The temple builders of Malta : how an isolated island culture became Europe’s most sophisticated Neolithic civilization

Abstract

Fifty miles south of Sicily, the dry, rocky islands of the Maltese archipelago were first colonized by Neolithic people in the sixth millennium b.c. They lived relatively simple farming lives that closely resembled those of their Sicilian neighbors for almost 2,000 years. But around 3600 b.c., something changed. For reasons that are still unclear, people on Malta and the nearby island of Gozo began to construct massive limestone temple complexes and went on to create large underground burial chambers. Other Neolithic people in Europe would eventually also create large megalithic monuments such as Stonehenge in England, but the prehistoric architects on Malta and Gozo were the only ones to build structures on such a large scale. In trying to comprehend these sites, some arc their astronomical alignments, while offcenters of political power or places celebrated. But just how and why developed on two small islands wit limited resources remains unknown. How these people managed to sustai plex life for over a thousand years," ; Belfast archaeologist Caroline Malo most sophisticated architecture an Europe. But how did they do it in thi ecologically fragile environment?"