Мегалиты мальты: Мегалитические храмы Мальты: самые древние мегалиты в истории

Мегалиты МАЛЬТЫ — Загадки Древних Культур — LiveJournalhttp://mymedia.kz/index.php/photo/2030-2010-12-25-17-42-45

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Мегалиты Мальты

На Мальте сохранились едва ли не самые древние на Земле мегалитические сооружения. Ученые называют их храмами, ссылаясь на то, что здесь существовала сложная церемониальная культура погребения. В то же время известно, что это было общество, высоко развитое технически, создавшее свой календарь и обладавшее обширными знаниями по астрономии.

На фото: Таинственные святилища в местечке Хаджар Им на Мальте и Джгантия на Гозо примерно на 1000 лет старше, чем знаменитые пирамиды в Гизе, старше городищ майя и Стоунхенджа.
Они построены из громадных каменных глыб, и до сих пор остается загадкой, каким образом 6 тысяч лет назад можно было поднимать на высоту в несколько метров такие тяжести, да еще и укладывать камни так плотно, что между ними не остается щелей. Мегалиты Мальты и Гоцо

Мальтийские мегалиты считаются не только самыми древними из обнаруженных до сих пор. Они примечательны еще и тем, что, как правило, стоят не обособленно, а образуют громадные комплексы. Старейший из мальтийских мегалитов — Джгантия — находится на северо-востоке острова Гоцо, Он был возведен примерно в 3400-3000 годах до н. э., а обнаружен в 1826 году. Слово «Джгантия» означает «гигантская» или «великанша» и очень подходит мегалиту. Он представляет собой два отдельных храма с разными входами, но общей задней стеной. Храмы имеют несколько вогнутый фасад, перед которым устроена платформа из больших каменных блоков. Самый древний храм комплекса состоит из трех полукруглых комнат, расположенных в форме трилистника. Ученые считают, что такая троичность символизирует прошлое. настоящее и будущее, или рождение, жизнь и смерть. Хагар Квим датируется примерно 3300 годом до н.э.

Это название переводится как «стоящие камни», потому что до раскопок над землей виднелись только верхушки огромных глыб. Высота некоторых из них больше пяти метров. Этот комплекс находится на острове Мальта, к юго-востоку от Ла-Валетты. Поражает мастерство зодчих древности, идеально подогнавших друг к другу горизонтальные и вертикальные камни. Геометрические и математические расчеты, которыми пользовались строители, удивительно точны. Храмы отображают движение Солнца от восхода до заката, а во время равноденствия солнечные лучи падают прямо на главный алтарь.
Не менее удивительны и другие храмы. Гипогей Галь Сафлиене — многоуровневое подземное святилище, уходящее в землю на 12 метров, и Тарксиен – самый большой храмовый комплекс Мальты, состоящий из четырех зданий.

Для чего их строили?

Согласно одной версии, эти мегалитические комплексы использовались как храмы и места захоронения. В некоторых из них действительно проводились религиозные церемонии, а позднее погребали усопших. Но для того ли они были предназначены первоначально? Ведь
древние сооружения часто меняли свою функцию и. по мнению ряда исследователей, именно это и произошло с мегалитическими комплексами Мальты. По другой версии, мегалиты использовались для проведения астрономических наблюдений Луны и Солнца. Но нужно ли это было древним земледельцам? Для начала сева или уборки урожая гораздо полезнее наблюдать за состоянием почвы и погодой.

Гигантские излучатели?

Впервые ультразвуковое излучение мегалита измерили совершенно случайно. Британские зоологи исследовали жизнь летучих мышей в районе менгира Роллрайт (на границе графств Оксфордшир и Уорвикшир) и выяснили, что перед восходом солнца камень начинает излучать ультразвуковые волны, сбивающие летучих мышей с пути. Излучение наиболее интенсивно и длительно во время равноденствий, минимально во время солнцестояний. Вдобавок отмечены циклические всплески излучения. Еще интереснее обстоят дела с древними погребальными сооружениями из камня — дольменами. Геометрические параметры их пустых внутренних камер позволяют предположить, что эти сооружения могут генерировать инфразвуковые акустические колебания. А деформация плит дольменов, приводящая к возникновению в кристаллах кварца электрического поля, происходит за
счет приливного воздействия Луны и Солнца. Приливная волна, образуемая притяжением Луны, приводит к вертикальным перемещениям не только воды в океанах, но и слоев земной коры- Не потому ли мегалитические строители интересовались движением Луны что им нужно было знать время работы своих -излучателей»?

Быть может, с помощью акустического воздействия строители мегалитов могли остановить врага, предсказать начало землетрясения или шторма? Возможно, именно этим объясняется душевное волнение, которое, входя в древний храм, ощущают некоторые наши современники?

О, эти безумные рельсы!

К исполинским мегалитическим сооружениям мы как-то уже привыкли. Да, пирамиды, да. Стоунхендж — могильники, святилища — все понятно. То есть ничего не понятно, но можно сделать вид, что понятно. А вот сотни загадочных борозд, которые, словно рельсы, пересекают остров Мальту в самых разных направлениях — это уже вовсе ни с чем не сообразное явление. Многие из них тянутся параллельно, а потом внезапно сливаются в одну колею, чтобы круто свернуть или плавно уйти в сторону. Необычные «рельсы» пересекают горы, могут закончиться на крутом обрыве, чтобы потом прямо внизу, в долине, продолжить свой путь в том же направлении. А на побережье они уходят прямо в голубые воды Средиземного моря и на большой глубине тянутся по дну на сотни метров. И появляются на соседнем с Мальтой острове Гоцо. Ширина одной «рельсы» колеблется от 15 до 25 сантиметров, глубина колеи ~ от 10 до 70 сантиметров, значит, диаметр колеса, которое по этой дороге катилось, должен достигать двух метров.

Расстояние между бороздами колеблется от 63 до 123 сантиметров. Кто и каким образом создал тысячи лет назад в скалистом грунте острова эту сеть борозд? И с какой целью?
Логики нет ни в параметрах транспортного средства, которое могло бы «ехать» по этим рельсам, ни в том. как они были проложены. Крупнейший мальтийский археолог профессор местного университета Энтони Бонанно считает, что не менее 90% всех углублений проходят вблизи древних храмов. Из чего делает вывод, что они требовались для их строительства. Но как могли рельсы, по которым нельзя ничего везти, способствовать возведению старинных сооружений? Кстати, время возникновения как каменных колоссов в Андах, так и загадочных полос на Мальте ориентировочно — 6-7 тысяч лет назад.

Каменные шары — не катят

О том, как и для чего были созданы диковинные борозды, было выдвинуто немало гипотез. Согласно одной из них, это следы от тележек, в которые были впряжены тягловые животные. Однако опыт показал, что тележки не смогли бы маневрировать в колеях, так как радиус поворота у них очень мал. Есть предположения, которые даже неловко анализировать. например, что борозды – это письмена, которые видны только с воздуха. Или же это остатки транспортной системы, соединявшей Европу с Африкой. Самой удачной, на первый взгляд, кажется гипотеза, связанная с сотнями шаров из мягкого известняка, которые найдены на острове. Ее авторы высказали предположение, что эти шары служили опорами платформ, на которых перевозили многотонные каменные блоки на строительство храмов, которых сохранилось на Мальте 23 штуки. Но следы от шаров имели бы закругленную форму, а на самом деле они корытообразные. Тяжести больших глыб известняковые шары не выдержат, а ради малых стоило ли огород городить? Да и невозможно доставлять грузы по столь запутанным колеям…

источник http://bespiegelingen.tk/blog/interesting

И еще немного фотографий

UPD.: перенесено на год для удобства продолжения

90000 Neolithic Temples of Malta 90001 90002 90003 Neolithic temple of Gigantija, Island of Gozo (Enlarge) 90004 The Mediterranean island of Malta figures in the historical record of Europe due to its association with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who fled to Malta from the island of Rhodes in 1530. Yet this small island of 243 square kilometers has a far greater importance in European prehistory due to its extraordinary collection of megalithic temples. Situated 80 kilometers south of Sicily and 370 kilometers east of the Tunisian coast, the island of Malta 90005 appears 90006 to have been first settled during the early Neolithic period by a wave of immigrants from the island of Sicily.This 90005 appearance 90006 of Neolithic settlement is however strongly challenged by new research concerning a probable Paleolithic influence, details of which are presented throughout this essay. Before examining this new research, let us take a brief look at the orthodox, or conventional, theories regarding the origin and nature of human settlements on the island of Malta. 90009 90004 According to the suppositions of orthodox archaeologists, the remains of bones, fragments of pottery, and marks of fire indicate that human beings have lived on Malta since at least 5200 BC.These early people lived in caves, but later built huts and villages. Approximately 1600 years after their arrival in Malta, these people began the erection of stupendous megalithic temples. The ruins now remaining are the bare skeletons of once magnificent structures, mostly roofed over, paved, furnished with doors and curtains, and beautifully decorated with sculptures and paintings. Some archaeologists assume that the period in which the early Maltese progressed from their first rock-cut common graves to their last massive temple complexes was between 3800 and 2400 BC (assume, because there is absolutely no carbon-datable material that is associated with the large temples).Around 2300 BC this extraordinary megalithic culture went into rapid decline. A major cause seems to have been the extreme deforestation and soil loss that accompanied the increase in population and the attendant clearing of land for agriculture. Other causes may have been famine, social disruption in response to an oppressive priesthood, and the arrival of foreign invaders. Following the decline of the temple culture, Malta may well have been deserted until the arrival of Bronze Age peoples around 2000 BC.90009 90004 On the islands of Malta and nearby Gozo, the remains of 50 temples have been found, with 23 in various states of preservation. No particular pattern emerges from the distribution of these temples and this may be explained by the probability that numerous temples were destroyed in antiquity and that others remain to be discovered. There are also numerous menhirs and dolmens scattered across the two islands, but their spatial relationship to the larger temple complexes has not been studied in any detail.90009 90004 Nearly all of the Maltese temples are constructed in the same basic design: a central corridor leading through two or more kidney-shaped (ellipsoidal) chambers to reach a small alter apse at the far end. The Herculean outer shell of the walls are formed of great blocks of stone propped on end or on edge as orthostats. Internal walls are either of piled rough coralline blocks, or well-cut slabs set as orthostats. All the walls consist of two faces, the space between being packed with earth or rubble.Doorways and passages all use the trilithon principle: two orthostats parallel to each other to support a horizontal lintel. Frequently doorways consist of a ‘porthole’, in which access is through a rectangular hole in the center of a slab. The temples were probably roofed over with beams, brushwood and clay (the walls could not have supported the weight of stone roofs, roofing slabs more than two meters in length would have cracked due to their own weight, and no remains of stone roofs have been found).90009 90004 Two different types of limestone were used in the construction of the temples; the hard, gray coralline limestone and the soft, pale globigerina limestone. Both of these stones were deposited in the Miocene geological period. The construction tools available at the time were hand-axes made of flint and quartzite, knives and scrapers of volcanic obsidian, wedges of wood and stone, hammers of stone and levers of wood. No metal tools of any kind have been found at the temples. Malta has no mineral resources and the flint and obsidian found on Malta and Gozo were most probably imported from the islands of Lipari (north of Sicily) and Pantelleria (south-west of Sicily).After the great blocks of stone were quarried they were transported with rollers and levers to the temple sites. At the building sites, the rollers were exchanged for stone balls so that the massive blocks of stone could be moved in any direction, rather than the forward and backward motion possible with rollers. 90009 90004 The earliest interiors were plastered and painted with red ochre. Later interiors were decorated with intricately carved spirals on steps and altars, friezes of farm animals, fish and snakes, and a simple pattern of pitted dots.Still evident are wall sockets for wooden barriers or curtains and niches for ritual activities. Some of the relief decoration is of such delicate work that it is difficult to understand how it could have been carried out using only stone tools. Artifacts and furnishings (now removed from the temples and placed in museums) indicate ancestor worship, oracular and fertility goddess cults. The temples seem to have been used only for ritual activity and not as cemeteries, for no burials have been found.Sacrificial flint knives are among the artifacts discovered in the temples but no human bones, indicating that sacrifices were solely of animals and not humans. 90009 90020 90003 Neolithic temple of Hagar Qim, Island of Malta (Enlarge) 90004 The massive ruins of Hagar Qim (pronounced «agar-eem») and Mnajdra (pronounced «eem-na-eed-rah») stand on a rocky plateau on the southwest coast of Malta, overlooking the sea and facing the uninhabited islet of Filfla, 4.8 kilometers away. This plateau is composed of two types of limestone; the lower, harder stone (gray coralline limestone) out of which Mnajdra is constructed, and the upper, softer stone (pale globigerina limestone) from which Hagar Qim is built.90009 90004 The name Hagar Qim means ‘standing stones’ and previous to the excavations of these ruins all that could be seen was a mound of earth from which only the tops of the tallest stones protruded. Hagar Qim, possibly constructed in several phases between 3500 BC and 2900 BC, is built with some of the largest stones of any temple on Malta; one massive stone is 7 meters by 3 meters (22 ft by 10 ft) and weighs approximately 20 tons. The temple’s soft globigerina limestone walls have weathered badly over the millennia and later temple builders used the harder coralline limestone such as is found at Mnajdra complex just down the hill.The ruins were first explored in contemporary times in 1839. Further excavations in тисячі вісімсот вісімдесят п’ять and 1910 produced detailed surveys of the site and repair of some of the damaged structures. 90009 90004 The Mnajdra temple complex is located about 500 meters to the west of Hagar Qim, closer to the edge of the promontory facing the sea. Mnajdra consists of two buildings, a main temple with two ellipsoidal chambers and a smaller temple with one chamber. Among their other possible uses, the temples of Mnajdra fulfilled astronomical observation and calendrical functions.The main entrance faces east, and during the spring and autumn equinoxes the first rays of light fall on a stone slab on the rear wall of the second chamber. During the winter and summer solstices, the first rays of the sun illuminate the corners of two stone pillars in the passageway connecting the main chambers. Writing in his fascinating book, 90005 Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization 90006, Graham Hancock gives more precise information on these alignments, 90009 90030 90031 As the sun crests the horizon on the spring and autumn equinoxes, 21 March and 21 September (when night and day are of equal length) its rays exactly bisect the huge Trilithon entrance to Mnajdra’s Lower Temple, projecting a spot of light into a small shrine in the deepest recesses of the megalithic complex.90032 90031 On the winter solstice (20/21 December, the shortest day) a very distinctive ‘slit-image’ — looking something like the illuminated silhouette of a poleaxe or a flag flying on a pole — is projected by the sun’s rays on to a large stone slab, estimated to weigh 2.5 tonnes, standing to there rear of the west wall of the Lower Temple’s northern apse. 90032 90031 On the summer solstice (20/21 June, the longest day), the same distinctive slit-image appears — but now with the ‘flag’ oriented in the opposite direction — on a second large stone slab, this time weighing 1.6 tonnes standing to the rear of the west wall of the Lower Temple’s southern apse. 90032 90037 90004 Similar to the Mnajdra temple, Hagar Qim has also been shown to have solsticial alignments. Concerning Hagar Qim, Hancock notes that, 90009 90004 Hagar Qim offers several alignments of the summer solstice. One, at dawn, is on the north-east side of the structure, where the sun’s rays, passing through the so-called oracle hole, project the image of a disk, roughly the same size as the perceived disk of the moon, on to a stone slab on the gateway of the apse within.As the minutes pass the disk becomes a crescent, then elongates into an ellipse, then elongates still further and finally sinks out of sight as though into the ground. A second alignment occurs at sunset, on the north-west side of the temple, when the sun falls into a V-shaped notch on a distant ridge in line with a forsight on the temple perimeter. 90009 90004 Thus far, little serious research has been conducted on the celestial alignments of the Maltese temples. Further studies are likely to reveal a host of other astronomical orientations.However, one astonishing fact that has emerged from the studies so far done concerns an astronomical / mathematical dating of the temples that is many thousands of years older than that assumed by orthodox archaeology. Hancock writes that, 90009 90004 It is well known that the sun’s rising points at the solstices are not fixed but vary with the slowly increasing and then decreasing angle of the earth’s axis in relation to the plane of its orbit around the sun. These changes in what is known technically as the ‘obliquity of the ecliptic’ (presently in the range of 23 degrees 27 minutes) unfold over a great cycle of more than 40,000 years and if alignments are sufficiently ancient they will incorporate a degree of error, caused by changing obliquity.From the error it is possible to calculate the exact date of their construction. 