Tas-Silg

On the final day of my week of pre-history, we visited a working excavation at Tas-Silg.  The Italian connection is evident here also (see previous post) as the excavation has been undertaken by the Italian Archaeological Mission since 1963.  We were shown around the site by the head of the current team, Dr Giulia Recchia.  She explained the plans of the temples as they have been uncovered.  Originally, the Mission came to excavate the site of Punic and later classical temples that had been turned into a monastery in 4th century AD.  They were surprised to find the Neolithic site underneath.  The building had barely survived the later drastic alterations but sherds of pottery and the discovery of a standing 'fat lady' statue as found at Tarxien have encouraged the continuation of the excavation.  The statue had been defaced and buried. 

Tas-Silg is named after the nearby convent of the Madonna Tas-Silg (Our Lady of the Snows) and it is on a hilltop above Marsaxlokk so I was able to ride my bike over to the meeting place outside the church.  Since this was my local archaeological dig, I enquired about the possibility of volunteering some of my time to help with chores associated with an excavation.  Most of the workers were Masters or PhD archaeology students.  I had a positive response from both Heritage Malta who manage the site and from the head of the dig, but since the following week was to be the end of the work for this year, I decided to put that venture off until next time!  In the meantime I will content myself with reading up on the publication:

Alberto Cazzella and Giulia Recchia "New excavations at Tas-Silg and a comparison with the other megalithic sites in Malta" in Revisiting Anomalies.  Accordia Research papers, Vol 10, 2004-2006, pp61-70