Għar Dalam

Għar Dalam is a cave near Birżebbuġa in southern Malta. It is a phreatic tube 144 metres long, formed by water long ago. The cave contains bones of animals that lived on Malta during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. These include dwarf elephants, hippopotamuses, giant swans, deer and bears. The cave gave its name to the early Neolithic Għar Dalam phase in Maltese prehistory. The cave was first studied in 1865 by Italian palaeontologist Arturo Issel. Later excavations were carried out by John H. Cooke in 1892. The bones were examined by Forsyth Major in 1902, who identified a new dwarf hippopotamus species. In 1933 the cave was opened to the public with a museum set up by Joseph Baldacchino. During World War II the cave served as an air-raid shelter. Visitors enter through the museum, which displays skeletal remains organised by species. The first 50 metres of the cave are accessible, showing the cave’s stratified layers. The museum also holds reference skeletons of modern deer and elephants for comparison. The site is managed by Heritage Malta and linked to nearby archaeological sites.