90009 90004 In the case of Mnajdra, the alignment today is good, but not quite perfect because the rays that form the slit-image are projected two centimeters away from the edge of the large slab at the rear of the temple. However, Paul Micallef’s calculations show that when the obliquity of the ecliptic stood at 24 degrees 9 minutes and 4 seconds the alignment would have been perfect with the slit-image forming exactly in line with the edge of the slab.This ‘perfect’ alignment has occurred twice in the last 15,000 years — once in 3700 BC and again, earlier, in 10,205 BC. 90009 90048 90003 Neolithic temple of Mnajdra, Island of Malta (Enlarge) 90004 In addition to their celestial alignments the Maltese temples also reveal surprising evidences of mathematical and engineering sophistication. One researcher, Gerald Formosa (90005 Megalithic Monuments of Malta 90006), has discovered numerous examples of the so-called Megalithic Yard of 2.72 feet.This mathematical constant, found at megalithic sites throughout the ancient European world, was first brought to scientific attention through the studies of Oxford Professor, Alexander Thom. In Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, examples of the Megalithic Yard are found in the measurements of the portal stones and in triangles etched on the temple floors. 90009 90004 These astronomical, mathematical, and engineering findings are mostly ignored by orthodox archaeologists because Maltese temple architecture is commonly assumed to have developed previous to and independent of any outside influence.D.H. Trump, a noted ‘expert’ on Malta (90005 Malta: An Archaeological Guide 90006), comments that, «That there is nothing looking remotely like one of these temples outside the Maltese islands, so we can not use ‘foreign influence’ to explain them . The almost complete absence of imported pottery further strengthens the argument. » But, how then, are we to explain the enigmatic presence of the Megalithic Yard. This undeniable artifact of great antiquity suggests that the temples of Malta, rather than being isolated ruins may in fact be part of a pan-regional (or global) sacred geography.90009 90004 Another mystery concerns the statues of grossly overweight figures found in many of the Maltese temples. Their pleated skirts, generous thighs and small hands and feet have led them to being called fertility goddess deities. But they are of indeterminate sex, and furthermore, it has been noticed that the «ladies» have no breasts. As a result, archaeologists have now revised their names to the more accurate term of «obese figures.» D.H.Trump comments that, «It must be admitted at the start that to describe (these obese statues), as is usually done, as a goddess or ‘fat lady’ may be no more than male prejudice.The sex is not explicitly indicated. Corpulence in women is frequently, though mistakenly, held to be a sign of fertility. If we call her a goddess from now on, this is a matter of probability and convenience rather than proof. «Additionally, statuettes of men in skirts, with braided and pig-tailed hair, and numerous examples of carved phalluses demonstrate that the Maltese temples had a general fertility function that included both masculine and feminine elements. Nonetheless, it is true that certain figurines found in Malta, such as the Sleeping Lady and the Malta Venus, show that the Neolithic people of the island possibly had some sort of specific goddess cult.90009 90004 Other important temple complexes are Tarxien, the Hypogeum, and Tas Silg on Malta and Gigantija on the nearby island of Gozo. The Tarxien site (pronounced «tar-sheen»), discovered by a farmer in 1915 is composed of three temples, one of which contains a famous statue of the lower body of a standing figure. Sometimes interpreted as a goddess statue by feminist writers (there is really no way of knowing this as the gender is indeterminate), it is one of the world’s earliest known and most powerful representations of a deity (the statue in the temple is a replica, the original being in a museum in the nearby capital city of Valletta.) 90009 90062 90003 Neolithic temple of Mnajdra, Island of Malta (Enlarge) 90004 Another important temple, the Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni, departs from the norm of Maltese temples. Located close to the Tarxien temple complex in the modern suburb of Paola, it was discovered by chance in 1902 during the digging of a well. The Hypogeum is a multi-storey underground labyrinth (25 x 35 meters) consisting of chambers, halls, corridors and stairs, which over the centuries were extended deeper and deeper in to the soft limestone.Constructed (according to the orthodox chronology) between 4000 and 5000 years ago, the Hypogeum was both a sanctuary and a cemetery, and the bones of some 7000 humans have been found. The most impressive chamber, commonly called «the holy of holies» has pillars and lintels that are architecturally remarkable. With its walls coated in red paint, it has been suggested that the chamber was used for animal sacrifices. Another chamber, the so-called Oracular room, has a square niche cut into the wall that may have been used so that a priest’s voice could echo around the temple.A mysterious quality of this particular room is that a man’s voice will powerfully reverberate around the chamber while a woman’s voice is all but absorbed by the ancient stones. The Hypogeum has been closed for much of the 1990’s for repair and restoration but is scheduled to be reopened sometime after the beginning of the new millennium. 90009 90004 The recently excavated temple called Tas Silg is unique in Malta in that it shows evidence of continued religious use over thousands of years and by various cultures.Initially constructed as a goddess temple during the megalithic phase, it was used by Bronze Age peoples of the first millennium BC, next incorporated into a sanctuary of Astarte (the Goddess of fertility, beauty and love) established by the Phoenicians in the 8th century BC , maintained and improved by the Carthaginians, used by the neo-Punic natives as a shrine of Astarte-Tanit, adopted by the Romans as a temple of the goddess Juno, taken over by the Christians in the 4th century AD, and finally becoming the site of an Arab mosque in the 9th century.90009 90004 The largest and best preserved of all the Maltese temples is on the small island of Gozo (a 20-minute ferry ride from Malta). Constructed (according to the assumptions of conventional archaeology) between 3600 and 3000 BC, the temple of Gigantija covers 1000 square meters and its astonishing rear wall still rises 6 meters and contains megaliths weighing in at 40-50 tons. According to local legends, the massive blocks of Gigantija (the word means gigantic) were carved in the south of Gozo by a female giant.90009 90004 As mentioned above, orthodox archaeological opinion asserts that the islands of the Maltese archipelago remained uninhabited until roughly 5200 BC when Neolithic immigrants from the nearby island of Sicily first settled them. For a variety of reasons this settlement-dating scenario is now highly suspect. Research conducted by several scientists and synthesized, interpreted and reported by the ancient civilizations scholar, Graham Hancock, has conclusively shown a human presence on Malta many thousands of years before the dawning of the Neolithic.People did come from Sicily during the Neolithic but long before that time another group of people also journeyed to and lived on Malta. 90009 90004 During the process of gathering research for his book, 90005 Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization 90006, Hancock was repeatedly drawn to the study of prehistoric Malta and, particularly, to certain matters that contradicted the conventional archaeological assessment of island. Primary among these was the fact that Malta was simply too small in size to have developed and sustained the necessary civilization that gave rise to the enormously sophisticated construction techniques found in the temples of Mnajdra, Hagar Qim, Gigantija and the Hypogeum.In other words, how do we account for the presence of twenty-three megalithic temples with no architectural antecedents and with no evidence for the large amount of local domestic architecture that would have housed the people who built and used the temples? Discussing this matter, Hancock writes, 90009 90004 How are we to explain the fact that the oldest free-standing stone monuments in the world, which by virtue of there size and sophistication unambiguously declare themselves to have been built by a people who had 90005 already 90006 accumulated long experience in the science of megalithic construction, appear on the archaeological scene on a group of very small islands — the Maltese archipelago — that had not even been inhabited by human beings until 1600 years ago? Is not this counter-intuitive? Would not one expect a ‘civilization history’ to show up in the Maltese archaeological record documenting ever-more sophisticated construction techniques — and indeed would not one also expect an extensive ‘civilization territory’ capable of supporting a reasonably sized population (rather than tiny barren islands) to surround and nourish the greatest architectural leap forward of antiquity? 90009 90004 This notion of a more extensive ‘civilization territory’ contributing to the development of prehistoric Malta is something that, until a few years ago, was considered impossible.Two scientific disciplines outside of the bounds of orthodox archaeology have recently presented evidence to contradict this notion. Paleoanthropologists excavating in the caves of Ghar Hasan and Ghar Dalam on Malta found evidence of Neanderthal humans along with the skeletal remains of animals (European deer, bear, wolf and fox) known to be extinct long before the end of the Paleolithic era. While the Neanderthal could conceivably have made the sea voyage from mainland Europe to Malta during early Paleolithic times (though there is absolutely no evidence of such sea migrations anywhere in the Neanderthal record), the animals could not have made such a sea journey and would therefore had to have somehow walked to the region of Malta.But is not Malta an island remotely located in the midst of a vast sea? 90009 90004 Malta has not always been an island and this fact we learn from oceanographers and the new science of inundation mapping. Around 17,000 years ago, at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, when the level of the world’s oceans was more than 120 meters lower than it is today, the islands of the Maltese archipelago were the mountain tops of one landmass joined by land-bridge to Sicily (90 kilometers to the north), which itself was joined to the southern end of what is today the Italian mainland.Therefore, until 16,400 years ago, Paleolithic humans and the animals they hunted could simply have walked from Europe all the way to Malta. These people would have lived, hunted (and perhaps farmed) mostly in the lowland areas and (like so many other cultures of antiquity) might have constructed some of their temples upon the peaks of sacred mountains. Given the many thousands of years of time during which Malta was connected by land to mainland Europe and the likelihood of information exchange from other cultural regions of prehistoric Europe, it is eminently possible that the extraordinary architectural style of the Maltese temples could have been developed.90009 90004 Then the ice caps began to melt and the level of the oceans slowly rose, relentlessly inundating coastal areas and the land-bridges between higher altitude regions. By 14,600 years ago, the land-bridge to Sicily had disappeared beneath the sea and by 10,600 years ago the waters had risen so high that only the peaks of Malta were above the seas, forming the islands we have today of Malta, Gozo and Comino . In the process of this inundation the social centers in the lowland regions would have been lost beneath the waters and the people would have retreated to the higher altitudes of the Maltese peaks or would have migrated northward to Italy and the mainland of the European landmass.The Maltese archipelago would henceforth be completely isolated from European cultural influences and would therefore display unique developmental characteristics, which is exactly the case found in the archaeological record. As Hancock says, «Perhaps this Paleolithic isolation rather than the Neolithic invasion (of 5200 BC from Sicily) was the real genesis of the distinctive character and achievements of Maltese civilization. 