Le modele architectural du Tarxien reconstitue par Ugolini : la solution?

Abstract

Two fragments of evidence are compared. The first is a Globigerina Limestone fragment found at Tarxien, that appears to represent the plan of a rectilinear building resting on a circular podium. A hypothetical reconstruction was proposed by Ugolini to suggest what the entire model may have looked like. Since then however, the model has attracted only limited debate. The second piece of evidence is one of the lithographs published in 1787 by Jean Houel in his monumental Voyage Pittoresque des isles de Sicile, de Lipari, et de Malte. It shows a plan of a circular building of megalithic construction. Within the megalithic circle, traces of a rectilinear structure are clearly shown. Attention is drawn to the striking similarity between these two representations, which only appears to have been noted once in the existing literature, in a passing reference by Ugolini. A new interpretation is then proposed. It is suggested that Houel 's illustration faithfully represented the Xaghra Stone Circle in Gozo. It is further argued that the model from Tarxien represented a building belonging to the same category as the Xaghra Circle. It is proposed that the rectilinear structures that appear in both examples are representations of buildings that formed part of the superstructure of funerary complexes such as the Xaghra Circle or the Hal Safiieni Hypogeum. Such buildings may have performed functions related to the first stages of the burial ritual.