Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands.

ABSTRACT: The Maltese archipelago is a small island chain that is among the most remote in the Mediterranean. Humans were not thought to have reached and inhabited such small and isolated islands until the regional shift to Neolithic lifeways, around 7.5 thousand years ago (ka)¹. In the standard view, the limited resources and ecological vulnerabilities of small islands, coupled with the technological challenges of long-distance seafaring, meant that hunter-gatherers were either unable or unwilling to make these journeys^2-4. Here we describe chronological, archaeological, faunal and botanical data that support the presence of Holocene hunter-gatherers on the Maltese islands. At this time, Malta's geographical configuration and sea levels approximated those of the present day, n

SUBMITTER: Scerri EML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12043505 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature