Summary

Abstract

Amongst the earliest stone architecture in the world, the Neolithic temples and hypogea of the Maltese Islands testify to a sophisticated island culture. Explored in the early twentieth century, the subterranean burial temple, the Mal Saflieni Hypogeum, was cleared of its burials and artefacts without detailed record. Late in the twentieth century, excavation at Xaghra on Gozo rediscovered a second cave-cemetery that provides a unique comparison through the investigation of a substantial portion of the buried site using modern scientific techniques.