The megalithic complex of Ħaġar Qim is located on the southern edge of the island of Malta, on a ridge capped in soft globigerina limestone. All exposed rock on the island was deposited during the Oligocene and Miocene periods of geological time. Globigerina limestone is the second oldest rock on Malta, outcropping over approximately 70% of the area of the islands. The builders used this stone throughout the temple architecture.
Features of temple architecture reveal a preoccupation with providing accommodation for animal sacrifices, burnt offerings and ritual oracles. Recesses were used as depositories for sacrificial remains. Excavation has uncovered numerous statuettes of deities and highly decorated pottery.
The temple’s façade is characterized by a trilithon entrance, outer bench and orthostats. It has a wide forecourt with a retaining wall and a passage runs through the middle of the building, following a modified Maltese megalithic design. A separate entrance gives access to four independent enclosures which replace the north-westerly apse.
No burials exist in the temple or the area surrounding Ħaġar Qim, nor have any human bones been discovered in Maltese temples. Bones of numerous sacrificial animals have been found. It is theorized that the Ħaġar Qim complex was built in three stages, beginning with the ‘Old Temple’ northern apses, followed by the ‘New Temple’, and finally the completion of the entire structure.
Ġgantija 9″Giants’ Tower”) is a Neolithic, megalithic temple complex on the Mediterranean island of Gozo. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of a series of megalithic temples in Malta. The Ġgantija temples are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic Age (c. 3600-2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world’s second oldest manmade religious structures, after Göbekli Tepe. Together with other similar structures, these have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Megalithic Temples of Malta.
The temples were possibly the site of a Fertility cult; archeologists believe that the numerous figurines and statues found on site are connected with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, built these temples and used them as places of worship.
Stone spheres found at Ġgantija, believed to have been used to transport the temple’s enormous stone blocks. The Ġgantija temples stand at the end of the Xagħra plateau, facing towards the south-east.
This megalithic monument is in fact two temples, built side by side and enclosed within a boundary wall. The southerly one is the larger and older, dating back to approximately 3600 BC. It is also better preserved. 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.
Ġgantija Temple
The temples are built in the typical clover-leaf shape, with inner facing blocks marking the shape which was then filled in with rubble. This led to the construction of a series of semi-circular apses connected with a central passage. Archaeologists believe that the apses were originally covered by roofing. The structures are all the more impressive for having been constructed at a time when no metal tools were available to the natives of the Maltese Islands, and when the wheel had not yet been introduced. Small, spherical stones have been discovered. They are believed to have been used as ball bearings to transport the enormous stone blocks required for the temples’ construction.
The temple, like other megalithic sites in Malta, faces southeast. The southern temple rises to a height of six metres. At the entrance sits a large stone block with a recess, which led to the hypothesis that this was a ritual ablution station for purification before entering the complex. The five apses contain various altars; the finding of animal bones in the site suggests the site was used for animal sacrifice.
Hunebedden zijn de oudste monumenten in Nederland. Deze monumenten zijn ongeveer 5.000 jaar geleden gebouwd in de Nieuwe Steentijd, de laatste periode van de Steentijd.
Zwerfkeien
Hunebedden werden gemaakt van enorme zwerfkeien die met de ijskap in de ijstijd van ongeveer 100.000 jaar geleden naar het noorden van Nederland schoven. Deze keien zijn alleen te vinden waar de ijskap is geweest: het noorden van Nederland. De enorme keien wordenook wel megalieten genoemd (afgeleid van de Griekse woorden mega = groot, en lithos = steen).
Grafkamers
Hunebedden werden gebruikt als grafkamers. De botten van de overleden mensen zijn in de loop van 5000 jaar vergaan. Een deel van de grafgeschenken is wel goed bewaard gebleven: potten van aardewerk, gereedschap en wapens van steen, en sieraden van bijvoorbeeld barnsteen.
Trechterbekercultuur
De hunebedbouwers in Noord-Europa, ook die van het Nederlandse gebied, maakten aardewerk dat ze decoreerden op een manier die heel apart is. Je herkent het direct. Bovendien maakten ze een potvorm die je bijna nergens anders ziet: een beker met een hals in de vorm van een trechter. De mensen die trechterbekers maakten, hadden zoveel dingen gemeen, dat archeologen spreken van de Trechterbekercultuur.
In de Nieuwe Steentijd bouwden mensen in een groot deel van Europa bouwwerken gemaakt van megalieten. Veel van deze bouwwerken zijn graven, waarin de resten van overleden mensen werden geplaatst. Maar enkelen hadden een andere betekenis, zoals Stonehenge in Engeland of de lange rijen menhirs van Carnac in Frankrijk.