Għar Dalam (; "Cave of Dalam", Dalam being a fifteenth-century family name) is a 144-metre long

phreatic ''Phreatic'' is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to a type of volcanic eruption. Hydrology The term phreatic (the word originates from the Greek , meaning "well" ...

tube and cave, located in the outskirts of Birżebbuġa, Malta. The cave contains the bones of animals that lived on Malta during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

and

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

epochs. It has lent its name to the Għar Dalam phase in Maltese prehistory, and is viewed as one of Malta's most important national monuments. Pottery similar to that found in Stentinello was found at Għar Dalam, but lacking details such as stamp decorations. Dwarf elephant,

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

, giant swan, deer and bear bone deposits found there are of different ages. The deer species became extinct much later, about 4,000 years ago during the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

. Until 2025, Għar Dalam was thought to have the earliest evidence of human settlement on

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, some 7,400 years ago.

Recent history

The cave was first investigated for its

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

remains in 1865, with excavations by Italian

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Arturo Issel. An excavation was carried out in 1892 by John H. Cooke. The bulk of this material was stored in Malta, while a comparative collection was sent to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. This material was studied by Forsyth Major in 1902, who isolated a new dwarf species of dwarf hippopotamus, ''

Hippopotamus melitensis ''Hippopotamus melitensis'' is an extinct hippopotamus from Malta. It lived during Middle-Late Pleistocene. It probably descended from '' Hippopotamus pentlandi'' from Sicily, which in turn probably descended from the common hippopotamus (''H ...

'', based on these findings. The cave was included on the Antiquities List of 1925, but was not opened to the public until March 1933. A museum was set up on site by the then-Curator of Natural History, Joseph Baldacchino. Within a year of his appointment as curator in 1935, Baldacchino published a booklet on Għar Dalam, highlighting the main excavations and investigations of the cave. The museum was slowly upgraded, new specimens replacing the old, and a labelling system set in place. The showcases around the walls of the Għar Dalam museum house the skeletal remains found in the cave. These are organised by species and type. The showcases in the centre of the museum's room contain complete skeletons of modern examples of deer, elephant and other species. These were not found in the cave, but imported as reference specimens for the use of scholars working on the fossil examples. It was used as an air-raid shelter during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1980, the most important and irreplaceable relics—such as four tusks of dwarf elephants and the skull of a

child—were stolen from the museum. The cave is some deep but only the first are accessible to visitors. The museum, which still exhibits a remarkable wealth of finds from animal bones to human artifacts, is the entrance to the whole area. Għar Dalam Cave and Museum is operated by Heritage Malta. In 2019, a project was announced to improve the physical accessibility between Għar Dalam, Ta’ Kaċċatura, Borġ in-Nadur, and other sites which are in close proximity to one another.

Stratigraphy

The cave consists of a number of sequential layers, which have been dated using radiometric techniques.D'Souza, L. C.
An endemic radiation of deer in the Late Pleistocene of Malta
1 Oct 2019 PhD Thesis, University of Bristol pp. 21-27 30, 33, 38-39, 294, 299-305

Notes

: Buhagiar (2007) notes that the name Għar Dalam does not mean the 'Cave of Darkness', as would be the case in Arabic, but the 'Cave of Dalam,' or 'of the Dalam family.' The surname Dalam is attested in 15th century records.

References

External links

National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands

Għar Dalam Cave and Museum
- Visit Malta {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghar Dalam Caves of Malta Archaeological museums in Malta Prehistoric sites in Malta Birżebbuġa National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands Sites managed by Heritage Malta