The Megalithic Temples of Malta

I dont know whether anyone has posted on Malta and the Megalithic Temples of Ġgantija, Mnajdra, Tarxien, Hagar Qim, and many more such ancient temples. (To the Mods, if there is such a thread, please delete this or merge this thread with the original thread)

These Megalithic Temples of Malta are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth and as old as 5500 years, older than the Pyramids (please...i am referring to the academically stated age of the Pyramids!!) and The Stonehenge.

A site of great interest is the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni.
The below website gives a complete overall look at the these temples.

The Megalithic Temples of Malta


The below link gives a cross sectional view of the Hypogeum
Hypogeum

I read somewhere that a lady saw some yeti looking creatures in one of the caves.

reply to post by coredrill


Howdy Coresahib

The Hypogeum is one of favorite parts of Malta. One of the sites you mentioned was recently damaged by vandalism. However I forget which one.

Not to forget the unknown "tracks"

One small correction, the honor for first free standing building I believe goes now to the temple at Gobeki Tepe or to the structures of Catalhuyuk.

Been there. What fascinated me most about Malta though are those tracks...and how they lead straight into the mediterranean sea...leading one to speculate whether more land was above water a long time ago.

Strange stuff there.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Howdy Sky

Yep I spent several days going over that part of the coast near the H. Those tracks don't make much sense from any angle that I could see.

A true mystery

Did you get over to Gozo? I rather liked those hill top villages.

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by coredrill

 

Howdy Coresahib

The Hypogeum is one of favorite parts of Malta. One of the sites you mentioned was recently damaged by vandalism. However I forget which one.

Not to forget the unknown "tracks"

One small correction, the honor for first free standing building I believe goes now to the temple at Gobeki Tepe or to the structures of Catalhuyuk.

Catalhuyuk is a settlement only.

Regarding the oldest free standing strucuture tag, i saw it on wikipedia

The Ġgantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.[5] In 1992, the UNESCO Committee decided to further extend the existing listing to include five other megalithic temple sites: Ħaġar Qim, L-Imnajdra [a], Ta' Ħaġrat, Ta' Skorba and Tarxien.[6] Heritage Malta today protects the sites, while ownership of the surrounding lands varies site-by-site. They are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth.[7][8][9]

But as you said, Göbekli Tepe is the oldest. its high time somebody updated the page on Ġgantija temples in wikipedia.

Cheers!

reply to post by Hanslune


I was to preoccupied with vacational stuff at the time to take note of the ancient sites in Gozo.

reply to post by coredrill


You're right I'll go do that now on wiki.....going to wikiland...... hmmmm someone did that correciton on the 15th of February. You must have seen a older version of the site.

[edit on 26/2/09 by Hanslune]

reply to post by Skyfloating


Yah missed some fabulous stuff there. The villages have been fortified for thousands of years and were crisscrossed with different ruins from a dozens civilizations. Houses built with fragments from neolithic, Greek, Punic, Byzantine and Saracen ruins.

Idea, if you have time Sky you might want to run a "what the heck is this" thread on the tracks.

[edit on 26/2/09 by Hanslune]

what are these mystery tracks?

oh never mind I found this good concise discussion,

www.maltavista.net...

kinda of like terracing in solid rock
cool stuff,
I had heard of these temple complexes, but had no idea they were that old, fascinating stuff indeed.

reply to post by punkinworks09


Hey for those not knowing what we are talking about...

RUTS!

Rut # 1

Rut # 2

Rut # 3 map of ruts and comments