The Lost MEGALITHIC Sites Of MALTA

Malta's megalithic temples are some of the most impressive buildings in the Neolithic world. Although aspects of them are reminiscent of megalithic structures in other parts of Europe, their overall form and style was unique to Malta, as was the art created by the temple people. The Maltese islands cover just a few hundred square metres, and yet, evidence points to the temple people having built upwards of fifty megalithic structures. Why would the Neolithic farming communities on the island need so many ritual centres?

In this video I explore the major, minor and lost megalithic sites of Malta to build a comprehensive picture of the entire built landscape during the Neolithic. I also discuss why the temple people may have needed so many megalithic buildings in such a small area, why their culture appears to have come from nowhere and why their art and architecture has no parallels outside of the islands.

#history #malta #megaliths

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✨ REFERENCES

Ashby, T., R.N. Bradley, T.E. Peet & N. Tagliaferro. (1913). Excavations in 1908–11 in various megalithic buildings in Malta and Gozo. Papers of the British School at Rome 6 (1), 1–126.

Ashby, T. and Zammit, T. (1916). 1. Excavations in Malta in 1914. Man, 16, pp.1-6.

Bonanno, A. (2008). Insularity and isolation: Malta and Sicily in prehistory. In A. Bonanno, & P. Militello (Eds.), Malta in the Hybleans, the Hybleans in Malta pp. 27-37. Palermo: Officina di Studi Medievali.

Bugeja, A., Revisiting the Farrugia-Gravino albums of archaeological sites.

Trump, D., H. (2002). Malta. Prehistory and temples. Santa Venera: Midsea Books Ltd.

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License code: YD3SKFJMVNDTLWEX

✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS

Google Earth
All location pins

Laferla Cross, credit: AbbyT93

Maqluba, credit: Frank Vincentz
Xagħra Stone Circle, credit: Hamelin de Guettelet

Ras ir-Raħeb, credit: R Muscat.

Other
Id-Debdieba plan, credit: Ashby, T., and Zammit, T.
Id-Debdieba excavation, credit: Ashby, T., and Zammit, T.
Taċ-Ċagħqi, credit: Bugeja, A.
Kordin I layout, credit: Ashby, T., et. al
Kordin II layout, credit: Ashby, T., et. al
Ta’ Lippija, credit: Temple Rescue Facebook page
Xewkija Temple, credit: Magri, E.

Public domain
Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum
Xrobb l-Għaġin
Xagħra Stone Circle

All other photographs, credit: MegalithHunter

[wugy]

As a local this was such a wonderful video to watch!

[NikkianaJones]

Excellent information! I’m curious about this sinkhole cave now!!!

[utube]

Thank you, I visited Malta around 20 years ago and was amazed just seeing some of the main sites and seeing the cart ruts was enough to realise what industrious people they were but your knowledge brings it to another level, what ever they were doing must have been incredibly important to the builders, no small undertaking.

[profpartout]

You should off tours of Malta! But seriously, the I read this article and could never find it again is PURE ACADEMIA!

[paoloviti]

Although I never been in Malta it is definitely a special island with the highest concentration of Megalithic sites in the Mediterranean. I wounder what it made it so attractive for those people then. I would have preferred Sicily for example as it was far more green and cultivated. Plutarch once said “De gustibus non est disputandum”....

[stevefarrugia-dcqt]

Super excellent, really.This is the first video i watched and I have subscribed to watch all others. The details of this video are astonishing and you deserve a gold medal, many views, lots of likes and everyones subsriptions.A big hug and a thank you. It also proves how important YouTube has become to the world.I am going to highly recommend you. You made my day, as I closely follow this subject in Malta from many different aspects.Brava.

[daviddb]

If only there was a way to peer back in time and see these places when they were originally used and occupied.

[scottzema]

So my suggestion is the monuments on Malta represent a vanished temple precinct of a now vanished larger settlement which was located around these islands and was inundated by the sea, presenting a picture similar to that as if the city of Athens, for instance, was inundated leaving only the acropolis. But the areas of these Maltese acropolises is much larger and certainly much richer than the Athenian acropolis. These islands themselves couldn't support a large population required by all of these monuments. Just hauling the stones would expend more protein than the islands could provide. When the area around the islands, the Maltese plateau, was inundated, perhaps thousands of people were forced to leave the region. Then of course a perhaps much smaller population adjusted themselves to life on these mountains-turned- into- stony- islands, explaining the primitive dwellings found in proximity to these monuments. I think that the close presence of pottery workshops can be telling, suggesting that there might have been establishments offering pottery for use in rituals or offerings by pilgrims. And like the acropolis there was no master plan for the structures, each temple following on the other over a very long period of time. The presence of so many structures in such a small area suggests that this was a temple district starting in Neolithic times, a state apparently carried into Roman times, which is startling. I think that the early temples represented fertility worship. And I think that the presence of carved stone trackways extending over the islands represented the actual transportation network for the district.

So the answer lies offshore under the waves on the Malta plateau, where indeed underwater ruins have been found. Indeed nothing significant may be found. But that is where many answers lie. The inundation of the area is a fact, and it has to be a fact that this happened maybe starting in 12, 000 BP making this catastrophe front and center part of the history of the area. There may be a virtual city in the waters surrounding the island. RE Unique culture: looks to me like the Maltese temples and possible supporting but now vanished settlement could have been a major religious center in the Mediterranean region for millennia, one so prominent that it created its own unique society and culture. SZ BA MA Art History and Architecture.

