History of Malta

The earliest Neolithic temples on Malta are about 1000 years older than the famous pyramids of Giza in Egypt, and are the oldest freestanding monuments in the world. The earliest temples, such as the one at Ggantija in Gozo that date back to 3600BC, were built by the piling of huge rocks on top of each other. The inhabitants of Gozo of the time did not embellish this structure with any carvings or decoration, as can be seen in later temples like the one at Hagar Qim in Malta. The subterranean burial place called the Hypogeum is an even more astonishing relic, as the temple experienced at this site must have been literally carved into the rocks over hundreds of years with simple tools made from flint and obsidian. Rather noteworthy is the fact that the bones of over 7000 people have been found. This place of worship and burial starts at ground level and descends several stories below the ground, and a number of the artefacts excavated have led to a hypothesis that it was also used as a place of training for priestesses. All trace of these creative and pacific people disappeared suddenly around 2000 BC, at the height of their culture. The circumstances of their mysterious disappearance will probably unfortunately remain unknown to us...