Tarxien Temples
The temples are the most important megalithic structures on Malta, and are powerfully impressive, despite the fact that they are hemmed in by 20th-century buildings. Historians agree that what remains in Tarxien today was part of a much greater settlement, but modern developments seem to have precluded the possibility of further exciting discoveries. A visit to the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta is advisable, to help translate what can appear at first sight to be an impressive but random collection of large rocks. The museum has a helpful three-dimensional model of the site and an artist’s impression of what the structures originally looked like. It should be noted that many (easily discernible) preventative repairs have been made, and that the altars, statues and friezes are copies. The originals and other finds are housed in the museum.
Not long before the First World War, and after the discovery of the Hypogeum, a farmer complained at the constant blunting by large stones of his plough. The antennae of Dr. Themistocles Zammit twitched and in 1914 he began his five-year excavation of the site.
Three main temple structures an the remains of a small fourth (numbers refer to the site plan) wer unearthed: The South, the Central, the East, and the Early. All except the last structure to be built, the Central Temple, are sited in a southeast quadrant. With the exception of the Early Temple, which dates back to the older Gfantija phase, the three principal temples date back to the eponymous Tarxien phase (3000-2500 BC). These wer the last of the temple structures to be constructed by prehistoric man in Malta.
In the four-apsed South Temple is the huge and sadly headless statue of an elephantine female, possible the ‘fat’ goddess of fertility (she must have stood more than 8 feet tall). Dr. Trump, the former curator of the Museum of Archaeology, has eloquently described her: ‘She wears a very full pleated skirt. It would be ungentlemanly to quote her hip measurements, and her calves are in proportion. The is supported, however, on small, elegant, but seriously overworked feet. ‘To her right is an altar niche above delicately carved spiral stonework. The space behind the niche revealed a collection of animal bones and a flint knife place. To the left or in the west apse are more animal friezes, although less recognizable, and in the centre a pitted bowl. Through what was the temple’s inner door is the decorated central niche.
The Central Temple, more than 75feet high, is unique in Malta for having three pairs of apses rather than two and was builty after the Sourth and East Temples. The predominant feature is reddening of the stone, possibly caused by an inferno that marked the end of the temple-building period 4,500 years ago. The further you go inwards, due to the lie of the land, the more the structure’s condition improves. The central court is striking, if only for the manner in which man was able to fit huge slabs of limestone together.
There are two bowls in the left apse, the larger of which was hewn from one piece of rock. Entry to the third pair of apses, and what may have been the priests’ inner sanctum, is barred by the finest and most powerful carving here, the oculus motif stone. Very little is left of the East Temple, even less of the oldest Early Temple. The large stones outside were part of the enclosing wall.
While it seems pretty unlikely that the Tarxien Temples saw anything other than religious rites, try to bring an inquisitive mind. They might, after all, have been the site of a cattle market.
Tarxien Temples
The temples are the most important megalithic structures on Malta, and are powerfully impressive, despite the fact that they are hemmed in by 20th-century buildings. Historians agree that what remains in Tarxien today was part of a much greater settlement, but modern developments seem to have precluded the possibility of further exciting discoveries. A visit to the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta is advisable, to help translate what can appear at first sight to be an impressive but random collection of large rocks. The museum has a helpful three-dimensional model of the site and an artist’s impression of what the structures originally looked like. It should be noted that many (easily discernible) preventative repairs have been made, and that the altars, statues and friezes are copies. The originals and other finds are housed in the museum.
Not long before the First World War, and after the discovery of the Hypogeum, a farmer complained at the constant blunting by large stones of his plough. The antennae of Dr. Themistocles Zammit twitched and in 1914 he began his five-year excavation of the site.
Three main temple structures an the remains of a small fourth (numbers refer to the site plan) wer unearthed: The South, the Central, the East, and the Early. All except the last structure to be built, the Central Temple, are sited in a southeast quadrant. With the exception of the Early Temple, which dates back to the older Gfantija phase, the three principal temples date back to the eponymous Tarxien phase (3000-2500 BC). These wer the last of the temple structures to be constructed by prehistoric man in Malta.
In the four-apsed South Temple is the huge and sadly headless statue of an elephantine female, possible the ‘fat’ goddess of fertility (she must have stood more than 8 feet tall). Dr. Trump, the former curator of the Museum of Archaeology, has eloquently described her: ‘She wears a very full pleated skirt. It would be ungentlemanly to quote her hip measurements, and her calves are in proportion. The is supported, however, on small, elegant, but seriously overworked feet. ‘To her right is an altar niche above delicately carved spiral stonework. The space behind the niche revealed a collection of animal bones and a flint knife place. To the left or in the west apse are more animal friezes, although less recognizable, and in the centre a pitted bowl. Through what was the temple’s inner door is the decorated central niche.
The Central Temple, more than 75feet high, is unique in Malta for having three pairs of apses rather than two and was builty after the Sourth and East Temples. The predominant feature is reddening of the stone, possibly caused by an inferno that marked the end of the temple-building period 4,500 years ago. The further you go inwards, due to the lie of the land, the more the structure’s condition improves. The central court is striking, if only for the manner in which man was able to fit huge slabs of limestone together.
There are two bowls in the left apse, the larger of which was hewn from one piece of rock. Entry to the third pair of apses, and what may have been the priests’ inner sanctum, is barred by the finest and most powerful carving here, the oculus motif stone. Very little is left of the East Temple, even less of the oldest Early Temple. The large stones outside were part of the enclosing wall.
While it seems pretty unlikely that the Tarxien Temples saw anything other than religious rites, try to bring an inquisitive mind. They might, after all, have been the site of a cattle market.