The megalithic art of the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The first examples of a vast corpus of relief carvings which adorn a number of the limestone blocks in some of the megalithic temples of the Maltese islands were found early in the 19th century during excavations at Ggantija on Gozo, and later at Hagar Qim on Malta. The bulk, however, were not discovered until the investigation of the Tarxien temple complex by Sir Themistocles Zammit in the second decade of this century. Since then other carvings have come to light on other sites in Malta, including reliefs from Bugibba on the north east coast, an engraved fragment of limestone from nearby Tal-Qadi, and a head of a statue-menhir from Zebbug. More recently a large statue of a mother goddess with a spiral relief on the base was recovered from excavations at Tas-Silg. This descriptive inventory of Maltese megalithic art constitutes an important advance in the study of an aspect of the islands' prehistoric culture which has in the past received only sporadic and superficial attention. Mr. Michael Ridley has brought together for the first time all the relief carvings, the engravings and the paintings from both the surface temples and the rock-cut Hypogeum. At a time when Maltese archaeology is making great strides forward, this contribution comes as a welcome and useful addition to our knowledge, and should help our appreciation and understanding of a culture which achieved such great proficiency in the fields of megalithic architecture and the art which goes with it.