Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cave Dwellers at Għar il-Kbir: Malta’s Best Documented Troglodytic Community

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Landscapes and Landforms of the Maltese Islands

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

  • 581 Accesses

Abstract

During the medieval and Early Modern periods, countryside areas in northwest and northern Malta commonly provided shelter to troglodytic (cave-dwelling) communities. The adoption of a troglodytic lifestyle was made possible due to the prevailing geographies that provided shelter in the cavernous landscape within the Upper Coralline Limestone stratum, as well as the presence of adequate hydrological resources. Jean Quintin d’Autun is the first known author to have described this lifestyle in his Insulae Melitae Descriptio of 1536. Widespread disinterest in troglodytic habitations prevailed until recently, and it was only during the past three decades that a determined effort was made to document, interpret and contextualise the significance of Malta’s troglodytic past. Għar il-Kbir remains Malta’s best known troglodytic settlement, but knowledge on its inhabitants is scant. It is only through the Early Modern period writings of Athanasius Kircher, Gian Francesco Abela and Carlo Castone Della Torre Di Rezzonico that aspects relating to the customs, beliefs and traditions of the Għar il-Kbir dwellers became better known.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    An approximate translation of this reads: ‘[…] a pure Arabic language with a mix of Italianate words […]’.

References

Unpublished Sources (Manuscripts and Registers)

  • Univ. 187 manuscript

    Google Scholar 

  • ACM Status Animarum registers for Dingli Parish for the years: 1699, 1702-1703, 1708, 1710, 1715, 1717, 1722, 1728, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1735, 1736, 1740, 1742-1743, 1745, 1758, 1776, 1796, 1797, 1803

    Google Scholar 

Published Sources

  • Abela GF (1647) Della descrittione di Malta Isola nel Mare Siciliano con le sue antichita, ed altre notitie (Facsimile edition by the Melitensia Book Club 1984, originally published in Malta by Bonacota P in 1647. Valletta, Midsea Books Ltd, 242p

    Google Scholar 

  • Bresc H (1975) The secrezia and the royal patrimony in Malta: 1240-1450. In: Luttrell AT (ed) Medieval Malta: studies on Malta before the knights. The British School at Rome, London, pp 126–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno A (2005) Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman. Midsea Books Ltd, Valletta, 359p

    Google Scholar 

  • Borg V (1967) Fabio Chigi: apostolic delegate in Malta (1634–1639). Vatican City, 528p

    Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar K (1997) The Għar il-Kbir settlement and the cave-dwelling phenomenon in Malta. Unpublished BA Hons dissertation, University of Malta, Malta

    Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar K (2003) Medieval and early modern cave-settlements and water galleries in North-West Malta South of the great fault: a field survey and gazetteer. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Malta, Malta

    Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar K (2007) Water management strategies and the cave-dwelling phenomenon in late-medieval Malta. Med Archaeol 51:103–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar K (2012) Caves in context: the late medieval Maltese scenario. In: Bergsvik KA, Skeates R (eds) Caves in context: the cultural significance of caves and rock shelters in Europe. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp 153–165

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar K (2014) Water management technology as a contributing factor in the development of the rural landscape of the Maltese archipelago: making a case for the late medieval period. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Malta, Malta

    Google Scholar 

  • Buhagiar M (2005) The late medieval art and architecture of the Maltese islands. Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, Malta, 278p

    Google Scholar 

  • Cousins SM (2010) The Prudhoe landscape history project: a retrogressive study of the landscape history of part of Southern Northumberland. In: Faulkner T, Berry H, Gregory J (eds) Northern landscapes: representations and realities of North-East England. Oxford University Press, Woodbridge, pp 25–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Dolgoff A (1996) Physical geography. Houghton Mifflin, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eynaud J (1989) Carlo Castone Della Torre di Rezzonico: Viaggio di Malta Anno 1793. Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, 72p

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorini S (1988) Sicilian connections of some medieval Maltese surnames. In: Brincat G (ed) Incontri Siculo-Maltese. Malta University Press, Malta, pp 104–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorini S (1993) Malta in 1530. In: Mallia-Milanes V (ed) Hospitaller Malta 1530-1798: studies on early modern Malta and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Mireva, Malta, pp 111–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorini S (ed) (2004) Documentary sources of Maltese History: part ii documents in the state archives Palermo, No 2 Cancelleria Regia: 1400–1459. University of Malta, Malta, 840p

    Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher JE (2011) A study of the life and works of Athanasius Kircher, ‘Germanus Incredibilis’. Aries book series, vol 12, Leiden, Brill, 7p

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford D, Williams P (2007) Karst hydrogeology and geomorphology. Wiley, Chichester, 562p

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kircher A (1665) Mundus Subterraneus, vol 2. Joannes Jansson, Elizeus Weyerstraet, Amsterdam, 322p

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis H (1977) Ancient Malta: a study of its antiquities. Collin Smythe, England, 168p

    Google Scholar 

  • Luttrell AT (1979) Malta Troglodytica: Għar il-Kbir. Heritage, vol 2. Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, pp 461–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Oosthuizen S (2006) Landscapes decoded—the origins and development of Cambridgeshire’s medieval fields. University of Herfordshire, Hatfield, 192p

    Google Scholar 

  • Rippon S (2012) Historic landscape analysis: deciphering the countryside. Council for British Archaeology, Oxford, p 166

    Google Scholar 

  • Scerri S (2019) Sedimentary evolution and resultant geological landscapes. In: Gauci R, Schembri JA (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of the Maltese Islands. Springer, Switzerland, pp 31–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner M, Redfern D, Farmer G (1997) The complete A-Z geography handbook. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 352p

    Google Scholar 

  • Trump DH (2000) Malta: an archaeological guide. Progress Press, Malta, 167p

    Google Scholar 

  • Vella HCR (1980) The earliest description of Malta (Lyons 1536) by d’Autun JQ (Translation and notes). DeBono Enterprises, Malta, 102p

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeulen F (2004) Roads for soldiers and civilians in the Civitas Menapiorum. In: Vermeulen F, Sas F, Dhaeze W (eds) Archaeology in confrontation: aspects of Roman military presence in the Northwest. Academia Press, Ghent, pp 125–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Veryard E (1701) An account of divers choice remarks, as well geographical, as historical, political, mathematical, physical, and moral: taken in a journey through the low-countries, France, Italy, and part of Spain; with the Isles of Sicily and Malta, and also to the voyage to the Levant. S. Smith and B. Walford, London, 360p

    Google Scholar 

  • Wettinger G (1975) The lost villages and hamlets of Malta. In: Luttrell AT (ed) Medieval Malta—studies on Malta before the knights. The British School at Rome, London, pp 181–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Wettinger G (2000) Place-names of the Maltese Islands ca. 1300-1800, Malta. Publications Enterprise Group, San Gwann, Malta, 645p

    Google Scholar 

  • Zammit T (1924) The water supply resources of the Maltese islands. Government Printing Office, Malta, 49p

    Google Scholar 

  • Zammit Ciantar J (2000) Life in Għar il-Kbir: a seventeenth-century account by Athanasius Kircher SJ and an engraving depicting it published by Pieter Van der Aa. Dingli Local Council, Malta, 44p

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Tal-Qroqq, Msida, MSD, 2080, Malta

    Keith Buhagiar

Authors
  1. Keith Buhagiar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keith Buhagiar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Ritienne Gauci

  2. Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    John A. Schembri

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Buhagiar, K. (2019). Cave Dwellers at Għar il-Kbir: Malta’s Best Documented Troglodytic Community. In: Gauci, R., Schembri, J. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of the Maltese Islands. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15456-1_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation