The amazing cave Ghar-Dalam (or Ar-Dalam, from the small Għar Dalam "cave of darkness"), located in the south of Malta, attracts scientists and archaeologists from all over the world. It's no wonder: the layers of bone remains of animals extinct at the end of the last glaciation were discovered here, in other words, in simple terms - very, very long time ago. But this is not all - in Ghar-Dalam, there were also traces of an early stay of a man who was here no more than 7,400 years ago.
However, man, compared with the remains of animals, appeared here relatively recently. For example, in Ghar-Dalam there were bones of a dwarf hippo that died out about 180 thousand years ago. There are also remains of a dwarf deer, which is still a little younger - it's only 18 thousand years old.
Needless to say, today archaeologists do not literally inhale this cave? By the way, her first serious scientific research was carried out back in 1885 .During World War II, the arches of the "stone temple of archeology" were used as an air-raid shelter, but in the second half of the 20th century, in Ghar-Dalam, the museum was opened for the general public .Alas, the public immediately appreciated the wealth found in the cave, because in 1980 .from here the remains of dwarf elephants and the rarest skull of the neolithic child are stolen .But this is not all the misfortunes that fell to the share of Ghar-Dalam .Later, a group of archaeologists from Italy discovered petroglyphs of the supposedly Paleolithic era: circled human hands, anthropomorphomorphic figures, animals, in particular elephants (yes, Malta had elephants that died out during the Pleistocene period) .Alas, most of the "prehistoric art" was later destroyed by vandals .
Today, the cave has been studied up to six layers .The first is a layer of domestic animals (about 74 cm), where the remains of cows, horses, sheep, goats, as well as flint, ceramics, tools and ornaments, human bones .The next one is a layer of limestone (about 0, 6 cm) followed by a rather wide layer of deer (175 cm) .In addition to the remains of this noble animal, bones of the brown bear, red fox, wolf, swans, turtles and mice were found here .Behind him is a small pebble layer (about 35 cm), and then a "pearl" - a 120-centimeter layer of hippos (where a dwarf elephant and giant dormouse was also found) and the last clay layer without bones (125 cm), which can boast only plant prints .
The depth of the cave reaches 144 m, but visitors are allowed only for the first 50 m. In addition to the stone vaults, guests will find an excellent museum where you can see the skeleton of a dwarf elephant.
Coordinates
Address: Triq Ghar Dalam, Birzebbuga. How to get there: near the museum there is a bus stop Dalam, here stop 82, 85 and 210 routes from Birzebbuji and Marsaslok.
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 9: 00-17: 00. The cost of the visit is 5 EUR.