90009 90004 Perhaps, too, the great temples of Malta were not actually constructed during Neolithic times but are in fact artifacts of a much older Paleolithic civilization (remember, there is no radio-carbon or other archaeological dating to substantiate the orthodox assumption of a Neolithic origin of the Maltese temples).Perhaps the elegant astronomical alignments of the temples and the presence of advanced mathematics in their construction indicate that the island of Malta was once part of a pan-regional (or global) sacred geography, itself formulated by a long lost civilization of high scientific and spiritual achievement. To determine the answers to these questions it will be necessary to conduct much more extensive archaeological excavations on Malta and, equally important, at the many underwater archaeological sites known to exist in the waters surrounding the islands.Whatever their ultimate genesis however, the Maltese temples are places of power not to be missed by any serious pilgrim and earth mysteries aficionado. 90009 90004 Also of importance as a pilgrimage site, though of more recent origin than th 90009.90000 90001 Megaliths and the True Ancient History of Earth and the Inhabiting Races 90002 90003 90004 Interactive Map of All Sites Click to view 90005 90006 90004 Regions 90005 North America (65) 90006 Central America (29) 90006 South America (57) 90006 West Africa (10) 90006 North Africa (41) 90006 South Africa (7) 90006 East Africa (11) 90006 Northern Europe (13) 90006 Western Europe (118) 90006 Southern Europe (156) 90006 Eastern Europe and Russia (145) 90006 West Asia (121) 90006 East 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(42) 90006 90141 90027 90141 90004 Expeditions 90005 Continue here… 90027 90141 90004 NewsLetter 90005 90027 Subscribe now 90141 90027 90141 90004 Keyword or site name search 90005 90142 90215.90000 90001 Megaliths Megalithic Sites Standing Stones Megaliths.Net 90002 90003 90004 90005 90006 90007 Dear Reader 90008, 90009 This is the home index page of Megaliths.net. There is also a Site Map with clickable world map of megalithic locations and a book about the megaliths (see left). See also our newly founded forum LexiLine at ProBoards as well as the predecessor LexiLine Newsletter / Group (569 members as of October 20, 2016) and our founded Archaeology Travel Photos group at Flickr (2411 members and 52700 photographs as of October 20, 2016).See also our founded Megalithic Sites of the World at Flickr (630 members and 6700 photographs as of October 20, 2016). 90010 90009 NOTICE, October 2016: 90004 We have new decipherments relating to Stonehenge and Avebury at our Ancient World Blog. Take a look now. 90004 It will be a while until we can move them properly to this website. We are talking about a lot of material. 90010 90009 90007 A Preliminary Notice about LAND SURVEY and the Author of Megaliths.Net, 90004 who is also a Stanford Law School Graduate in the USA 90008 90010 90009 The author of this website during college days worked on a land survey team for the Nebraska State Surveyor’s Office in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.That «Nebraska connection» is deepened in the next paragraph, showing how land survey is connected to a study of the megaliths. 90004 90007 90004 SYSTEMATIC PRESENTATION OF MEGALITHIC and PETROGLYPHIC SITES AS ASTRONOMY 90008 90010 90009 Megaliths.net is a 90007 systematic 90008 graphic-supported analysis of megaliths and megalithic sites around the world which shows that ancient megalithic sites are land survey sites located by prehistoric astronomy. As observed by Alice Cunningham Fletcher (Alice C.Fletcher) in her 1902 publication in the American Anthropologist, 90007 there is ample evidence that some ancient cultures, e.g. 90008 90007 the Pawnee in Nebraska, geographically located their villages according to patterns seen in stars of the heavens. 90008 FLETCHER, A. C. (1902), STAR CULT AMONG THE PAWNEE -A PRELIMINARY REPORT. American Anthropologist, 4: 730-736. doi: 10.1525 / aa.1902.4.4.02a00050. 90010 90009 90004 The photograph at the left 90036 is a photograph that includes Alice Cunningham Fletcher with Nez Perce Chief Joseph and is described at the Wikipedia 90037 as follows: 90010 90009 90036 «Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Chief Joseph at the Nez Percé Lapwai Reservation in Idaho, where Fletcher arrived in 1889 to implement the Dawes Act.The man on one knee is James Stuart, Alice Fletcher’s interpreter. According to Jane Gay in «With the Nez Perces» (University of Nebraska Press, 1981), Stuart customarily kneeled in this way when he felt anxious. Photograph by Jane Gay. (Courtesy Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives [MS4558]. Images from the National Anthropological Archives may not be reproduced without permission.) 90037 90010 90036 » 90037 90009 The Smithsonian image is, however, in the public domain.90004 90007 90008 90010 90009 90007 The Hermetic PAWNEE Star Lodge System 90008 90004 90010 90007 90004 90008 90007 90008 90004 90004 90009 The most ancient plan of Stonehenge looks like this: 90010 90004 90004 90007 90004 90008 The image above is my scan of an original survey map of Stonehenge as found glued to the inside margin of page 55 of William Long’s book, Stonehenge and its Barrows, published in Devizes in 1876 ​​from the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, vol.xvi, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. That book is still the best book ever published on Stonehenge, except for Gerald S. Hawkins, Stonehenge Decoded. 90004 90004 The Pawnee Star System was applied hermetically on Earth i.e. «As Above, so Below «and Fletcher’s drawings show without any doubt that this same system was quite obviously used in the oldest constructions at famous locations such as Avebury, Knowth and Stonehenge, whose clear astronomical nature is still disputed by scholars lacking knowledge.Mainstream scholars alleging that those constructions are not clearly astronomical have not done their homework. 90009 I 90010 90007 90004 We have studied whether the astronomy of the Pawnee was more widespread in ancient eras, 90004 not only in the United States but around the world …. It was. 90008 90009 We have applied the «Pawnee» hermetic astronomical principle, «as above, so below «to megalithic sites around the world, for example, to the Malta Temples, and have achieved remarkable results.90010 90009 We suggest that many megaliths and megalithic sites served as boundary stones and landmarks sighted (and sited) by astronomy. 90010 90009 Included here are also petroglyphs (Ancient rock drawing sites) which we think are often astronomically oriented (e.g. Kilmartin, Scotland or Tanum, Sweden — see below). 90010 90009 The same is true of the locations and subjects of prehistoric art in cave paintings. As an example, the Lascaux Cave in France is located at 45 degrees North and its paintings are clearly subject to astronomical interpretation.90010 90009 Archaeologists seem to have little interest in or knowledge about ancient land survey systems or ancient astronomy, so that archaeology per se is not the right academic discipline to be presumed in charge of analyzing the function of ancient megalithic sites, petroglyphs, or cave paintings. Systematic analysis of the ancient sites of mankind’s heritage demands an understanding of the subject under examination. An academic trained and skilled in digging up pots has no rightful claim to expertise in understanding astronomical survey sites of antiquity.90010 90007 90008 One of the major sites deciphered by this author is a map of the heavens on Earth in the case of the prehistoric rock drawings viz. petroglyphs of Tanum, Sweden. 90004 90004 90007 The Rock Drawings (Petroglyphs) of Tanum, Sweden are a Sky Map of the Heavens 90008 90009 90007 TANUM PETROGLYPHS, SWEDEN (our decipherment) 90008 90004 90010 90004 90007 TANUM ROCK DRAWING LOCATIONS, SWEDEN 90008 90009 90010 90009 90007 The rock drawing locations at Tanum, Sweden represent a sky map of the stars 90008 90010 90007 90004 Decipherment or Explanation? 90008 90004 90004 We call our presentation «90007 the decipherment of the megaliths 90008».The term «Explanation» might be a better, if also less effective word. You can access our pages through the geographic links in the 90007 left 90008 column or at the 90007 bottom 90008 of this text or at the 90007 top of this page 90008. If you prefer the printed word, you also have the option to 90007 buy our book 90008 on the megaliths at Stars Stones and Scholars: The Decipherment of the Megaliths (see Science Book Review for review). 90009 The text material below is intended as an introduction to materials on this website.We think that your understanding of our pages will be increased if you continue reading this page, but that is up to you. You can always come back to this page later through the «home» link above. 90010 90007 Megaliths and Megalithic Sites are a Source of Controversy 90008 90004 90004 The world’s megalithic sites are a source of controversial mystery to science. No mainstream discipline has ever engaged in a systematic study of the world’s megalithic sites. Quite the contrary, pioneer scholars such as the late Gerald S.Hawkins, who wrote the groundbreaking Stonehenge Decoded, have often been ignored by the establishment. Hawkins himself related the tale of a British government official who simply rejected his findings without reading them by stating that «the ancient Britons could not have been as clever as all that «. In fact, the megalith builders are still more or less an «unknown» quantity, an uncertainty which leads most archaeologists and most mainstream scholars to avoid megalithic study altogether. 90009 But how can this worldwide heritage be ignored and ancient history be accurately written without accounting for megaliths and megalithic sites? Who erected them, and why? Mainstream science does not know.We claim to have a part of the answer. 