Mission Impossible: the archaeology of Lampedusa in three days

Lampedusa is another central Mediterranean island, but geographically even further out in the open sea than Malta. In spite of this, it shares with Malta surprisingly similar human occupations, starting with the Neolithic, even if it missed out on the Maltese megalithic experience. It has an extensive spread of (sometimes hardly perceptible) circular structures that have so far defied a satisfactory interpretation.

Professor Anthony Bonanno’s talk will give an account of an exploratory three-day visit to Lampedusa paid by Dr Ruben P. Borg from the Faculty of Built Environment and Professor Bonanno in July 2016. The visit took place at the invitation of Dott. Diego Ralli, a seriously motivated amateur archaeologist who has an intensive entanglement with the archaeology of his beloved island. The visit was arranged purposely to coincide with that of Prof. Sebastiano Tusa, Superintendent of Maritime Archaeology for Sicily, which made possible a lively discussion about the archaeological remains of the island.

The talk will be held on Wednesday, 21 March 2018. The presentation is part of The Archaeological Society’s lecture programme, supported by APS Bank, and will take place at 6pm at the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, 173, St Christopher Street, Valletta.

Photo: Enigmatic Circle, Lampedusa by Anthony Bonanno.