Ghar Dalam

At the time The Maltese islands were an extension of the Italian mainland, animals like elephants, hippos, deer and foxes roamed the land. With the rising of the sea-level, or the sinking of the land, or both, the islands were seperated from the land mass and these animals were marooned. This took place in the Quaternary Era, some 10,000 years ago, and not during the Pliocene, eleven million years ago, as was once thought to have been the case.
In time these stranded animals gradually evolved into an island sub-race resulting in a degeneration in some of the species.
Fossil bones of animals have been discovered in caves and fissures in various parts on the island, but the largest concentration to be discovered so far is that at Ghar Dalam.
In 1917 two humans molars were found in this cave and believed, at the time of their discovery, to be those of Neanderthal Man. However, these molars have now been assigned to a much later period and it can be assumed that when the animals died, and their bones carried into Ghar Dalam by the action of flowing water, Man had not yet arrived in Malta. Stone Age Man did use Ghar Dalam as his abode around 4,000 BC but, by this time these animals had become extinct in the Maltese Islands.

Ta' Qali Crafts Village

The military airstrip had been abandoned for many years when somebody started using the disused hangar as a workshop for glass-blowing. And so it came about that the Ta' Qali Crafts Village was born.
In a short time the Nissen huts there were taken over by other craftsmen and new huts built. Traditional arts like pottery, silver and gold filigree, and lace making were collected in one place soon to be joined by other, possibly less traditional, handcrafts.
Among the light industries carried on at Ta' Qali is the making of polished stone ornaments using Malta "marble" as raw material; the Malta Stone workshop carries a sign offering the visitor a "piece of Malta" to take back home. For those who want to take back a piece of Malta history one can buy a replica of a knight's suit armour (they come in all sizes) or even a pottery copy of the Fat Lady.