90010 90007 Megaliths and Megalithic Sites as Boundaries and Landmarks 90008 90004 90004 There is in fact compelling evidence that many megaliths served as ancient landmarks and boundary stones which were sighted (and sited) by astronomy. Indeed, the much maligned historical so-called 90134 Hermetic tradition 90135 clearly points to the origins of megalithic sites in land survey. For example, Gnosis.org writes about the 90134 Hermetic tradition 90135 as follows: «The name Hermes appears to have originated in the word for «stone heap.» Probably since prehistoric times there existed in Crete and in other Greek regions a custom of erecting a 90134 herma 90135 or 90134 hermaion 90135 consisting of an upright stone surrounded at its base by a heap of smaller stones. Such monuments were used to serve as boundaries or as landmarks for wayfarers. «90004 90004 This hermetic tradition contradicts the prevailing but unsupportable mainstream view that the 90134 original 90135 purpose of megalithic sites was to serve as tombs, for which there is little probative evidence.Rather, we know that the ancients often transported huge stones many miles to erect them at a particular location far removed from their origin. Obviously, these sites were not tombs, as it would have been far simpler to transport the deceased to the area of ​​rock quarries, rather than vice versa. Obviously, the sites chosen for megaliths had a special significance. 90009 If the original Neolithic megaliths and megalithic sites were boundaries and landmarks, how were the locations selected and surveyed? 90010 90009 One of the cardinal precepts of the Hermetic tradition is «As above, so below «.In days before writing and the invention of printed maps, one could not simply go down to the local store and buy travel maps, and yet, people had to be able to get around on land and to navigate by sea. How did they do it? How did they know where they were? 90010 90009 We claim, and all available evidence points in this direction, that the ancients took a «fixed known map» — this was the map of the heaven of stars — and projected that map onto the Earth — as a model for land survey. Anyone having knowledge of the heavenly stars could thus find his way around on Earth by means of the megaliths, which served both as boundaries and landmarks, sighted (and sited) by astronomy.90010 90007 The Hermetic System of the Pawnee in Nebraska (Alice C. Fletcher) 90008 90004 90004 As already noted above, the 1902 American Anthropologist published an article by Alice C. Fletcher titled 90134 Star Cult Among the Pawnee-A Preliminary Report 90135, 90007 American Anthropologist 90008, October-December, 1902 Vol.4 (4): 730-736 and describing the hermetic astronomical system of the Pawnee in Nebraska, whose villages and their respective geographical locations were represented by stars in the heavens.As part of the 90134 Anthropology Journal Archive Project 90135, Ralph Bachli of Boston University (Parker Shipton) wrote about that article as follows (we have added emphasis in bold face type): 90009 «90010 Alice Fletcher documents the astrological symbols of an American Indian culture …. She notes the historical 90007 diffusion 90008 of beliefs and rituals throughout American 90007 trade and pilgrimage routes 90008. Fletcher focuses on the Pawnee perception of the 90007 stars 90008 and its 90007 effects 90008 on 90007 village planning 90008 and indigenous mythology.90009 Up until the late nineteenth century the Pawnee inhabited the Platte River in what is now the Midwestern state of Nebraska …. Fletcher investigates the Skidi Pawnee clan who portray 90007 astrological themes in village construction 90008. Skidi comprise five functioning villages, each containing ritual icons for the worship of certain 90007 constellations 90008. Each village took on characteristics of certain star systems, and ceremonies were initiated to celebrate the astronomical rhythm of favorite constellations.The 90007 geographic location 90008 of five Skidi villages in relation to one another 90007 corresponded 90008 respectively 90007 to the constellations 90008 to which they were symbolically attached …. Fletcher explains how the 90007 earth lodge abodes 90008 that the Pawnee build 90007 are based on constellation patterns 90008 …. The Pawnee transform observation of stellar patterns into village planning, hut construction, and religion. These tribes had an intensive ritual life that took place at shrines dedicated to the night sky over the flatlands.90010 «90007 The Megaliths are a Hermetic System of Land Survey by the Stars 90008 90004 90004 That in a nutshell, corresponds pretty well to the megalithic system we have discovered. As we show e.g. in our book on the megaliths, each temple of Malta has a form which corresponds to a different stellar constellation, and all of the temples of Malta fit into a cohesive astronomical geodetic system. This, we allege, was an ancient survey system globally applied. 90009 For example, Gaelic tradition states that heavenly locations had earthly counterparts, although this knowledge is now submerged in Gaelic myth and is no longer directly accessible.The only way left for us to reconstruct such ancient hermetic systems is to examine the megalithic sites themselves and to research if these sites are 90007 systematically 90008 located by the stars. 90010 90009 Megaliths.net thus presents text materials, photographs and drawings relating to megaliths and megalithic sites — broadly defined to include what are mainly Neolithic (Stone Age) standing stones, menhirs, dolmens, cairns, quoits, tumuli, barrows, earthworks, dykes, henges, circles, etc.Prehistoric cave paintings and rock drawings (rock art) are also included in the analysis as precursors of megalithic art. According to our research, the original forms of this type of art are almost ALL astronomical in nature. The countries and regions of the world that we examine are: 90010 90009 Scotland, England and Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), Spain and Portugal (Iberia), Italy together with Corsica, Sardinia and Malta, the Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), Western Europe for countries not specifically listed above (Such as Austria and Switzerland), Russia, Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan, Caucasus, North America (United States, Canada), Mesoamerica (Central America), South America, Oceania (including Polynesia, Micronesia, and New Zealand) and Australia, Ancient Greece (including Mediterranean islands such as Crete and Rhodes), Anatolia (Turkey), the Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Fertile Crescent, the Holy Land, Israel, Arabia, Persia, Assyria, Sumer, Akkad, lands of the Hittites), Africa and Egypt including Pharaonic Civilization, China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia (Including Thailand), India and Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon.90010 90004 90004 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES ARE ASTRONOMY AND GEODETICS 90008 This is a summary of our findings. 90009 Megaliths ( «giant standing stones», menhirs) and related constructions such as cairns and dolmens (chambers of stone), tumuli and barrows (Ancient earthworks) and henges and circles were built by ancient man for purposes of Astronomy and Geodetics. 90010 90009 Stated simply, stars were used to measure the Earth and vice versa. This human achievement dates to the Neolithic Period (Stone Age), long before such technology was thought possible by modern scholars.Indeed, the observational astronomical tradition upon which the megaliths are based is likely to be many thousands of years older than the megaliths themselves. 90010 90009 As discovered by Andis Kaulins, Neolithic megalithic sites are astronomy in a cohesive broadly based geodetic survey system. Megalithic sites marked geographic land borders as triangulated by astronomy, e.g. in Scotland, England and Wales, and Ireland, much as the 90134 kudurri 90135 (border stones) of Mesopotamia. In modern times, triangulation cornerstones have been put underground.In ancient days, these stones were erected on the surface — and there most of them have remained to this day. We can relate to this quite well by experience, having worked as a student out in the field for a summer for the Nebraska State Surveyor’s Office. 90010 90004 90004 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES IN SCOTLAND 90008 All Neolithic sites in Scotland listed in the Ordnance Survey map of Ancient Britain (ISBN 0-319-29028-X) form a planisphere (sky map) of the northern and southern heavens with a center at BALNUARAN of CLAVA, where BAL surely means POLE, while NUARAN surely was an ancient name for the «River of Light «(Heaven) as in Hebrew 90134 NEHAR DI NUR 90135 and Arabic 90134 NAHR 90135.See Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names, Dover (ISBN 0-486-21079-0). See my review of that book. The decipherment began at Clava. 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES IN ANCIENT BRITAIN: ENGLAND and WALES 90008 All Neolithic sites in England marked on the Ordnance Survey map of Ancient Britain, including megaliths, quoits, tumuli and barrows form a map projection of the stars of the northern and southern heavens, with the center of the system at the Herefordshire Beacon and Midsummer Hill. Sites later than the Neolithic period show that the ancients adjusted for precession.The site called The Hurlers in Cornwall is a location at which precession was calculated in Ancient Britain. 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES IN ANCIENT IRELAND 90008 Megaliths and megalithic sites in Ireland were selected and organized by region. The counties of modern Ireland and Northern Ireland — to the degree they approximate ancient regional boundaries — correspond to the stellar constellations of the heavens. 90007 MEGALITHIC STANDING STONES ARE CARVED WITH FIGURES 90008 Standing stones, menhirs, tumuli, barrows, cairns, quoits, dolmens, and selected swallets and caves mark the stars of the heavens in Ancient Britain.Many megaliths are carved with reliefs of interlocking figures (smaller figures drawn within larger figures) which identify the stars to which stones are oriented (this Neolithic artistic style compares to modern works of M.C. Escher). Although our decipherment formally «began» at Balnuaran of Clava in Scotland through the cupmarked stones at that site, the megaliths at Wayland’s Smithy e.g. were among the first stones solved, based on the carved (sculpted) shape of the stones themselves as well as through carvings on the stones and holes in the stones marking stars.This paved the way for the rest of the megaliths and for carvings found on ceremonial objects placed in swallets or hewn on the walls of caves. 90009 Tumuli and barrows are arranged in groups to mark certain star clusters, e.g. the Knowlton Rings show Taurus and the Hyades. Winterbourne Stoke shows the stars of the Pleiades. In some cases, the apparently man-worked shape of cave rooms also identifies the stellar constellations or geodetic locations. Various earthworks even plan and record the astronomical and geodetic work, e.g. west of Torquay (Torbay) and east of Lewes, England. 