The Maltese Dolmens
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THE MALTESE DOLMENS Daniel Sciberras They cannot be dated from the pottery, Introduction since this has been disturbed. Zammit A dolmen 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 menhirs 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 Stone Age, or Neolithic 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 chamber tomb, and consists of vertically Malta and Gozo are, with a few exceptions inclined stones, called orthostats, like Stonehenge, 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 Tarxien, in Malta, and Xaghra in Gozo. on stones. In the Far East, a dolmen is a The Tarxien temples lie in close proximity megalithic stone burial feature 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 monuments erected burial sites of the Bronze Age, 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 pyramids 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 Prehistory 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 Mosta 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 Qrendi 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 Xewkija. "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, giants, 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 Valletta 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-Nadur 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 human 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.