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Megalithic Temples of Malta
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Megalithic Temples of Malta
The Megalithic Temples of Malta (Maltese: It-Tempji Megalitiċi ta' Malta) are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island country of Malta. They had been claimed as the oldest free-standing structures on Earth until the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Archaeologists believe that these megalithic complexes are the result of local innovations in a process of cultural evolution. This led to the building of several temples of the Ġgantija phase (3600–3000 BC), culminating in the large Tarxien temple complex, which remained in use until 2500 BC. After this date, the temple-building culture disappeared.
The Ġgantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. In 1992, the UNESCO Committee further extended the existing listing to include five other megalithic temple sites. These are Ħaġar Qim (in Qrendi), Mnajdra (in Qrendi), Ta' Ħaġrat Temples (in Mġarr), Skorba Temples (in Żebbiegħ) and Tarxien Temples (in Tarxien). Nowadays, the sites are managed by Heritage Malta, while ownership of the surrounding lands varies from site to site. Apart from these, there are other megalithic temples in Malta which are not included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Many of the names used to refer to the different sites carry a link with the stones used for their building. The Maltese word for boulders, 'ħaġar', is common to Ta' Ħaġrat and Ħaġar Qim. While the former uses the word in conjunction with the marker of possession, the latter adds the word 'Qim', which is either a form of the Maltese word for 'worship', or an archaic form of the word meaning 'standing'.
Maltese folklore describes giants as having built the temples, which led to the name Ġgantija, meaning 'Giants' tower'. The Maltese linguist Joseph Aquilina believed that Mnajdra (Arabic: منيدرة) was the diminutive of 'mandra' (Arabic: مندرة), meaning a plot of ground planted with cultivated trees (the same usage is colloquial in Egyptian Arabic today); a less likely derivation is from the Arabic root 'manzara (Arabic: منظرة), meaning 'a place with commanding views.' The Tarxien temples owe their name to the locality where they were found (from Tirix, meaning a large stone), as were the remains excavated at Skorba.
The temples were the result of several phases of construction from 5200 to 2500 BC. There is evidence of human activity in the islands since the Early Neolithic Period (c. 6500 BC), attested by stone tools, evidence of fires, and bones. The dating and understanding of the various phases of activity in the temples is not easy. The main problem found is that the sites themselves are evolutionary in nature, in that each successive temple brought with it further refinement to architectural development.
Furthermore, in some cases, later Bronze Age peoples built their own sites over the Neolithic temples, thus adding an element of confusion to early researchers who did not have modern dating technology. Sir Temi Żammit, an eminent Maltese archaeologist of the late nineteenth century, had dated the Neolithic temples to 2800 BC and the Tarxien Bronze Age culture to 2000 BC. These dates were considered "considerably too high" by scholars, who proposed a reduction of half a millennium each. However, radiocarbon testing favoured Żammit's dating. A theory that the temple art was connected with an Aegean-derived culture collapsed with this proof of the temples' elder origins.
The development of the chronological phases, based on recalibrated radiocarbon dating, has split the period up to the Bronze Age in Malta into a number of phases. The first evidence of human habitation in the Neolithic occurred in the Għar Dalam phase, in c. 5000 BC. The Temple period, from c. 4100 BC to roughly 2500 BC, produced the most notable monumental remains. This period is split into five phases; however, the first two of these left mostly pottery shards. The next three phases, starting from the Ġgantija phase, begins in c. 3600 BC, and the last, the Tarxien phase, ends in c. 2500 BC.
The Ġgantija phase is named after the Ġgantija site in Gozo. It represents an important development in the cultural evolution of Neolithic humans on the islands. To this date belong the earliest datable temples and the first two, if not three, of the stages of development in their ground plan: the lobed or kidney-shaped plan found in Mġarr east, the trefoil plan evident in Skorba, Kordin and various minor sites, and the five-apsed plan Ġgantija South, Tarxien East.
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Megalithic Temples of Malta
The Megalithic Temples of Malta (Maltese: It-Tempji Megalitiċi ta' Malta) are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island country of Malta. They had been claimed as the oldest free-standing structures on Earth until the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Archaeologists believe that these megalithic complexes are the result of local innovations in a process of cultural evolution. This led to the building of several temples of the Ġgantija phase (3600–3000 BC), culminating in the large Tarxien temple complex, which remained in use until 2500 BC. After this date, the temple-building culture disappeared.
The Ġgantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. In 1992, the UNESCO Committee further extended the existing listing to include five other megalithic temple sites. These are Ħaġar Qim (in Qrendi), Mnajdra (in Qrendi), Ta' Ħaġrat Temples (in Mġarr), Skorba Temples (in Żebbiegħ) and Tarxien Temples (in Tarxien). Nowadays, the sites are managed by Heritage Malta, while ownership of the surrounding lands varies from site to site. Apart from these, there are other megalithic temples in Malta which are not included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Many of the names used to refer to the different sites carry a link with the stones used for their building. The Maltese word for boulders, 'ħaġar', is common to Ta' Ħaġrat and Ħaġar Qim. While the former uses the word in conjunction with the marker of possession, the latter adds the word 'Qim', which is either a form of the Maltese word for 'worship', or an archaic form of the word meaning 'standing'.
Maltese folklore describes giants as having built the temples, which led to the name Ġgantija, meaning 'Giants' tower'. The Maltese linguist Joseph Aquilina believed that Mnajdra (Arabic: منيدرة) was the diminutive of 'mandra' (Arabic: مندرة), meaning a plot of ground planted with cultivated trees (the same usage is colloquial in Egyptian Arabic today); a less likely derivation is from the Arabic root 'manzara (Arabic: منظرة), meaning 'a place with commanding views.' The Tarxien temples owe their name to the locality where they were found (from Tirix, meaning a large stone), as were the remains excavated at Skorba.
The temples were the result of several phases of construction from 5200 to 2500 BC. There is evidence of human activity in the islands since the Early Neolithic Period (c. 6500 BC), attested by stone tools, evidence of fires, and bones. The dating and understanding of the various phases of activity in the temples is not easy. The main problem found is that the sites themselves are evolutionary in nature, in that each successive temple brought with it further refinement to architectural development.
Furthermore, in some cases, later Bronze Age peoples built their own sites over the Neolithic temples, thus adding an element of confusion to early researchers who did not have modern dating technology. Sir Temi Żammit, an eminent Maltese archaeologist of the late nineteenth century, had dated the Neolithic temples to 2800 BC and the Tarxien Bronze Age culture to 2000 BC. These dates were considered "considerably too high" by scholars, who proposed a reduction of half a millennium each. However, radiocarbon testing favoured Żammit's dating. A theory that the temple art was connected with an Aegean-derived culture collapsed with this proof of the temples' elder origins.
The development of the chronological phases, based on recalibrated radiocarbon dating, has split the period up to the Bronze Age in Malta into a number of phases. The first evidence of human habitation in the Neolithic occurred in the Għar Dalam phase, in c. 5000 BC. The Temple period, from c. 4100 BC to roughly 2500 BC, produced the most notable monumental remains. This period is split into five phases; however, the first two of these left mostly pottery shards. The next three phases, starting from the Ġgantija phase, begins in c. 3600 BC, and the last, the Tarxien phase, ends in c. 2500 BC.
The Ġgantija phase is named after the Ġgantija site in Gozo. It represents an important development in the cultural evolution of Neolithic humans on the islands. To this date belong the earliest datable temples and the first two, if not three, of the stages of development in their ground plan: the lobed or kidney-shaped plan found in Mġarr east, the trefoil plan evident in Skorba, Kordin and various minor sites, and the five-apsed plan Ġgantija South, Tarxien East.
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