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Prehistoric Malta Temple Period

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Prehistoric Malta Temple Period PREHISTORIC Neolithic Period Temple Period Bronze Age (5000-4100 BC) (4100-2500 BC) (2500-700 BC) St Paul’s Shipwreck Great Siege World War II MALTA in Malta AD 60 1565 1940 TEMPLE PERIOD 5000 BC 4000 3000 2000 1000 AD 1 1000 2000 PREHISTORY CLASSICAL PERIOD MIDDLE AGES MODERN PERIOD PREHISTORIC MALTA MYSTERIOUS END Malta and Gozo have been inhabited permanently for more than 7000 years. The greater This sophisticated culture was destined to vanish in thin air by part of this long span lies within the realm of prehistory. Writing was introduced by the 2500BC. No definite cause has been singled out to date, but this Phoenician seafarers shortly before 700 BC, that is some 4300 years following the could have been triggered by the over-exploitation of the limited settling in of the first colonization wave from nearby Sicily. resources available to meet the demands of the ever-growing The prehistoric succession is divided into three main periods, namely the population and its seemingly top-heavy socio-religious hierarchy. Neolithic Period (5000-4100 BC), the Temple Period (4100-2500 BC) and the Ġgantija Temples Bronze Age (2500-700 BC). Each of these periods is further subdivided into a number of phases. For instance, the longer and more momentous Temple Period, which is also often referred to as the Late Neolithic, comprises the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES Żebbuġ (4100-3800 BC), Mġarr (3800-3600 BC), Ġgantija (3600-3000 BC), Saflieni (3300-3000 BC) and Tarxien (3000-2500 BC) Phases. Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Skorba, Ta’ Ħaġrat and Tarxien Temples, together with the Ħal Saflieni MEGALITHIC TEMPLES Hypogeum, are listed by HIGHLY ORGANISED SOCIETY UNESCO as World Although the entire 1600-year span Heritage Sites due from 4100 to 2500 BC is referred Besides mastering the art of construction, the temple builders conceived a highly to their venerable to as the Temple Period, it is to be sophisticated artistic legacy that is credited with some of the finest age, originality, noted that the construction of the objects d’art throughout the prehistoric world. Belief in some form complexity, massive megalithic temples started around of afterlife proved to be particularly accentuated. They disposed proportions, and 3600 BC. Over 30 examples, including of their dead in elaborate underground cemeteries like the in view of the 8 in Gozo, are known to have existed. better known Ħal Saflieni (Paola, Malta) and Xagħra considerable technical Generally speaking, the megalithic Circle (Xagħra, Gozo) Hypogea. While remaining skill required in their temples consist of a roughly D-shaped heavily dependent on agro-economic pursuits, construction. structure with massive external walls and the temple builders seem to have been highly an entrance at the centre of a slightly organised and enjoyed long distance trade concave façade. The internal layout Skorba links that extended to north Italy. commonly encompasses a series of Ta’ Ħaġrat Prehistoric Temples symmetrically distributed and concave Ruins chambers. Hard coralline limestone blocks are used for the external walls, while sections of the more sheltered interior elevations and all decorated elements, are fashioned out of the softer globigerina limestone. Ħal Saflieni Tarxien Hypogeum Temples Mnajdra Ħaġar Qim Temples Temples © 2021 Publishing.
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