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Home , Dolmen, Gudja

THE MALTESE

Daniel Sciberras

They cannot be dated from the , Introduction since this has been disturbed. Zammit A can be defined as a massive reported that "no pottery, implements or worked block of stone which has bee~ similar objects have ever been found near made to lie suspended in space in the the or dolmens in these islands. horizontal position. It constitutes an Being usually raised on the bare rock, integral component of the megalithic everything around them must have been buildings which had their hey-day in the cleared centuries ago" (Zammit 1930: 7). New , or period (Mega =large, Neo =new, lithic= stone). The Maltese temples are also unique in that they represent the earliest The term is a traditional French term freestanding megalithic structures above formerly used to denote a megalithic the ground. Megalithic structures outside , and consists of vertically and are, with a few exceptions inclined stones, called orthostats, like , associated with burial supporting a capstone. It is probably complexes. In Malta and Gozo these derived from the Cornish term tolmen megalithic temples cannot be similarly (tal = table, men = stone), which is ~ associated, especially in the sites of chamber formed by a capstone supported , in Malta, and Xaghra in Gozo. on stones. In the Far East, a dolmen is a The lie in close proximity megalithic stone burial dating to to the Hal Saflieni burial complex in the the first millennium BC, and usually Hypogeum area, and the Ggantija temples contained polished stone implements are practically surrounded by (Brown 1977: 6; Bahn 1992: 137). The underground burial structures such as the term is no longer used in association with Brochtorff Circle. The Hypogeum and the a megalithic chamber tomb, and is usually Brochtorff Circle are similar to the reserved for tombs of undetermined plan structures above ground in that they are or of a simple unspecialized form (Bray & megalithic in structure. The Hypogeum is Trump 1982: 78). unique since it has been carved in the living rock over a very long span of time, The dolmen is always supported on other and it was also decorated in red ochre. large stones. In large structures, such as the Maltese temples and Stonehenge, the Therefore, m Malta and Gozo, the supporting stones are also worked and are megalithic complexes above and below as massive as the dolmen. These upright ground are unique, and, besides the slabs are called menhirs (men = stone, hir menhirs, the dolmens are crucial elements = long) (Brown 1977: 6). When the stones in their structure. In the Maltese islands supporting the dolmen are comparatively the function of the dolmen comple~ small, the entire structure itself is also without supporting menhirs remains known as a dolmen. unknown. The smaller supporting stones enclose a space or chamber, such as can be Function seen in Plate 1. When they were first discovered in Malta as a group, by The uniqueness of the Maltese dolmens Professor Napoleon Tagliaferro, they were lies in the fact that, whereas these thought to possibly represent either altars structures are associated elsewhere with for public sElcrifices or erected burial sites of the , no such over graves. The practice of erecting large burials have ever been found associated complexes of stones over, or around grave with the Maltese specimens. They cannot areas, is classically seen in the therefore be assigned as Bronze Age of Egypt, although in these instances the burial sites when their function appears final product is completely different in to have been different from that overseas. appearance. Facets of Maltese

