The University of Malta's Department of Classics and Archaeology will be hosting Dr Catriona Brogan who was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship for exploring the emergence of the earliest prehistoric ceramic phases in Malta (Għar Dalam, Skorba and Żebbuġ) through multi-disciplinary laboratory-based methods including typological analysis and material characterisation.
This interdisciplinary research, supervised by Prof. Nicholas Vella, Dr Maxine Anastasi and Dr Ing. John C. Betts, will be carried out in collaboration with other departments including Metallurgy and Materials Engineering and Systems and Control Engineering, as well as with Heritage Malta. It will increase our knowledge of the earliest settlers of the Maltese islands and will have wider implications for our understanding of Mediterranean archaeology during this important period of Neolithic colonisation, by exploring the material record to enlighten our understanding of ancient chronologies, aesthetics, technologies, trade networks and cultures.
The MaltaPot project will develop methodologies for the archival and analysis of prehistoric ceramic assemblages and also advance new methods of displaying and dissemination of results to both the wider public and academics. The experience will contribute to the researcher's career development through the acquisition of advanced skills in archaeometric approaches to ceramic analysis as well as developing skills within the heritage sector through a series of events designed to disseminate her results to the wider public. The project will also serve to consolidate the Department's research Cluster on Pottery and extend the researchers' network of professional contacts within Europe and beyond.
Dr Brogan was awarded her Ph.D. in Neolithic and Bronze Age burial archaeology in Northern Ireland from Queen's University Belfast in 2015. She is currently working as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant on the ERC-funded Fragsus Project. This has given her a comprehensive knowledge of Maltese prehistoric pottery and she is keen to develop a greater understanding of the early ceramic traditions through the application of archaeometric approaches.