Wied Żembaq is one of four valleys that converge at Birżebbuġa, carved over millennia by water rushing down toward the sea. It looks quiet now. It has been here, in roughly this form, for longer than almost anything you can imagine.
Għar Dalam, literally "Cave of Darkness", sits in the neighbouring valley, Wied Dalam, and is one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the world. The cave is 144 metres long and its layers trace a history going back over half a million years. The lowest layers contain the fossilised bones of dwarf elephants, hippopotami, deer and birds, remnants of a time when Malta was physically connected to Europe by a land bridge, and these animals simply walked here. When the ice melted and the sea rose, they were stranded. Over thousands of years, cut off from the mainland, many evolved according to the Island Rule - a phenomenon were extreme isolation and limited resources cause large animals to grow smaller, and small animals grow larger over time.
Then, around 7,400 years ago, the first humans arrived. They came by sea from Sicily and used this cave as a dwelling. Archaeologists believe the Neolithic population eventually became extinct, possibly through agricultural collapse or civil conflict, leaving the islands uninhabited before new waves of settlers arrived.