Large slabs of stone have been utilized structures. The close association of universally to mark the site of a buried dolmenic assemblages with typical body. The Phoenicians and Punic people megalithic temple layouts, such as at dedicated their prayers on these slabs Bugibba, would rather date the former to which are known as stelae. To this day the Neolithic, and not the Bronze Age. burials are covered over by large slabs of stone such as marble. Large military The first group of dolmens to be cemeteries contain smaller slabs of stone discovered in the Maltese Islands was in bearing the name of the deceased. the field of "Ix-Xaghra ta' fuq wied Filep," between the village of and Fort The space inside a dolmen is too small to Mosta. Three dolmens lay close to one contain a straight corpse, although it may another, and the best preserved consisted accommodate it if it is flexed in the so­ of a hard coralline slab of stone measuring called foetal position. On the other hand, twelve feet in length, five feet in breadth if the body is cremated before burial, one and two feet in thickness. It was dolmen can accommodate several urns. supported by roughly hewn slabs of stones However no evidence of this sort has been and stood five feet above ground. found in the Maltese dolmens, and there is therefore no proof that they served the Shortly afterwards, Tagliaferro discovered function of ritual burial. another large dolmen in the district of Misrah Sinjura, between the villages of Historical records and Siggiewi. The dolmen here The earliest reference to a dolmen-like measured thirteen by eleven feet, and was structure in the Maltese islands is the one two and a half feet thick on average. It described by Abela and Ciantar at lay four feet above ground. The dolmen . "in that part of the island called had been adapted to another use through el Sceukia, near a church dedicated to St. the erection of a rubble wall. Zammit John ... one can see a huge enormous stone reported that no archaeological material whose sides exceed 15 feet, which rests on was discovered at either of these dolmenic four other stones - high enough from the sites discovered by Tagliaferro. ground to allow a man to stand under them" (Abela & Ciantar 1772-80: 341). Several other dolmens have since been This was interpreted as a residence for discovered in Malta and Gozo. In 1914, , and used as evidence for their another dolmen was discovered at Hal presence on the islands in prehistoric Far, where the "rocky ground is strewn times. with the remains of megalithic structures", which again associates it with the In the late eighteenth century, Leith N eolithic period. This dolmen, known as Adams described a dolmen-like structure "Il-Gebla Msaqqfa" was composed of hard on Corradino Hill, overlooking the Grand calcareous stone and was rectangular in Harbour. Dolmens in Malta and Gozo shape. It measured twelve by six feet, typically overlook panoramic views. and was two feet thick. Although similar "Overlooking the Grand Harbour of to the previous examples, this dolmen had there are remnants of small a quadrangular depression in its middle, chambers, mostly formed of erect blocks and this was surrounded by a deep groove not exceeding 3 to 3Vl feet in height. These on the side and several cup-like holes. being remarkably small as compared with From the shape of the underlying rock, it any of the above-mentioned blocks appears that the dolmen was cut off from [Ggantija and Hagar Qim], may represent the very same spot which it covered, and what has been named an uncovered was then raised to a height of two and a dolmen; they however contain no half feet by two courses of boulders. subterranean sepulchre, and are not surrounded by circles of stones, or any In 1915, a dolmen discovered at Zabbar vestige of the kind." (Leith Adams 1870: contained a circular central hole about 248). Once again, the absence of any sign three inches in diameter. These features of the function of ritual burial argues in the centre of the dolmen may suggest a against a sepulchral function of these function other than a ritual burial, but as

102 The Maltese Dolmens

Close proximity of dolmen to the Neolithic temple at Bugibba

Rounded capstone on smaller stones, Bugibba temple

The pair of dolmens at Sta Margherita, Mosta

Plate 1: Dolmens - large capstones resting on smaller stones

103 Facets of Maltese Prehistory

Ta' Gherwa dolmen, south of Gudja. Capstone 7 feet by 6 feet

Safi dolmen, associated with Neolithic sherds, and close to Id-Dawwar Neolithic temple

Plate 2: Two ofthe dolmens discovered by the Rev. J. Farrugia in 1946 and 1947

104 The Maltese Dolmens yet no satisfactory explanation has been JohnEvans put forward. In 1953 and 1955, the British archaeologist John Evans investigated Other sites where dolmens were brought two atypical dolmens at Wied Moqbol, and to light include those at San Giorgio in on the rather flimsy evidence of some Birzebbuga, and Ta' Cenc in Gozo, where superficial sherds at one site at Ta' they clearly manifest their prominent Hammut, he attributed all the dolmens of positions along the highest edges of the Malta to the Bronze Age. The conclusion plateau. At Gnien Imrik in Xaghra, Gozo, reached by Evans is not justified. the massive stone slab measured twenty Although the sherds at Ta' Hammut feet by sixteen, with a thickness varying dolmen were Bronze Age, those at Id­ between two and four feet. It is readily Dawwar dolmen were Neolithic, whilst apparent from the size and weight of those at Borg in- dolmen were these dolmens that their erection required Punic and Borg in-Nadur- the sherds a tremendous amount of concerted effort cannot date the dolmens. There have on the part of the Maltese builders, who never been any remains or must have developed and utilized some cinerary urns anywhere near the Maltese form of engineering system to permit their dolmenic structures, and a sepulchral erection. The most popular hypothesis function cannot therefore be suggests the filling in with earth around demonstrated. The proximity of some of the supporting stones and the lifting of these dolmens to N eo lithic temples- Borg the dolmen on top of them through the in-Nadur (M.A.R. 1914-15), Id-Dawwar action oflevers in the form of tree stumps. (MAR 1954-5), and particularly Bugibba cannot be overlooked as insignificant. At Another dolmen near Hal-Farrug consists Bugibba the massive dolmenic capstone of a small dolmenic niche, where "two lies inside the Neolithic temple itself, and large slabs cover an elongated space cut in it is depicted as such by Evans (1971: plan the rock, the entrance being narrowed by 23), though he does not include it in his means of stone blocks placed on each side. chapter on "Dolmens, and The niche is dug to such a depth that Menhirs" (Evans 1971: 193-9). several steps had to be cut in the rock in order to make it accessible." Although this Furthermore, still in relation to funerary arrangement may suggest a burial site, practices in Malta, Evans' associations of this is very unlikely in view of the several the Tarxien spirals with those of the grave features of past human activity which are shafts of Mycenae in Greece were reversed associated with it. These include in time by fifteen centuries. Tarxien "hemispherical pits, artificial , deep temples are neither sepulchral m trenches and cup-lilw depressions," which function, nor Bronze Age in dating. are not typical of burial areas (Zammit 1926: 39-42). At any rate, however, Evans' prehistoric chronology has been shown to be faulty, A spate of discoveries occurred just after and has since been superseded by that of World War II. A priest by the name of David Trump. The latter also uncovered John Farrugia reported on a number of faulty excavation methods employed by dolmenic structures which he was Evans for sampling the BM-100 unearthing in various parts of the Maltese radiocarbon specimen. On the other hand, Islands. The one discovered at Safi lay calibrated radiocarbon dating in 1971 has close to the Id-Dawwar temple, and proved that Themistocles Zammit had further evidence pointing against a been right after all, and that was forty Bronze Age dating for the Maltese years before the process was available. dolmens is drawn from the fact that Evans disregarded these radiocarbon several pottery sherds of the Maltese dates (Renfrew 1976: 166). Neolithic type were found in the proximity of the dolmen here. Another dolmen at Analogies Ta' Gherwa in Gudja was re-utilized as a The Maltese dolmens have been likened to by the local farmer and thus escaped similar structures in the south of Italy, in both destruction and detection (Times of Lecce and the Otranto region; at these Malta 15th Dec. 1946; 12th Jan. 1947).

