A small island, with a big story about prehistoric life across the Mediterranean.
A groundbreaking discovery has revealed that Malta’s human history is at least 1,000 years older than previously thought, and that the first people to descend on the islands were Mesolithic era hunter-gatherers and not Neolithic era farmers, as previous research long believed. Like so many happenings on the small island, it tells a big story about prehistoric life across the Mediterranean.
For decades, Għar Dalam was considered the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, dating back 7,400 years. But new excavations at the Għar tal-Latnija (Għar Tuta) in Mellieħa, by a team from the University of Malta and Max Planck Institute, unearthed remains that push this date back by 1,000 years.
A team of archaeologists, led by Maltese professors Eleanor Scerri and Nicholas Vella, published their discovery in the journal Nature. The discovery included stone tools, animal and seafood remains and the bones of other wild animals which included deer, reptiles and tortoises, as well as the hearths where they cooked these meals. The research project to uncover further evidence is ongoing.
“So far, scientists agreed the first humans descended on Malta around 7,500 years ago, and that they were farmers,” said principal investigator Professor Eleanor Scerri, in an interview with the Times of Malta. “This discovery confirms there were humans on the island at least 8,500 years ago, maybe even 9,000 years ago, and they were among the last surviving hunter-gatherers of the final European Ice Age. We never knew this before. It completely opens a new chapter on Mediterranean history and changes the way we view these people.”
The team noted that when the Neolithic people had choices, and the people of Malta could cultivate the edible plants and animals they wished, indicating an adaptation to both land and sea resources, the evidence suggests they almost entirely stopped eating seafood.
Nature, reported that the discovery challenges the assumption that small islands like Malta couldn’t have supported whole populations of hunter-gatherers who didn’t know how to grow food. It also challenges the global scientific community’s belief that hunter-gatherers did not reach small and remote islands, and reshapes the understanding of what these primitive communities were capable of achieving, especially considering their limited resources and long-distance seafaring.
At the time of settlement, sea levels and Malta’s geography were similar to today, although Malta, Gozo, and Comino formed a single landmass. Still, the journey from Sicily involved crossing at least 100 kilometres of open water which was well beyond the visible horizon. Malta is one of the most remote islands in the Mediterranean and, unlike regions such as Southeast Asia – known for early seafaring between densely clustered islands – Malta’s relative isolation required more complex navigation.
One of the co-researchers, Professor Huw Groucutt noted, “In contrast, islands off Africa were not reached until the recent past. In the Mediterranean, the current idea is that hunter gatherers reached only islands that were large and relatively close to the coast. Malta is tiny and remote.”
And given Malta’s isolation, the people would have arrived in dugout canoes. They would have required advanced seafaring skills including navigation skills, planning, as well as boat-building skills. The people who braved at least 100 kilometres of open sea to reach Malta weren’t farmers.
Professor Scerri believes Għar tal-Latnija deserves global recognition. “I believe this cave is a future World Heritage site, as it is preserving a piece of European history that we didn’t know about.”
You can listen to a detailed discussion, in Maltese and English, of the findings in Times Talk, the podcast from The Times of Malta (episode 10 April 2025 – The First Maltese).
