The Ġgantija temples : a structural study of its megaliths

Abstract

The Ggantija Temples, together with six other temple sites, play an important part in the Maltese Islands' historical culture and they are also enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Therefore, this calls for continuous preservation, as well as preventive measures, towards these historical structures so as to retain their identity and importance. Throughout this study, importance is given to the problems which are posing serious and critical effects on the structural stability of the Ggantija Temples, which by time is becoming more complex. While researching about the structural system of the Ggantija Temples, it was noted that, although many data collected from previous studies, is already present, there is a lack of knowledge about the aspect of friction and its contribution to the overall stability of the megalithic structure. This questions whether the information we have is enough to rely on, when attempting to understand how the original structure worked and when assessing its current state of stability. In order to provide for the best preservative and preventive solutions, it is vital that all characteristics of the temple structure are studied in detail, and that more research is done. In order to achieve this objective, the temples in Malta will be discussed within their context to provide a historical background as a basis to the discussions that will follow. Other research involved in this dissertation is a description of the collapses that took place, the current state of stability of the Ggantija Temples, as well as previous structural studies and assessments of the megalithic temples in general. All this will be done in light of the documentation we already have at hand.