The Maltese Temples – The World’s Oldest Man Made Structure!
My T.V. Cameraman and producer at the temples of G’gantija Scientific investigation has proved that these temples have been standing here for over 6,000 years. Originally the temples had roofs that were plastered and painted. The actual purpose for which they were built is still a mystery, although they are thought to have been places of worship. Ggantija consists of two separate temples: the South Temple (3600 BC) and the North Temple (3000 BC). The temples were excavated in 1826.
The gigantic dimensions of the megaliths (Megalithic means made of stones, but without the use of mortar or cement. The word “megalith” comes from the Ancient Greek “mega” meaning large, and “litho” meaning stone.) have sparked the imagination of all who behold them. Their gigantic Neolithic structures, were erected during the Neolithic Age, (c. 3600-2500 BCE). At more than 6000 years old, the Ggantija temples are the world’s oldest free-standing structures, and the world’s oldest religious structures, pre-dating the Pyramids of Egypt (The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as spanning the period of time when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty (2575 BC-2134 BC); and Stonehen-ge.( Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age monument located near Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Salisbury. It is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones, known as megaliths. There is some debate about the age of the stone circle, but most archaeologists think that it was mainly constructed between 2500 BC and 2000 BC. The older circular earth bank and ditch which constitute the earliest phase of the monument have been dated to about 3100 BC.
To this day, locals believe that the Islands’ temples, in particular those of Ggantija, were the work of giants. This particular temple site on Malta’s neighboring island of Gozo bears witness to this ancient legend: its name, Ggantija, is Maltese for ” belonging to the giant”.
The temples were possibly the site of an Earth Mother Goddess Fertility Cult. (Fertility rites are religious rituals that reenact, either actually or symbolically, sexual acts and/or reproductive processes, as with the sacrifices of humans which many scholars think that ancient peoples made to ensure good fortune)There is no evidence of any such activities on the islands of Malta, the traditions of which are echoed in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.)
Numerous figurines and statues have been found on site believed to be connected with that cult. A mother goddess is a goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother, who serves as a general fertility deity, the bountiful embodiment of the earth. As such, not all goddesses should be viewed as manifestations of the mother goddess.She ranges in Western traditions from the elegant snake-offering goddess figures of Knossos to the rock-cut images of Cybele, to Dione (“the Goddess”) who was invoked at Dodona, along with Zeus, until late Classical times.
Early “Mother Goddess” figure at the Tarxien Temples (Malta)
Neolithic peoples were farmers and manufactureres of tools necessary for harvesting crops and food production. They were skilled manufacturers of a wide range stone tool and ornaments. Neolithic peoples in Central Asia were also skillful builders, utilising mud-brick to construct houses and villages. In Europe, houses from wattle and daub were constructed. Unique tombs for the dead were a major part of their culture. These tombs are particularly numerous in Malta, where there are many hundreds still in existence. Neolithic Britians built long barrows and chamber tombs for their dearly departed. They were skilled at finding ways of keeping food for future months, and using substances like salt as preservatives. With few exceptions the Neolithic Americas and their Pacific couisns remained at their level of technology up until they made European contact.
Early Neolithic farming was limited to a few crops and the rasing of sheep and goats.
Around 7000 BC cows and pigs were added, and the establishment of permanent or semi-permanent settlements and the use of pottery are also indicated.
The earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery, and in Great Britian, it remains uncertain to what extent plants were domesticated in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled societies existed. In other parts of the world, such as Malta, North Africa, India and Southeast Asia, Neolithic cultures arose completely independent of those developing in Europe and Southwest Asia.
Not all of their cultural elements like permanent villages, the farming of domestic crops, animals ,and pottery appear in the same order. The temples were cloverleaf-shaped and built up with stones and filled in with rubble. Most were constructed in the form of semi-circular apses. These were connected with a hall in the center. Archaeologists have deduced that the apses were originally covered by masonry domes. No metal tools were available to the natives of the Maltese islands, and the wheel had not yet been introduced.
Small round stones have been found and it is believed that these were used as rollers to transport the giant stone blocks used for the temples’ construction.
The Ggantija megalithic complex is surrounded by a massive common boundary wall, one of the most striking features of the entire complex. It was built using the alternating header and stretcher technique, with some of the giant megaliths exceeding five meters in length and weighing over fifty tons.
The southern temple is much older and more extensive than its sister site. It is believed that the structure dates back to approximately 3600 BCE. This temple, like many other megalithic sites in Malta, faces southeast. At the entrance there is a large stone block with a recess. Archaeologists have surmised that this was used as a station for purification before entering the complex. Each temple contains five apses connected by a central corridor leading to the innermost trefoil section. There are five apses containing several altars and evidence of animal bones which suggests the site was used for animal sacrifice. Images carved into the stone of goats, sheep, and pigs of both sexes, give us a hint as to which animals were used by the sacrifical cult.
North Temple enterance.
The temples are built with rough, coralline limestone blocks. The first temple is larger and contains a variety of features such as altars, relief carvings and libation holes. The second temple was built much later and is devoid of such features. Also fascinating is the corbelling technique used on the inwardly inclined walls, proof that at one time that the temple was roofed.
“Cave of Darkness”- Ghar Dalam
It was whilst researching the history of this remarkable Island that I discovered the most amazing mystery of them all.
Ghar Dalam Cave is possibly the most important site as it was here that the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered.
The history of the cave and of the Islands can be determined from Ghar Dalam’s stratigraphy. The lowermost layer is more than 500,000 years old, and contains the fossil bones of dwarf elephants, hippopotami, micro-mammals and birds. Above this the pebble layer is the so-called ‘deer’ layer, dated to around 18,000 years ago. The top layer, known as the ‘cultural layer’, dates to less than 10,000 years and holds evidence of the first humans on the Island.
Peter J. Shield with John J. Borg at Ghar Dalam
My guide was Heritage Malta’s John J. Borg. John was personally responsible for the most recent find in the cave; a giant Hippopotamus bone. John explained that the reason the Elephants and Hippopotamus were dwarf in size was due to the lack of predators and the limited food available to them on the land. As we explored the “Cave of Darkness” I discovered I was walking on a bed of bones! John described it as bone ‘brachia’. I reached down and picked up a small piece of bone. “That is a Hippopotamus bone,” he told me.
“How old I asked?”
“Around 10,000 years.”
I know of no other archaeological site in the world that allows you to come within touching distance of such remarkable history.
(A didactic display opened to the public in 2002 covers various aspects of the cave’s formation and charts the animal and human finds. It also provides information on the forms of fossil fauna that were present on the Maltese Islands during the Ice Age.)
