The UKZN Durban Alumni Association recently hosted an engaging and informative talk titled “Malta: In the Middle of the Middle” by UKZN Emeritus Professor Mike Watkeys. The event took place on Monday, 25 August 2025, and offered alumni a fascinating blend of geology, history, and personal narrative.
Professor Watkeys, born in Malta in the 1950s, has lived a life shaped by global experiences. He spent his childhood in Ghana and Germany before attending boarding school in Oxford, England. He went on to complete a BSc (Hons) in Geology and Oceanography at University College Swansea, Wales, in 1975, after which he worked for the Rhodesian Geological Survey. His academic journey continued in South Africa, where he joined the Department of Geology at the University of the Witwatersrand and completed his PhD. He later moved to the University of Cape Town’s Department of Geochemistry before being appointed to the academic staff of the Department of Geology and Applied Geology at the then-University of Natal, Durban, in 1989. By the time of his retirement in 2015, the institution had become the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Even in retirement, Professor Watkeys remains active, publishing research papers and undertaking consultancy work related to exploration and mining geology across the globe. His lecture on Malta reflected not only his deep geological expertise but also his personal connection to the island, offering alumni a unique perspective on how history, culture, and science intersect.
Professor Watkeys highlighted the unique geographical and historical significance of the Maltese archipelago. Situated at the very heart of the Mediterranean—almost equidistant from the Straits of Gibraltar and Turkey, and between Europe and Africa—Malta has long served as a meeting point of cultures.
He explained that Malta’s geological history is as dramatic as its human story. Around 5.5 million years ago, when the Mediterranean Sea temporarily dried up, the islands were connected to Sicily. Once the Atlantic waters returned, Malta was again isolated. This cycle of connection and separation repeated during the Ice Ages, as sea levels rose and fell with the climate. These periods of isolation allowed unique species to evolve, including the pygmy elephant and the giant dormouse, now extinct.
Culturally, Malta reflects its role as a crossroads. Its people trace their ancestry to many parts of the Mediterranean, while the Maltese language itself illustrates the island’s layered identity. Semitic in origin and rooted in Arabic, it was later enriched with Roman influences through centuries of European contact. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet, a living symbol of Malta’s hybrid heritage.
Watkeys also traced Malta’s human settlement back to the Neolithic era, when farmers arrived around 6000 BC. By 3500 BC they had constructed megalithic temples—among the oldest free-standing stone structures in the world. Later, during the Bronze Age, migrants from Sicily replaced the Stone Age population, continuing the long cycle of transformation that has defined Malta’s history.
Today, the richness of this layered past is visible everywhere: in prehistoric temples older than the pyramids, in Roman mosaics, Arabic place names, Norman churches, and grand baroque palaces. Malta stands not only as a geographical crossroads but as a living monument to the ebb and flow of Mediterranean history.
All the attendees at the talk were fascinated by this wealth of historic knowledge and a lively Question and Answer session followed. The evening culminated in drinks and snacks and everyone left with a bag of the latest UKZN publications and a much more in-depth knowledge of Malta. This talk is one of a series of talks coordinated by Alumni Relations on behalf of the UKZN Durban Alumni Association.
Words by Ayabulela Mbhele
Photographer: Nkosikhona Gcabashe
