Malta, 11: Hal Saflieni Hypogeum

The Hypogeum is a subterranean neolithic sanctuary/necropolis, built some 5,000 years ago, then buried and lost for the next 4,000 years until digging for a cistern broke through its ceiling in 1902. The remains of some 7,000 individuals were found in the necropolis along with a wealth of grave goods, pottery, votive figures, and such. All this would make it one of the most important of archaeological sites. But it is the Hypogeum's architecture and ornamentation that are most striking. Depending on your experience with the Neolithic--Stonehenge, Avebury, Newgrange, Carnac, etc.--it is simply amazing to descend into the three levels of the Hypogeum and see what was going on here while our other ancestors up north were merely hauling big stones around and aligning them with celestial cycles and the environment. The Maltese were doing some of the same above ground, and the Hypogeum and its finished work also shed some light on what was above.

Heritage Malta only allows 80 people per day, in groups of ten, into the carefully maintained site, under the watchful eyes of staff members and a guide. No photos are permitted. Tickets are often booked weeks in advance, but a limited number of next-day tickets, at a premium price, can be had at the national archaeological museum in Valletta and at the Gozo museum, where I got ours. I'll post just a few pix below, either off the web or pix of pix from the national museum. Wikipedia has a good article with some pix, and Heritage Malta's site includes a bit of a streaming tour. One of our best ever archaeological visits.

We were there June 7th...next available reservations, July
25th; book ahead!

Inside; much of the photography gives it all a reddish cast....the color is really
the same creamy limestone one sees everywhere in Malta, new and old and
unimaginably old

The "main" chamber; thanks, Smithsonian

Ceiling decor thereabouts

The "Holy of Holies"--here, it is thought, light from the dawn of winter solstice
illuminated the facade (through a light box, sort of like Newgrange (?); also
interesting is the carved ceiling: a depiction of the corballed roofing of the
monuments above ground, like Tarxien and Ggantija

Interior carving...this from a stone now at the national archaeological museum,
where the rest of the loot is; we'll visit on June 9th

Malta, 10: More Tarxien Temples

More of Malta's Tarxien Temples, one of the greatest of archaeological sites...see previous post for some background...

Business opportunity: dig a hole in the ground, put a barrier around it: people
will throw money into it for no apparent reason; maybe not lots of money, but
it adds up

Every night, scoop up the proceeds; but always leave a few
coins for "seed"; they also throw in credit cards, room keys,
pens and pencils, maybe even an iPhone...sky's the limit

In an earlier post I speculated about the corballing of these structures: a growing
hypothesis: they were roofed in stone slabs, corbal-style

Walkway; the holes are a mystery, one of many

Neolithic painting?

Flooring...post and lintel...

Obviously they had the post and lintel thing down good

But wait, there's more: lot's more: abstractions, spirals, animals...

And the "skirted" corpulent figure

"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a
waterfall of creative alternatives..."...Rubens? Isolde? Brynhilde? Kate Smith?
Mama Cass? Mother Earth?

The carving, such as it is, is compelling; we'll see more at Malta's national
archaeological museum in a couple days

Among the mysteries--less so on Malta, where there is
everywhere nothing but limestone slabs--is how they moved
the big rocks and set them in place; they apparently didn't
have big timbers; some theorize they used round rock
rollers like these, found at all the sights, sort of as ball
bearings

Back inside the entrance office, an orthostat from one of
the temple entries with sketches of neolithic or at the latest
Bronze Age sea-going vessels; if so, the oldest such; I
couldn't see anything, but the next shot perhaps represents
what's there...pretty compelling stuff

Even with changes in sea levels and land bridges and such, Malta would be
pretty hard to get to without a boat

Unassuming entrance to one of the world's great megalithic sites

The street decor was no less mystifying

But the Hypogeum, perhaps the toughest ticket in all the megalithic world, was
not far away

Malta, 9: Tarxien Temples

As soon as we hopped off, the day picked up, indeed, it picked up to be one of our best megalithic days ever: the Tarxien Temples, followed by the Hypogeum, all five-star attractions if you're into such things. The Tarxien Temples date to the high neolithic, 3,500 BC to 2,000 BC on Malta, roughly the same as elsewhere in the megalithic world (mostly on the Atlantic: Portugal, Brittany, Ireland, UK...). The Tarxien complex was discovered in the usual way: a farmer trying to plow a field and hitting big rocks. The local archaeologist, Sir Themistocles Zammit (I swear I am not making this up) was called, much digging ensued, and the rest is history. Tarxien became one of the best known among Malta's World Heritage Sites. And among all megalithic sites.

From the central station in Valletta we caught a bus out to the suburb of Tarxien,
maybe 4-5 miles from the center; the signage was relatively good, if not in
English

The streets were interestingly decorated, for what reason
we could not discern

Anyhow, we made it; alas, we did not take any selfies

Helpful illustration, which you can click to enlarge; Tarxien is several distinct
temples, built over a one thousand year stretch

Since 2015, the whole site has been tented over, both for protection from (some
of) the elements and for the comfort of visitors; we are looking at the remains
of the south temple

Thus

Megaliths, indeed; these puppies are big but also finely worked; one wonders
what the sculptors at Bru na Boinne or at Gavrinis could have done with this
limestone (more carving in the next post)

The central temple, the largest of Malta's megalithic structures, with, count
'em, six apses; the other big ones, as at Ggantija, for example, have four

Looking now at the east temple, oldest

Part of the walk-way that takes you through the complex

The tents are enormous; the interpretive signage excellent; three cheers for 
Heritage Malta!

Me, for scale; not my best Indiana Jones pose

Some of the megaliths were plastered, it seems 

Flooring: here, thick limestone slabs

Malta, 8: Hopping Malta

Our Malta transportation cards included free public transportation for the week, a ride across the Grand Harbor, a hop-on/hop-off bus ride, and perhaps some more. I had scored tickets for the Hypogeum for Thursday afternoon, prior to which we would see Malta's other most important neolithic site, the Tarxsen temple complex. So we had some time to kill Thursday morning. The hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the southern part of the island was perfect: nearly identifiable glimpses of nearly interesting sights while enduring sun and wind and sand exposure (Sahara winds) in the company of...well, I don't want to be rude. Not me. Anyhow, I am sure there are hop-on/hop-off rides elsewhere in the world that are OK. And we did succeed in killing some time.

At a harbor on the southwest side of the island...traditional fishing boats and
an enormous ship of unknown nature

Container city, ship-building, and marine agriculture

Containers

All over Malta and Gozo, dry stone fences; many undoubtedly ancient

Hopping on and off

Major learning experience: Playmobil, Lego's competitor, is based in Malta;
seriously

We think this might have been a refugee camp; Malta is right in the middle
of the refugee exodus from North Africa

Still quarrying that good creamy limestone, six millennia and counting

Southwest coast

In the distance, an uninhabited island that the RN and RAF used for target
practice in WWII; now a bird sanctuary

More rugged coast