It is interesting that all these buildings were built without the use of iron tools. Each megalithic temple complex developed on their own, while the scale of the megaliths is so vast that the locals believed that they were constructed by giants giants.
Nothing is known about the builders of these unique majestic buildings - these people have disappeared after a millennium after the temples were built. Today, thanks to the latest research, scientists have put forward a new hypothesis, which are likely to be able to shed some light on the mystery of megalithic temples.
First of all, it must be said that the construction of temples in Malta began long before the start of the buildings in continental Europe (the oldest known - Cairn de Barnenez, Finistere, France, 4500 BC. E.), And thus, the Maltese megaliths are largely prototypes for sites in other regions. Scientists have found that the cultures of prehistoric Malta are largely connected with Sicily, so archaeologists suggest that Malta was a cult center of the Neolithic peoples of the Sicilian-paleometal.
All the Megalithic Temples of Malta are on the list of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The oldest is considered to be a complex of two temples of Ggantija on the island of Gozo. Both the temple built of blocks of coral limestone. Some of the blocks weigh about fifty tons and reach a length of five meters. Temples have five apses (apse - is a projection of the building, half-round, faceted or rectangular in plan, covered with a semi-dome or cloistered polusvodom), connected by a corridor that leads to the trifol (so called symmetric figure bounded by three identical circles whose centers are located at the vertices an equilateral triangle).
Another grand temple of Malta - Hagar stands on top of a hill. Much interest in the decoration of the temple - the walls of buildings are decorated with carved obsidian, and silicon deities and animals. Between the cliffs of the southern coast of the island of Malta lies a complex of three temples - Mnajdra, on a lay-leaf clover resembling (this is trifol). The oldest is the upper church. He is a three-apse structure of coral limestone.
Increased interest of scientists enjoys lower church, which was built on the exact astronomical laws. Thus, according to the architects of the twenty-second of September and March twentieth solar rays pass right on a certain line in the temple. The middle temple was built between the two above mentioned in Tarshiensky period.
The earliest megalithic temples are Ta#39;Hadzhrat, by assumption, built on the site of the former village and different non-standard layout. The most difficult architectural complex of all the temples of Malta, Tarxien is related to 3600-2500 years. BC. e. and consists of four megalithic structures. In the 1960s, scientists were also opened temples Sorrow of having poorly preserved.
It is important to note that the change of the temple period did not result in the destruction or abandonment of former temples, local people continued to use them for burial, indicating significant continuity. Among the most prevalent hypotheses about the causes of the decline of megalithic temples of Malta should include: arid climate, civil war, foreign influence, depletion of land or other natural resources of Malta or Sicily.
Remains unclear to scientists and flourishing culture of the megalithic temples. For example, in Malta there are no clear evidence that the island was inhabited during the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Neolithic appears here as if from nowhere - without prior phases, while it includes the main achievements of the civilization of that time: ceramics, agriculture and animal husbandry. Early (dohramovy) Neolithic Malta submitted a cave, Ghar Dalam, where the oldest evidence of Neolithic date from 5400 BC. e.
Only recently, researchers had noted a certain peculiarity in the arrangement of the temples, which is able to shed some light on the mystery of ancient buildings. In particular, the archeologists found buried in a cromlech (rings of stones) located in the center of several megalithic temples. During the study, the researchers noticed that a few graves of the archipelago are located near the temples.
As a result, the researchers were able to do amazing discovery - all temple complexes of the islands are subject to the same principle of construction of the system, where the grave construction is located in the center of the temples and at some distance around. This conjecture will allow scientists to organize the system searches for new, previously hidden, buildings.
It seems amazing that in such a tight mastered the archipelago, as Malta, archaeologists are still finding new megaliths, though in a rather poor state. The fact that many of the buildings are taken away to build in later times, and some megalithic structures, by the scientists are in built up areas, and to find them, we need a special study of archaeologists.
It is also necessary to say that in recent years, scientists have come to an interesting conclusion. According to experts, the megalithic structures of Malta served as prototypes mythological Champs Elysees, where according to ancient Greeks live after death the souls of heroes beloved by the gods. This is the realm of the dead, in many ways similar to the Egyptian fields Ialu, located on an island west of Greece.
Scientists note that the penetration of Europeans in Malta may indicate occurring after 3000 BC. e. Single cases of cremation, cremation often serves as a fairly reliable indicator of their appearance in Europe. In particular, cremation urn in cysts and dolmens, typical for the next phase - the necropolis Tarxien - indicate the penetration of Malta synthetic Castelluccio culture containing both megalithic (cysts, dolmens) and Indo-European (cremation) and the Balkan-Danubian (boxes) elements .
Experts have established that during the Bronze - Early Iron Age Malta has experienced several waves of migration, which led to the lost continuity with the megalithic peoples. It is quite likely that these migrations were contacted throughout the Mediterranean, particularly with Egypt. Evidence of penetration in Malta Cretan population may serve as preserved in ancient sources mention of the conquest of Minos in the west.
Thus, today, thanks to the work of archaeologists, scientists can gradually move closer to answering the question of how, by whom and for what purpose were built by the mysterious megalithic structures of Malta.
