A new wing at the Ghar Dalam Museum was opened by Culture Minister Louis Galea yesterday.
The wing, a 900-square metre hall, was set up by George Zammit Maempel, the curator, assisted by museum officer Ivan Bugeja.
The aim of the wing is to clarify the history and formation of the Ghar Dalam cave and explain how and why prehistoric animals were found in the cave and other areas of the island.
A small section of the wing is dedicated to those who carried out research on the cave and on local Pleistocene fauna trapped in Malta during the European ice age.
An introductory section explains geological time and the appearance of life on earth. It also explains the marine origin of Maltese rocks, their appearance above sea-level, as well as the formation of Ghar Dalam cave and its various deposits.
Dr Zammit Maempel said that although Malta never had an ice age, it still suffered the effects.
Animals escaping the rigours of the European ice age migrated southwards and reached the Maltese islands. Among them were elephants, hippos, deer, foxes, wolves and bears.
Prominently displayed in the hall are a large complete pelvic bone and a lower jaw of a large hippopotamus, recently unearthed from the cave by Dr Zammit Maempel.
The lowermost, and therefore the oldest layer in the cave, is known as a bone-free clay layer as it contains no organic remains. Above this is the hippopotamus layer containing hippos and some elephant remains.
This is followed by the deer layer containing abundant deer remains and scanty remains of bear, wolf and fox.
The topmost layer is called the cultural layer as it contains pottery, tools, weapons and amulets belonging to man. The cave was inhabited by early man after the river level dropped beneath the cave entrance and the cave dried up.
It was at Ghar Dalam that earliest evidence of man in Malta, circa 5,200 BC, was found.
The earliest inhabitants used the cave as an abode. In later years, the cave was utilised as a cattle pen.
In June, 1940, the farmers and the small population in the surroundings used the cave as an air raid shelter when the first enemy planes came to bomb the nearby Luqa Airfield.
Four months later, in October, the cave was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and used to store aviation fuel. After the end of the war, it was again returned to the government for scientific research and later because a tourist attraction.
Apart from the prehistoric artifacts on display, the exhibition also includes two large oil paintings, one showing Wied Dalam in modern times and the other showing Wied Dalam during the Ice Age. The paintings had been commissioned to accompany to palaeontological specimens exhibited in the Malta Pavilion, British Empire Exhibition, UK, back in 1924.
The previous wing, built in 1929 by Giuseppe Despott and set up in Victorian style in 1933 by Dr Guzè Baldacchino, has been preserved for historical purposes as a sign of respect towards the pioneers in this field.
Dr Zammit Maempel said he would have liked to introduce other improvements, such as audio visual aids and pamphlets, but there was not enough funding.
Dr Galea said the new heritage act, which was recently approved by Parliament, would create structures which would facilitate site management and marketing and would rope in the private sector and NGOs.
He said that as part of a national development plan, the ministry had prioritised heritage management courses in association with the Institute of Tourism Studies and the university.
He hoped that Ghar Dalam and other museums in Malta would attract the younger generation. Museums, he said, should look into innovative technological instruments as well as creative animation to increase visitor involvement and participation in a dynamic setting.