Pre-history Malta and the Carthagenians (5000 B.C. - 218 A.D.)

The oldest megaliths in the world are located on the islands of Malta and Gozo. Archeologists have dated the stone structures of Ggantija (the Giant's Tower), Hagar Qim, Tarxien, and Mnajdra to about 5200 B.C. The first settlers arrived on Malta and Gozo around 5000 B.C. from Sicily. The cave Ghar Dalam contains archeological evidence of a layer of Neolithic inhabitation on top of earlier strata of fossilized remains of pygmy hippos and deer from Africa.

Malta's early settlers were farmers who grew barley, wheat, and leguminous plants, and raised pigs, cattle, sheep and goats. Their pottery is on display in the Archeological Museum in Valletta.

The prehistoric population of Malta was not self-sustaining, and new groups of people migrated to the island. By 2300 B.C., the Tarxien Cemetery people were the dominant culture on the island. They came from Southern Italy. Around 1450 B.C., the Borg in-Nadur arrived on the island. They eventually assimilated the Tarxien Cemetery people into their culture. The Bahrija settlers arrived in 900 B.C. The two groups lived on the island together but little is known about their coexistence.

There is evidence that the Phoenicians were on the island of Malta around 800 B.C. The Phoenicians traded throughout the Western Mediterranean, including Malta. The Phoenicians moved to Carthage when they lost control of their base in the Levant. The Carthaginians colonized the Maltese islands in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. The islanders lived in relative peace until the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome in the third century B.C. During the first Punic War (262-242 B.C.), Malta was a Carthaginian naval base, but by 218 B.C., the Maltese islands were a Roman colony.

One of the constant factors in human occupation of Malta is the scarcity of fresh water.  Malta lacks a river, and until recently it obtained its drinking water from storing winter rainfalls in cisterns. Rooftop cisterns are still common on the islands today, although Malta now has a modern desalinization plant.

Find detailed chronology here: History 01