[rehoboth_farm]

Great job covering all of these sites.

[billmiller]

They must have been really industrious people! It would be highly interesting to learn more about their economy.

[madderhat]

Thank you for another great researched and informative piece. Ps. That pot-plant in the background was making faces while you were talking. I'd watch that one if I were you. 🤨

[jimmumford]

Thank you Laura, for another fascinating look at Malta and it’s megaliths. I hadn’t realized just how many structures still exist there.

[amberward]

Thanks for sharing this. I would love to hear your take on the Sirius discussion.

[JonFrumTheFirst]

Thanks for putting in all this work for us - it's a topic I never dug into, but I may have to start reading up now. Would a drone help find your hidden sites on private or inaccessible land, or would a land-owner shoot it out of the sky? I always wonder how much effort went into these sites. We forget - or don't realize - that for farmers and pastoralists, work is seasonal, , and there are times when there's just nothing to do but watch the crops grow - or the animals eat. So plenty of time for communal projects.

[vulpesvulpes]

Excellent job. You really toiled on this one. Several interesting questions. What was the soil like in Malta many years ago? When did the massive erosion that is obvious occur? How many people actually lived there?

If you had not told me those were all “temples”, my militaristic little mind would call them breast works. Forts are typically defensive points of a multi-directional nature. Brest works are typically a line of defense thrown up across some natural feature of the terrain. They can be hasty or quite substantial. The easiest example to visualize is the Gettysburg battlefield here in America. This is farm country with the typical stone walls along the field edges. Then there are the breast works erected in less than a week, largely by the Union forces. They block defilades and follow the military crest of several ridges. The site called the “devils den” could have been on Malta. A large depression full of boulders and broken rock, both Union and confederate built hasty breast works among the rocks as some of the most viscous fighting occurred. In overview the devils den was an eroded gully giving access between Big Round Top and Little Round Top, the two hills that constituted the high ground for the entire week long battle.

In some of your pictures, those isolated sections of wall, some quite substantial and some hasty, speak of some blocking force trying to stop or delay a larger body on the advance. Not forts per se, but Brest works in strategic features. Such items are used to this day. They function just as well with Stone Age spears or modern assault rifles. Or anything in between.

So are they? I don’t know. But when I saw your pictures that’s what popped to mind. A place to hold your ground against the outrageous slings and arrows of misfortune, whilst skulking about in the rocks.

I could also be an old hammer seeing nails all about.

Fox out

[barrywalser]

We had a major holiday last week and I was on the go all weekend. Just now catching up. Fantastic information! This gives me a much better idea of the extent and distribution of sites around the islands. I like your theory that sites were both functional and ceremonial in nature. Yes, I would like your thoughts on the book and Ancient Apocalypse. Thank You Laura!

[robdgaming]

I'd like to see a video on Gigantija. I visited it a couple of years ago and was amazed at the construction, with only basic tools and no mortar at all. The rocks of widely varying size are simply stacked, with a technique known as "corbeling" used to form the roofs, now mostly gone unfortunately. With the numerous small alcoves it reminds me of the arrangement of some Orthodox churches such as St. Basil's in Moscow, though I realize the purpose of the building is anybody's guess.

[TheMDJ]

Absolutely fascinating. More Maltese content please :-)

[megalithicmason]

Here is a thought: Imagine if we were wiped out by a major catastrophe and most people perished. What would the survivors try to do first? Maybe the temples in Malta were made by survivors trying to rebuild a sense of time and a calendar (for agriculture, etc). We rely on the sun, moon, and time for literally everything we do, particularly agriculture. There is evidence of a major flood having deposited tons of mixed bones and earth into caves and the hypogeum. Clearly something major happened to cause that. Malta was possibly not even an island back then with the land bridges, which imply that there is a lot more to be found below the waters of the Mediterranean sea. Ancient myths not only talk about major floods, but also mention the existence of giants and other beings. While visiting Malta I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of different beings coexisting before a major catastrophe hit. Maybe there were not just homosapiens, but also other humanoids (maybe taller or even smaller in stature). The artifacts found at the museums and the sites seem to indicate that variety in scale. I am a firm believer that the earth goes through pole shifts that cause major upheavals on the earth's tectonic plates and volcanoes, causing massive tsunamis and devastation.

[wiretamer]

Its very apparent, that a lot of Malta's Megalithic heritage has been destroyed within living memory. What is the attitude of 'ordinary' Maltese people to their tourist industry? Are retired construction workers, happy to talk or is there a code of silence? Are there crusty old mavericks who don't care what the neighbours think and will talk anyone under the table?

The largest X patriot Maltese community lives in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and they have a sizeable online presence. X patriot’s tend to treasure memories of the old country. Surely there as old people who saw what happened when they were kids.

Also war time aerial surveys? War time correspondence concerning the preservation of historical structures wherever possible. When military installations and operations were planned, preserving historic monuments was occasionally given consideration.

There are many links between military engineering and the antiquarian movement. It all depends on what survived the war. British Bomber command used Stone Henge as a practice target for high altitude night bombing: the bombadears took strobe photos instead of dropping actual bombs.
Just a few thoughts...