105 Facets of Maltese Prehistory sites there is no evidence for an these might provide further clues to solve independent evolution or for a spread the problem of their true function and from the west (Trump 1981: 139). dating. Strangely enough, no similar assemblies have yet been discovered in , where References one would certainly expect to find such Abela, G.F. and Ciantar, G.A. 1772-80. Malta links with the Maltese Islands. Illustrata. Malta. Bahn, P. (ed.) 1992. Collins Dictionary of Dolmens are absent in Sicily but present Archaeology. Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers. in North Africa. Here, as in Malta, the is of modest dimensions, and Bray, W. and Trump, D. H. 1982. Dictionary of Archaeology. Penguin. comprises a monolithic roofing slab supported by monoliths or dry stone walls; Brown, P.L. 1977. , Myths and Men: An a mound does not cover it. According to Introduction to Astro-Archaeology. Dorset: Book Club Camps (1962), they cannot be dissociated Associates. from the other dolmens built in the Camps, C. 1962. Aux origines de la Berberie: Mediterranean area (Joussaume 1985: monuments et rites funeraires protohistoriques. 225). Paris: Delegation Generale en Algerie.

Evans, J.D. 1959. Malta. London: Thames and One large Mediterranean island which Hudson. Ancient Peoples and Places. produced chamber structures made of moderately-sized stones is . Evans, J.D. 1971. The Prehistoric Antiquities of the These nuraghi, however, do not possess Maltese Islands. London: The Athlone Press. the large stone slab at the top, and the Joussaume, R. 1985. Dolmens for the Dead. entire structure is made up of smaller (translation by Anne & Christopher Chippindale of stones. They are found only in Sardinia. Les dolmens pour les marts). London: B.T. Batsford Like these Sardinian nuraghi and Maltese Ltd. megalithic temples, the dolmens of the Leith Adams, A 1870. Natural History and Maltese islands seem to represent Archaeology of the Nile Valley and Maltese Islands. "insular specializations." They must have Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. been created spontaneously by the local Renfrew, C. 1976. Before Civilization: the prehistoric inhabitants. Further research Radiocarbon Revolution and . may throw further light upon their Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. function. Savona-Ventura, C. and Mifsud, A. 1999. in Malta. Malta. Conclusion The function of the Maltese dolmens Trump, D. 1972, 1990, 1993. Malta, An remains unidentified and they remain Archaeological Guide. London: Faber and Faber. undated. There is insufficient evidence to Trump, D.H. 1980, The Prehistory of the date them comfortably to the Bronze Age, Mediterranean. London: Alien Lane. and to attribute a funerary function to Trump, D.H. 1981. Megalithic Architecture in Malta. them. A few, such as that at Bugibba and In Evans, J.D., Cuncliffe, B. and Renfrew, C. (eds.) Id-Dawwar, manifest a clear association Antiquity and Man, pp128-140. London: Thames with the Temple period, and at the latter and Hudson. site Neolithic sherds were discovered Zammit, T. 1926. Malta, the Islands and their rather than Bronze Age ones. History. Malta: The Malta Herald.

Several of these dolmens must have been Zammit, T. 1930, The Prehistoric Remains of the lost, through re-utilization of the stone or Maltese Islands. Reprint from Antiquity March the land for farming purposes. A few of 1930. London. these may turn up in the future, and

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