90010 90007 MEGALITHS HAVE CUPMARKS OR INDENTATIONS REPRESENTING STARS 90008 Many standing stones have cupmarks or less formal indentations or holes on them marking the stars or stellar constellations which they represent. Additional markings on some stones identify parameters such as ecliptic, celestial equator, circle of precession, center of heaven (North ecliptic pole, south ecliptic pole), north pole star, south pole star, cord of the fish, Milky Way and solstice and equinox points.90009 Weathering has of course made it harder to identify holes and figures — but erosive processes also work on the contours of reliefs, holes and cupmarks, so that these in many cases do not disappear entirely, since they weather too and in some cases maintain their general near-original shape. Using modern graphics software and the numerous tools available for microscopic analysis of photographs, most of these sculpted figures, indentations and markings on megaliths, cairns, stones and dolmens can be reconstructed, e.g. by redrawing only the heaviest visible lines or marks on the stones, or adjusting the brightness, color and contrast of pictures. This detective work allows the stars intended by the ancients to be identified in many cases. 90010 90007 MEGALITHS AND SITES ARE INTENTIONALLY SHAPED 90008 Many cairns or quoits are in the shape of the star groups they represent. The shape of many stones shows the appropriate part of the heavens explicitly. Ancient earthworks also served astronomical purposes. Tumuli and barrows mark specific stars or nebulae.A cursus at a site may, e.g., mark the Milky Way. Earthwork mounds may form the shape of a celestial object, e.g. the Large Magellanic Cloud. The ancients — as shown on Megaliths.net — knew the southern skies and left us evidence carved in stone that they traveled as far as e.g. Africa, where we still find megaliths in the Central African Republic, megaliths now easily explained by geodetic survey and astronomy. That some ancient seafarers knew the southern heavens is recorded in an ancient legend from Sri Lanka, as found In Richard Hinckley Allen’s book, Star Names.Quoting from my Ancient World Blog: «Richard Hinckley Allen in his book, Star Names, Dover Publications, N.Y. Одна тисяча дев’ятсот дев’яносто сім, reports of ancient legends that the southern stars were initially created by ancient seafarers to approximate the shape of Northern constellations in similar positions. Allen writes (p. 436) as follows: 90009 «Before the observations of the navigators of the 15th and 16th centuries the singular belief prevailed that the southern heavens contained a constellation near the pole similar to our Bear or Wain; indeed it is said to have been represented on an early map or globe.Manilus wrote: 90010 90009 ‘The 90134 lower Pole 90135 resemblance bears 90004 To this Above, and shines with equal stars; 90004 With 90134 Bears averse 90135, round which the 90134 Draco 90135 twines; ‘ 90010 90009 and Al Biruni repeated the Sanskrit legend that at one time in the history of the Creation an attempt was made by Visvamitra to form a southern heavenly home for the body of the dead king, the pious Somadatta; and this work was not abandoned till a southern pole and another Bear had been located in positions corresponding to the northern, this pole passing through the island Lunka, or Vadavamukha (Ceylon).The Anglo-Saxon Manual made distinct mention of this duplicate constellation ‘which we can never see .’… 90010 90009 And, quoting from Francisco Lopes of 1552: [our comment: the spelling is original!] 90010 90004 90004 ‘Abowt the poynt of the Southe or pole Antartike, they sawe a lyttle whyte cloude and foure stars lyke unto a crosse with three other joynynge thereunto, which resemble oure Septentrion, and are judged to bee the signes or tokens of the south exeltree of heaven. ‘ 90009 What is referred to here is not known, for although the figure represented is that of the Southern Cross this constellation always is upright when on the meridian, and, as the observation was made in latitude 14 ° or 15 °, its base star was plainly visible.»90010 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES MARK REGIONAL BORDERS 90008 Megalithic boundaries mark both small and large geographic areas. For example, Counties in Scotland still retain elements of the approximate size, shape, and location of their comparable stellar constellations, located on earth by megaliths. Perthshire in Scotland e.g. retains the name PERSeus in PERTH. Megalithic sites in Perthshire such as Fowlis Wester represent stars in Perseus. The relative size and shape of Perthshire corresponds to the comparable constellation.Other counties are similar, though of course changed somewhat over the millennia. The graphic below shows the author at Fowlis Wester in the year 2001. The lines and dots have been added to the photo (not to the megalith) by the author to show how the stars of Perseus are represented by cupmarks on the stone, which shows the side profile, back and shoulder of a woman who has turned her head toward the viewer. The triangle of three large points to the left below Perseus of course marks the stars of Taurus.The shoulder marks the stars of the 90134 Pleiades 90135 for the reason that e.g. 90134 Plecs 90135 means «shoulder» in Indo-European language, e.g. Latvian. This analysis is supported for Fowlis Wester by Manx Gaelic 90134 Yn Whing 90135 as the name for Perseus, where 90134 whing 90135 in Manx Gaelic means «span, arm». 90004 90004 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES MARK NATIONAL BORDERS 90008 90009 Megalithic sites also involve geodetic survey by astronomy of regions on a larger scale, showing e.g. that the ancient border between Scotland and England was at Eridanus (Hadrian), represented by the River Tyne (Eri-Danus, with Danus = Tyne, the watershed between Scotland and England) and ending at New Castle ( «new earthwork»). The ancients made separate measurements for England (Wales included), Scotland and Ireland, each with its own center of heaven for survey. The Channel Islands are also represented. 90010 90009 On the European continent, each region had their own geodetic survey. In Germany astronomical works of the Magdalenians (later called Franks or Franken), were passed down as the legendary Ring of the Nibelungen, living on the Neckar (Nahr).Tumuli (Hügelgräber), megaliths throughout Germany, and the 90134 Felsenmeer 90135 between Frankfurt and Heidelberg are clearly ancient astronomical geodetic markers. The Externsteine were a center of astronomical activity. The Gollenstein (Gollen Stone) at Blieskastel in Germany near Saarbrücken is the largest megalith in Middle Europe (7.6 meters high of which 6.6 meters are above the ground). As we have discovered, this megalith represents Hydra, the «Longest» stellar constellation. Megaliths extend outward from the Gollen Stone and these megaliths surely marked the ancient border to France.90010 90009 In France, the cave paintings, and the stones at Carnac and elsewhere are ALL astronomical geodetic monuments. Mediterranean islands also have megaliths, such as the stone 90134 Sa Perda Pinta 90135 from Boeli [pole] near Mamoiada which we find marked a center of heaven for Sardinia in ancient days (So ​​our discovery). 90010 90007 MEGALITHIC SITES MARK THE START OF THE CALENDAR 90008 90009 Geographic locations of megaliths were intentionally oriented to the stars and to objects of the heavens in a given era.For Neolithic sites, the cardinal date seems to be either the Summer or Winter Solstice in 3117 BC (-3116 by astronomy) (as calculated by Starry Night Pro, ISBN 1-894395-01-8). Our initial view was that the Winter Solstice in 3117 BC was marked by a solar eclipse with Mars and Saturn at Spica in Virgo, and the rest of the visible planets at the Winter Solstice point. This unique phenomenon would have been well suited to start the first long-term human calendar — retained in e.g. Hindu and Maya calendration.However, due to the problems involved in calculating Delta T (the change in the rate of the spin of the earth over the millennia) as well as similar problems in determining the lunar acceleration parameter, solar eclipse data in ancient eras is subject to great dispute, and we are in the process of preparing a special page on ancient solar eclipses. 90010 90009 90007 SAVING AND MAINTAINING THE MEGALITHIC SITES 90008 90010 90009 Regrettably, many megalithic sites have been destroyed by people who know no better and such ancient sites can no longer be reconstructed.We advocate that there is a pressing need to photograph (from all sides) and catalogue ALL megalithic stones and sites worldwide. 90010 90009 We hope also that our decipherment of the megaliths raises their value in the eyes of humanity and that they will all then be properly respected and maintained as the masterpieces of art and technology which they once were and still are. 90010 90009 The following links can now be used to navigate this website from this page. 90010 90009 | HOME | Site Map | Sky Map | The Book | England | Wales | Scotland | Ireland | France | Germany | Benelux | Italy Corsica Malta Sardinia | Switzerland & Austria | Spain Portugal | Scandinavia | The Baltic | Russia | Eastern Europe | Central Asia | Near East | Egypt & Africa | Greece | Turkey | USA & Canada | Mexico & Mesoamerica | South America | New Zealand & Oceania | China | Japan | Korea | Southeast Asia | India & Sri Lanka | Mercator | Kammrath | Cult of Horus | Nebra | Tanum | Osnabrueck | Oesterholz | Externsteine | Stars Stones and Scholars | Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing 90010 90296 90004 90007 Legal Notice, Terms of Use, Impressum 90008 90009 The owner and webmaster of Megaliths.net is Andis Kaulins 90004 B.A. University of Nebraska; J.D. Stanford University Law School 90004 Former Lecturer in Anglo-American Law, FFA, Trier Law School 90004 Alumnus Associate of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, NYC 90010 90009 This page was last updated on August 18, 2018. 90010 90009 Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Impressum, Publisher 90010 90009 All materials presented on Megaliths.net are for information only. 90004 No other relationship under the law is established to the user.90004 No warranties are made regarding the truth or accuracy of postings. 90004 We disclaim any and all liability for the consequences of links 90004 to third party websites. 90010 90009 90007 Legal Notice of Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials: 90008 90004 Copyrighted materials on Megaliths.net are posted under the «fair use» exception 90004 as granted by Title 17 U.S.C. [United States Code] Section 107. 90010 90005 90003 90004 90005 90325.90000 90001 Megalithic Temples of Malta 90002 90003 90004 90005 Malta Portal 90006 90007 v 90005 · 90006 90010 Many of the names used to refer to the different sites carry a link with the stones used for their building. The Maltese word for boulders, 90011 ‘ħaġar’ 90012 is common to Ta ‘Ħaġrat and Ħaġar Qim. While the former uses the word in conjunction with the marker of possession, the latter adds the word 90011 ‘Qim’ 90012, which is either a form of the Maltese word for 90011 ‘worship’ 90012 or an archaic form of the word meaning 90011 ‘ standing ‘.90012 90019 90010 Maltese folklore describes giants as having built the temples, which led to the name Ġgantija, meaning 90011 ‘Giants’ tower ‘90012. 90023 [22] 90024 The Maltese linguist Joseph Aquilina believed that Mnajdra was the diminutive of 90011 ‘mandra’ 90012, meaning a plot of ground planted with cultivated trees; however he also named the arbitrary derivation from the Arabic root 90011 ‘manzara’ 90012, meaning ‘a place with commanding views.’ 