Two members of the Egyptological Society of Malta are promoting the theory that the many ancient Egyptian artefacts unearthed in Malta were brought over by the Egyptians themselves, and not, as commonly thought, by traders.
In an article titled Did The Ancient Egyptians Ever Reach Malta?, published in the Egyptian Egyptological journal, Anton Mifsud and Marta Farrugia analysed Egyptian artefacts found here and went through old and recently published material on which to base their conclusions.
Dr Mifsud and Ms Farrugia argue that because of their beliefs in afterlife, the ancient Egyptians were extremely reluctant to leave their country to live and possibly die miles away from home. However, war and trade with the Eastern Mediterranean nations and islands lured the Egyptians out of their homeland.
There's something screwy in that article. It says:
The authors note that though it has always been assumed that it was the Phoenicians who brought the earliest Egyptian artefacts to Malta, the items found here span a time frame that pre-dates the arrival of the Phoenicians in the eighth century BC.
The earliest Egyptian artefacts date to the end of the third millennium BC, 400 years before the arrival of the Phoenicians. . .
They mention some Middle Kingdom objects, which would date roughly 2000-1800 BC (end-ish of the third millennium), but the Phoenicians are generally dated to 1200 BC and later (though they seem to have cultural roots deeper than that). Either way, it doesn't say a whole lot about who was carrying the damn things all over the Med.