On the island of Gozo, a few kilometres north of Malta, two limestone temples have faced each other within a shared enclosure for over five thousand years. Ġgantija, pronounced "djan-TI-ya", from Maltese ġgant, "giant", is the world's oldest surviving temple complex. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1980 (with Malta's other temples), it is over a millennium older than Egypt's great pyramids and several centuries older than Stonehenge1.
An unknown island civilisation
Between 5,000 and 2,500 BC, the Maltese archipelago was occupied by an enigmatic civilisation that left no writingWritingA system of conventional signs used to fix language or information durably; its appearance (c. 3300 BC) marks, by convention, the end of prehistory.→, no metal objects and no clear ethnic affiliation with other Mediterranean peoples. This "temple culture" built on the islands of Malta and Gozo a series of seven monumental limestone complexes, all similarly oriented and structured on a lobe plan (two to five trefoil-shaped apses). All of this with coral limestone blocks weighing up to 50 tonnes, without the wheel, without metal, with a NeolithicNeolithicThe "New Stone Age": a period marked by farming, herding, settlement and pottery, from around 10,000 BC.→ workforce2.
Ġgantija: the two temples
The Ġgantija complex consists of two adjoining temples surrounded by a massive enclosure wall, the temenos, reaching 6 metres high and built of hard coralline limestone blocks, some over 5 metres long. The south temple, dated to around 3,600 BC, is the oldest. The north temple, slightly later (~3,000 BC), is better preserved. Together they form a spectacular convex façade overlooking a paved courtyard.
Inside, the Neolithic architects used two types of limestone: hard coralline for load-bearing structure, and softer globigerina limestone for floors and internal facings. The walls originally bore red ochre plaster. Niches, altars, libation holes, thresholds and perforated stone doorways structure the sacred space. Animal bones, figurines and fire traces indicate ritual sacrifices and ceremonial feasts1.
The "Maltese Goddess" and the temples' cosmology
Excavations at the Maltese temples have yielded an abundance of figurines depicting stout figures with wide hips and heavy legs, commonly called the "Maltese Goddess". Some are colossal, the largest, found at Tarxien, stands 2.5 metres high, others fit in the palm of a hand. These representations have been interpreted as fertility goddesses, ancestors, or both. Their rounded limbs and pleated skirts, carved with remarkable care, suggest an artistic and ideological sophistication unsuspected in these Neolithic builders.
Temple orientations are not random: their entrances generally face south-east, towards the sunrise at the equinoxes or solstices depending on the site. This attention to solar movement confirms a structured cosmology, probably linked to agricultural cycles and seasonal ceremonies2.
A vanished civilisation
One of the temple culture's most striking mysteries is its sudden disappearance. Around 2,500 BC, the temples fall out of use and the entire civilisation seems to vanish within a few generations. Proposed causes include depletion of forest resources (intensive clearance for construction and farming may have caused catastrophic soil erosion), prolonged drought, epidemics, or replacement by a new migratory wave. Around 2,400 BC, the archaeological record shows a new people in Malta, the Tarxien Cemetery people, who practised cremation and used metal. They built no temples.
Ġgantija's builders have no identified descendants. Their language is unknown. Their belief system has no direct parallel in the Mediterranean world. They remain one of the most mysterious civilisations of European prehistoryPrehistoryThe span of human history before the invention of writing, from the Palaeolithic to the Metal Ages, known mainly through material remains.→, giants, in the literal sense of the Maltese word that gave them their name1.
Ggantija est l'un des plus vieux temples en pierre du monde et pourtant on en parle si peu comparé à Stonehenge ou Carnac. Ces temples maltais datent d'avant les pyramides d'Egypte, c'est vertigineux. Je recommande à tout passionné de mégalithes de visiter Malte, le musée de La Valette complète bien la visite du site.
Lors d'une mission à Malte il y a quelques années, j'ai eu la chance de visiter Ggantija. La mégalithicité de ces temples, construits avec des blocs pouvant dépasser les 50 tonnes, est stupéfiante quand on les voit en vrai. Les fouilles récentes ont mis au jour des restes de repas rituels qui posent de nouvelles questions sur la fonction de ces espaces.