90023 [23] 90024 The Tarxien temples owe their name to the locality where they were found (from 90011 Tirix 90012, meaning a large stone), as were the remains excavated at Skorba.90019 90034 History 90035 Main articles: History of Malta and Timeline of Maltese history 90036 Dating 90037 Charcoal found on site at Skorba was crucial in dating the Maltese Temple phases. 90010 The temples were the result of several phases of construction, from circa 3000 to 2200 BC; there is evidence of human activity in the islands since the Early Neolithic Period (ca. 5000 BC), testified by pottery shards, charred remains of fires and bones. 90023 [24] 90024 90023 [25] 90024 The dating and understanding of the various phases of activity in the temples is not easy.The main problem found is that the sites themselves are evolutionary in nature, in that each successive temple brought with it further refinement to architectural development. 90019 90010 Furthermore, in some cases, later Bronze-age peoples built their own sites over the Neolithic temples, thus adding an element of confusion to early researchers who did not have modern dating technology. Sir Temi Żammit, an eminent Maltese archaeologist of the late nineteenth century, had dated the Neolithic temples to 2800 BC and the Tarxien Bronze Age culture to 2000 BC.90023 [26] 90024 These dates were considered «considerably too high» by scholars, 90023 [27] 90024 who proposed a reduction of half a millennium each. 90023 [28] 90024 However, radiocarbon testing favoured Żammit’s dating. 90023 [29] 90024 90023 [30] 90024 A theory that the temple art was connected with an Aegean-derived culture collapsed with this proof of the temples ‘elder origins. 90023 [31] 90024 90019 90036 Temple phases 90037 90000 90061 90062 e h Maltese Prehistoric Chronology 90007 90064 90011 (Based on recalibrated radiocarbon dating) 90012 90067 90068 90069 90061 90071 Period 90072 90071 Phase 90072 90071 Dates BC 90064 90011 c.90012 90067 90072 90069 90061 90083 90005 Neolithic 90006 90007 90011 (5,000-4,100 BC) 90012 90068 90090 Għar Dalam 90068 90090 5,000-4,300 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Grey Skorba 90068 90090 4,500-4,400 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Red Skorba 90068 90090 4,400-4,100 BC 90068 90069 90061 90108 90005 Temple Period 90006 90007 90011 (4,100-2,500 BC) 90012 90068 90090 Żebbuġ 90068 90090 4,100-3,700 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Mġarr 90068 90090 3,800-3,600 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Ġgantija 90068 90090 3,600-3,200 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Saflieni 90068 90090 3,300-3,000 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Tarxien 90068 90090 3,150-2,500 BC 90068 90069 90061 90083 90005 Bronze Age 90006 90007 90011 (2,500-700 BC) 90012 90068 90090 Tarxien cemetery 90068 90090 2,500-1,500 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Borġ in-Nadur 90068 90090 1,500-700 BC 90068 90069 90061 90090 Baħrija 90068 90090 900-700 BC 90068 90069 90169 90010 The development of the chronological phases, based on recalibrated radiocarbon dating, has split the period up to the Bronze Age in Malta into eleven distinct phases.The first evidence of human habitation in the Neolithic occurred in the Għar Dalam phase, in c. 5000 BC. The Temple period, from c. 4100 BC to roughly 2500 BC, produced the most notable monumental remains. This period is split into five phases, however the first two of these left mostly pottery shards. The next three phases, starting from the Ġgantija phase, begins in c. 3600 BC, and the last, the Tarxien phase, ends in c. 2500 BC. 90019 90172 Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BC) 90173 90010 The Ġgantija phase is named after the Ġgantija site in Gozo.It represents an important development in the cultural evolution of neolithic man on the islands. To this date belong the earliest datable temples and the first two, if not three, of the stages of development in their ground plan: the lobed or kidney-shaped plan found in Mġarr east, the trefoil plan evident in Skorba, Kordin and various minor sites, and the five-apsed plan Ġgantija South, Tarxien East. 90023 [32] 90024 90019 90172 Saflieni phase (3300-3000 BC) 90173 90010 The Saflieni phase constitutes a transitional phase between two major periods of development.90023 [33] 90024 Its name derives from the site of the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni.This period carried forward the same characteristics of the Ġgantija pottery shapes, but it also introduces new biconical bowls. 90023 [34] 90024 90019 90172 Tarxien phase: (3150-2500 BC) 90173 The Tarxien phase is named after the temple complex found in Tarxien 90010 The Tarxien phase marks the peak of the temple civilisation. This phase is named after the temple-complex at Tarxien, a couple of kilometres inland from the Grand Harbour.To it belong the last two stages in the development of the temple plan. The western temple at Ġgantija represents, along with other units in Tarxien, Ħaġar Qim and L-Imnajdra, the penultimate stage in development, that is, the introduction of a shallow niche instead of an apse at the far end of the temple. The final stage is testified in only one temple, the central unit at Tarxien, with its three symmetrical pairs of apses. 90023 [35] 90024 The Temple culture reached its climax in this period, both in terms of the craftsmanship of pottery, as well as in sculptural decoration, both free-standing and in relief.90023 [36] 90024 90019 90010 Spiral reliefs resembling those at Tarxien once adorned the Ġgantija temples, but have faded to a level where they are only clearly recognisable in a series of drawings made by the artist Charles de Brochtorff in 1829 році, immediately after the temples ‘excavation. 90023 [37] 90024 The Tarxien phase is characterised by a rich variety of pottery forms and decorative techniques. Most shapes tend to be angular, with almost no handles or lugs. The clay tends to be well prepared and fired very hard, while the surface of the scratched ware is also highly polished.This scratched decoration remains standard, but it becomes more elaborate and elegant, the most popular motif being a kind of volute. 90023 [38] 90024 90019 90034 Architecture and Construction 90035 Part of the Kordin III Temple site, with a two apse design 90010 The Maltese temple complexes were built in different locations, and over a wide span of years; while each individual site has its unique characteristics, they all share a common architecture. The approach to the temples lies on an oval forecourt, levelled by terracing if the terrain is sloping.The forecourt is bounded on one side by the temples ‘own façades, which faces south or south-east. The monuments ‘façades and internal walls are made up of orthostats, a row of large stone slabs laid on end. 90023 [39] 90024 90019 90010 The centre of the façades is usually interrupted by an entrance doorway forming a 90011 trilithon 90012, a pair of orthostats surmounted by a massive lintel slab. 90023 [40] 90024 90023 [41] 90024 Further trilithons form a passage, which is always paved in stone.This in turn opens onto an open space, which then gives way to the next element, a pair of D-shaped chambers, usually referred to as ‘apses’, opening on both sides of the passage. The space between the apses ‘walls and the external boundary wall is usually filled with loose stones and earth, sometimes containing cultural debris including pottery shards. 90023 [42] 90024 90019 90010 The main variation in the temples lies in the number of apses found; this may vary to three, four, five or six. If three, they open directly from the central court in a trefoil fashion.90023 [43] 90024 In cases of more complex temples, a second axial passage is built, using the same trilithon construction, leading from the first set of apses into another later pair, and either a fifth central or a niche giving the four or five apsial form. In one case, at the Tarxien central temple, the fifth apse or niche is replaced by a further passage, leading to a final pair of apses, making six in all. 90023 [44] 90024 With the standard temple plan, found in some thirty temples across the islands, there is a certain amount of variation both in the number of apses, and in the overall length — ranging from 6.5m in the Mnajdra east temple to 23m in the six-apsed Tarxien central temple. 90019 90010 The external walls were usually built of coralline limestone, which is harder than the globigerina limestone used in the internal sections of the temples. 90023 [42] 90024 The softer globigerina was used for decorative elements within the temples, usually carvings. These features are usually sculpted in relief, and they show a variety of designs linked to vegetative or animal symbolism. 90023 [45] 90024 These usually depict running spiral motifs, trees and plants as well as a selection of animals.90023 [46] 90024 Although in their present form the temples are unroofed, a series of unproven theories regarding possible ceiling and roof structures have been debated for several years. 90023 [47] 90024 90023 [48] 90024 90023 [49] 90024 90019 90034 The UNESCO Sites 90035 90036 Ġgantija 90037 90010 Main article: Ġgantija Temples 90019 The megalithic remains at Ġgantija 90010 The Ġgantija temples stand at the end of the Xagħra plateau, facing towards the south-east. Its presence was known for a very long time, and even before any excavations were carried out a largely correct plan of its layout was drawn by Jean-Pierre Hoüel in the late eighteenth century.90023 [50] 90024 In 1827 the site was cleared of debris — the soil and remains being lost without proper examination. 90023 [51] 90024 The loss resulting from this clearance was partially compensated by the German artist Brochtorff, who painted the site within a year or two from the removal of the debris. This is the only practical record of the clearance. 90023 [51] 90024 90019 90010 A boundary wall encloses the two temples. The southerly one is the elder, and is better preserved. 90023 [52] 90024 The plan of the temple incorporates five large apses, with traces of the plaster that once covered the irregular wall still clinging between the blocks.90023 [53] 90024 90019 90036 Ta ‘Ħaġrat 90037 Main article: Ta ‘Ħaġrat Temples 90010 The Ta ‘Ħaġrat temple in Mġarr is on the eastern outskirts of the village, roughly one kilometer from the Ta’ Skorba temples. 90023 [54] 90024 The remains consist of a double temple, made up of two adjacent complexes, both in the shape of a trefoil. The two parts are both less regularly planned and smaller in size than many of the other neolithic temples in Malta, and no blocks are decorated. 90023 [55] 90024 Sir Temi Żammit excavated the site in 1925-27.A village on the site that pre-dates the temples by centuries has provided plentiful examples of what is now known as 90011 Mġarr phase 90012 pottery. 90023 [56] 90024 90019 90036 Ta ‘Skorba (Skorba) 90037 Main article: Skorba Temples 90010 The importance of this site lies less in the remains than in the information garnered from their excavations. 90023 [57] 90024 This monument has a typical three-apsed shape of the Ġgantija phase, of which the greater part of the first two apses and the whole of the façade have been destroyed to ground level.What remains are the stone paving of the entrance passage, with its perforations, the 90011 torba 90012 floors, 90023 [58] 90024 and a large upright slab of coralline limestone. 