental and physical, besides the appearance of a new group of disease conditions. During the Palaeolithic age, man was a hunter-gatherer who lived in scattered groups of perhapds 50 to 100 individuals. The low numbers and low densities of the population reduced the incidence of viral and bacterial infections so that people were not troubled by contagious disease such as smallpox or measles, where pathogens require large dense populations for survival. Moreover, the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers spared them other illnesses. They were often on the move and thus were not tied to a neighbourhood long enough to pollute water sources with human wastes that transmit disease, nor to pile up refuse that attracts disease-carrying insects and animals. Fimally, hunter-gatherers had no domesticated animals. Tamed animals helped to create civilizations with their meat, hides, milk, eggs, and bones but also transmitted many disease. The situation changed with the advent of the neolithic age when man group up into larger communities, farmed the land and domesticated animals.

References
1. Boessneck J., Kuver M: Alluviale Tierknochenfunde aus der Ghar Dalam - Hohle, Malta. Senckenbergiana Biol., LI:p.147-158, 1970
2. Gandert O-F.: 1966: Preliminary report on the animal bones. Appendix III. In: Trump D.H.: Skorba - excavations carried out on behalf of the National Museum of Malta 1962-64. Report of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xxii, 1966
3. Helbaek H.: Report on carbonized grain from AFS (Ghar Dalam Phase). Appendix IV. In: Trump D.H.: Skorba - excavations carried out on behalf of the National Museum of Malta 1962-64. Report of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xxii, 1966
4. Lanfranco, G.: Hxejjex Medicinali u ohrajn fil Gzejjer Maltin. Media Centere, Malta, 1993, +132p.
5. Metcalfe C.R.: Report on the botanical determination of charcoal samples. Appendix V. In: Trump D.H.: Skorba - excavations carried out on behalf of the National Museum of Malta 1962-64. Report of the Research Committee of the Society pf Antiquaries of London, xxii, 1966
6. Pike G.: The Animal Bones from the Xemxija Tombs. Appendix In: Evans J.D.: The prehistoric antiquities of the Maltese Islands: A Survey. University of London, 1971
7. Schembri P.J.: Reconstructing the Palaeoenvironment of the Maltese Islands. Brochtorff Circle Seminar - The Archaeological Society, 10 September 1994 (lecture)
8. Storch G.: Holozane Kleinsaugerfunde aus der Ghar Dalam-Hohle, Malta (Mammalia: Insectivora, Chiroptera, Rodentia). Senckenbergiana Biol., LI:135-145, 1970
9. Thake M.A.: Land snails from the Mellieha quaternary deposits. Potamon, 14:93, 1985
10. Weiss H.: Destert Storm. The Sciences, 36(3):30-36, 1996
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