A few things I've learned of Malta

On a recent visit to Malta, I’ve seen and learned a lot of things; here are some of the more peculiar ones (I verified what I could):

• Cremation was only legalised in 2019 — it’s a Catholic thing — but the country still doesn’t have a single crematorium. The best you can have right now is being shipped to Sicily for burning.

• The Islet of Filfla was possibly significant to the Neolithic inhabitants of Malta. But, the British used it for target practice, destroying what evidence was there — at least three structures — to find out more.

The Islet of Filfla as seen from Ħaġar Qim, a view that made archaeologists think it was significant to its builders. Image from here.

• In about five years, all UNESCO heritage sites in Malta will be closed to visitors whilst they dig further down — UNESCO allows excavations every number of years and the 20-year pause ends then. Some residential houses are planned for demolition to enable excavations around existing sites.

• Malta used to have dwarf elephants that evolved to be 1m tall as adults. About a 100 years ago Othenio Abel made the contested suggestion that the skull’s nasal cavity may have created the myth of Cyclops.

A dwarf elephant skeleton and skull at the Għar Dalam cave’s museum.

• The excellent national dish of Malta is Stuffat tal-Fenek, a rabbit stew, created after the population of the indigenous Tax-Xiber rabbit exploded and the subsequent lifting of hunting restrictions in the 18th century. But the current Tax-Xiber’s population is very low and there are very few rabbits in Malta… so what’s used in the dish is probably imported common rabbit.

• In the late 1960s David Attenborough found a megolodon tooth in Malta — then a British colony — and kept it. In 2020 he gifted the tooth to Prince George. This, understandably, upset the Maltese who contemplated claiming it back, only to let it go a while later because it wasn’t worth the kerfuffle.

• Ridley Scott made a few famous films in Malta — receiving huge rebates — but then bad-mouthed it only to make a pathetic rowback.

“Clapham Junction”

• The “cart ruts” appear all over Malta, but without any solid explanation for what they were really used for and who created them (definitely not aliens!). The Misraħ Għar il-Kbir site is nicknamed ‘Clapham Junction’ because it reminded an archaeologist of that London station.

• Malta became an independent state in 1964, but the British Navy kept the imposing and strategically important Fort St. Angelo until 1979.

• A well in the Ħal Tarxien prehistoric complex had to be covered with a large rock lid because people — it’s a US American thing — kept throwing coins into it, causing the deterioration of the fragile limestone.

• The Bajtra (prickly pear) liqueur is phenomenal!

If you’re interested in pre-history, there’s lots to see in Malta! Valletta is nice, but I think the real interest is away from it.