90023 [59] 90024 The north wall is in better shape; originally the entrance opened on a court, but the doorway was later closed off in the Tarxien phase, with altars set in the corners formed by the closure. 90023 [60] 90024 East of this temple, a second monument was added in the Tarxien phase, with four apses and a central niche.90023 [61] 90024 Before the temples were built, the area had supported a village over a period of roughly twelve centuries. 90019 90010 The oldest structure is the eleven metre long straight wall to the west of the temples ‘first entrance. 90023 [62] 90024 The deposit against it contained material from the first known human occupation of the island, the Għar Dalam phase. Among the domestic deposits found in this material, which included charcoal and carbonised grain, there were several fragments of daub, accidentally baked.90023 [63] 90024 The charcoal fragments were then radiocarbon dated, and their age analysis stood at 4850 BC. 90023 [62] 90024 90019 90036 Ħaġar Qim 90037 90010 Main article: Ħaġar Qim Temples 90019 The forecourt of Ħaġar Qim temple 90010 Ħaġar Qim stands on a ridge some two kilometers away from the villages of Qrendi and Siggiewi. 90023 [64] 90024 Its builders used the soft globigerina limestone that caps the ridge to construct the temple. 90023 [65] 90024 One can clearly see the effects of this choice in the outer southern wall, where the great orthostats are exposed to the sea-winds.Here the temple has suffered from severe weathering and surface flaking over the centuries. 90023 [66] 90024 90019 90010 The temple’s façade is typical, with a trilithon entrance, a bench and orthostats. It has a wide forecourt, with a retaining wall, through which a passage runs through the middle of the building. 90023 [67] 90024 This entrance passage and first court follow the common, though considerably modified, Maltese megalithic design. 90023 [68] 90024 A separate entrance gives access to four enclosures, which are independent of each other and replace The north-westerly apse.90023 [69] 90024 90019 90036 L-Imnajdra 90037 90010 Main article: Mnajdra Temples 90019 Part of the Mnajdra Temple site, with a four apse design 90010 L-Imnajdra temples lies in a hollow 500 metres from Ħaġar Qim. 90023 [70] 90024 It is another complex site in its own right, and it is centred on a near circular forecourt. Three adjacent temples overlook it from one side, while a terrace from the other separates it from a steep slope that runs down to the sea. 90023 [71] 90024 The first buildings on the right are small irregular chambers, similar to the enclosures in Ħaġar Qim.90023 [72] 90024 Then there is a small trefoil temple, dating from the Ġgantija phase, with pitted decorations. Its unusual triple entrance was copied on a larger scale in the second temple. 90023 [40] 90024 The middle temple was actually the last to be built, inserted between the others in the Tarxien phase, after 3100 BC. 90023 [73] 90024 It has four apses and a niche. 90019 90010 The third temple, built early in the Tarxien phase and so second in date, opens on the court at a lower level.90023 [74] 90024 It has a markedly concave façade, with a bench, orthostats and trilithon entrance. The southern temple is oriented astronomically aligned with the rising sun during solstices and equinoxes; during the summer solstice the first rays of sunlight light up the edge of a decorated megalith between the first apses, while during the winter solstice the same effect occurs on a megalith in the opposite apse. 90023 [75] 90024 During the equinox, the rays of the rising sun pass straight through the principal doorway to reach the innermost central niche.90023 [76] 90024 90019 90036 Tarxien 90037 Main article: Tarxien Temples 90010 The Tarxien temple complex is found some 400 metres to the east of the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni. 90023 [77] 90024 The three temples found here were seriously excavated in the early twentieth century by Temi Żammit. 90023 [78] 90024 Unlike the other sites, this temple is bounded on all sides by modern urban development; however, this does not detract from its value. One enters into the first great forecourt of the southern temple, marked by its rounded façade and a cistern, which is attributed to the temple.90023 [79] 90024 The earliest temple to the north-east was built between 3600 and 3200 BC; it consisted of two parallel sets of semi-circular apses, with a passage in the middle. 90023 [80] 90024 90019 A carved relief at Tarxien temples 90010 The south and east temples were built in the Tarxien phase, between 3150 and 2500 BC. The second one has three parallel semi-circular apses, connected by a large passage; the third one has two parallel sets of apses with a passage in a direction parallel to that of the first temple.The first temple is solidly built with large stones, of which some are roughly dressed. 90023 [81] 90024 The walls are laid with great accuracy, and are very imposing in their simplicity. 90023 [82] 90024 The second temple is more elaborately constructed, the walls being finished with greater care, some of the standing slabs being decorated with flat raised spirals. 90023 [83] 90024 In one of the chambers, two bulls and a sow are cut in low relief across one of the walls. 90023 [84] 90024 The third temple has a carelessly-built frame, but most of its standing stones are richly decorated with carved patterns.90006 Trump, 90011 Malta: An archaeological guide 90012, p. 75 90366 90873 90874 90875 Notes 90876 90877 90878 90363 Abela, Ġ.F., 1647, 90011 Della Descrittione di Malta 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Agius De Soldanis, Can. G.P.F., 1739, 90011 Gozo, Ancient and Modern, Religious and Profane 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Agius, A.J., 1959, 90011 The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum 90012, Union Press, Malta. 90366 90363 Aquilina, J., 1990, 90011 Maltese — English Dictionary 90012, Malta.90366 90363 Ashby, T., Żammit, T., Despott, G., 1916, 90011 Excavations in Malta in 1914 90012, in 90011 Man 90012, 1916, 90005 1 90006: 14. The Royal Anthropological Institute, London. 90366 90363 Bezzina, J., 1990, 90011 The Ġgantija Temples 90012, Gozo. 90366 90363 Bonanno, A., 1986, 90011 An illustrated guide to prehistoric Gozo 90012. Gozo Press, Malta. 90366 90363 Bonanno, A., 1990, 90011 Malta, an Archaeological paradise 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Caruana, A.A., 1882, 90011 Phoenician and Roman Antiquities 90012, Malta.90366 90363 Ellul, J.S., 1988, 90011 Malta’s Prediluvian Culture at the Stone Age Temples 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Evans, J.D., 1971, 90011 The Prehistoric Antiquities of the Maltese Islands 90012, London. 90366 90363 Evans, J.D., 1959, 90011 Malta. Ancient Peoples and Places series 90012 XI, Thames and Hudson, London. 90366 90363 «Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum (1982) Malta». 90011 Ann Mette Heindorff, 90012. http://worldheritage.heindorffhus.dk/frame-Malta01-Hypogeum.htm. Retrieved September 16, 2008.90366 90363 Houel, J.P., 1787, 90011 Voyage Pittoresque des Isles Sicily, de Malte et de Lipari 90012, Paris. 90366 90363 Micallef, P.I., 1990, 90011 Mnajdra Prehistoric Temple a Calendar in Stone 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Mifsud, A., Mifsud, S., 1997, 90011 Dossier Malta. Evidence For The Magdalenian 90012, Proprint Company Limited, Malta. 90366 90363 Trump, D., Cilia, D., 2002 90011 Malta: Prehistory and Temples 90012, Midsea Books Ltd., Malta. ISBN 99909-93-94-7 90366 90363 Renfrew, C., 1977, 90011 Ancient Europe is older than we thought 90012, in 90011 National Geographic 90012 90005 152 90006, (5): 614-623. 90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., 1929, 90011 The Prehistoric Temples of Ħal Tarxien 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., 1929, 90011 Malta: The Islands and their History 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., 1931, 90011 The Western Group of Megalithic Remains in Malta 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., 1931, 90011 Prehistoric Cart-tracks in Malta 90012, Malta.90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., 1931, 90011 The Neolithic Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum 90012, Malta. 90366 90363 Żammit, Sir T., Mayrhofer K., 1995, 90011 The Prehistoric Temples of Malta and Gozo 90012, Malta. 90366 90983 90034 External links 90035 90010 Coordinates: 36 ° 02’57 «N 14 ° 16’10» E / 36.04917 ° N 14.26944 ° E / 36.04917; 14.26944 90019 90010 90989 Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. 90990 90019 90878 90363 Chicago Bandits 90366 90363 Dew, Texas 90366 90983 90036 Look at other dictionaries: 90037 90878 90363 90010 91003 Malta 91004 — This article is about the Mediterranean country.For other uses, see Malta (disambiguation). Republic of Malta Repubblika ta Malta … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Malta 91004 — Este artículo trata sobre la República de Malta. Para el cereal, véase malta (cereal). Repubblika ta Malta Republic of Malta República de Malta … Wikipedia Español 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Megalithic architectural elements 91004 — This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic (Stone Age) structures.Contents 1 Forecourt 2 Kerb or peristalith 3 Orthostat 4 Port hole slab … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Malta 91004 — / mawl teuh /, n. 1. an island in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Africa. 95 sq. mi. (246 sq. Km). 2. a former British colony consisting of this island and two small adjacent islands: now an independent sovereign state and a member of the … … Universalium 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Climate of Malta 91004 — Malta Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Skorba Temples 91004 — Infobox World Heritage Site WHS = Megalithic Temples of Malta: Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Ta Ħaġrat, Skorba, Tarxien.State Party = MLT Type = Cultural Criteria = iv ID = 132 Region = Europe and North America Year = 1980 Session = 4th … … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Culture of Malta 91004 — The culture of Malta is the culture of the Maltese islanders and reflects various societies that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the … … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Tarxien Temples 91004 — Infobox World Heritage Site WHS = Megalithic Temples of Malta: Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Ta Ħaġrat, Skorba, Tarxien.State Party = MLT Type = Cultural Criteria = iv ID = 132 Region = Europe and North America Year = 1980 Session = 4th Link = … … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Ta ‘Ħaġrat Temples 91004 — Infobox World Heritage Site WHS = Megalithic Temples of Malta: Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Ta Ħaġrat, Skorba, Tarxien. State Party = MLT Type = Cultural Criteria = iv ID = 132 Region = Europe and North America Year = 1980 Session = 4th … … Wikipedia 90019 90366 90363 90010 91003 Templos megalíticos de Malta 91004 — Nombre descrito en la Lista del Patrimonio de la Humanidad … Wikipedia Español 90019 90366 90983 90068 90169.