Ghar Dalam (written as Għar Dalam in the Maltese alphabet and meaning "the Cave of Darkness") is an extraordinary prehistorical cul de sac containing the bone remains of animals that were stranded and subsequently became extinct on Malta at the end of the Ice age. Dwarf elephant, hippopotamus, deer and bear bone deposits found there are of a different age; the hippopotamuses became extinct about 180,000 years ago, whilst the deers became extinct much later, about 18,000 years ago. It is also here that the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered.
The cave was first scientifically investigated in 1885 but was not opened until 1933 and also was used as an air-raid shelter during World War II. In 1980, the most important and irreplaceble relics—such as four tusks of dwarf elephants and the skull of a Neolithic child—were unfortunately stolen from the museum there.
The cave is some 144 metres deep, but only the first fifty metres are open to visitors. The museum, which still exhibits a remarkable wealth of finds from animal bones to human artifacts, is the entrance to the whole area.
Apart from confirming certain geological knowledge, the grotto of GharDalam provided the very oldest evidence of man's presence on the island.
Excavations in the grotto of GharDalam, which is about 90 meters long, resulted in the discovery of an impressive quantity of the remains of animals of all sorts - herbivora such as antelopes, carnivora such as bears, wolves, and hyenas, and above all elephant and hippopotamus.
Nonetheless, it was the grotto of GharDalam which furnished the first irrefutable evidence of human presence.
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