About Us - Malta's first settlers

Malta's First Settlers

Malta's pre-history is shrouded in mystery since nobody knows exactly when the first inhabitants came to the Maltese Islands.

The most famous artifacts that are to be found on the islands are certainly the neolithic temples - the oldest of which are Ggantija temples of Gozo.

Although I am sure that, like most people around the world, you have heard of the pyramids of Egypt and of Stonehenge in the UK, can you honestly state that you have heard of Ġgantija (English pronounciation: "Jig-ant-iyah") Temples of Gozo? The answer I am sure is "No!"

Yet the Guiness' Book of Records states:

"The oldest free standing structures in the world are now believed to be the megalithic temples at ..... Ġgantija in Gozo - from about 3,600 B.C."

Ġgantija is thus 1000 years older than the Pyramids at Giza and 2000 years older than Stonehenge!

Since no one can date stone, the temples' building date could not be ascertained with great precision. During the late 1950s (when Malta was still a British colony) the government rested on the opinion of an expert of immaculate reputation - the archaeologist Dr. David Trump, professor of Archaeology at Cambridge University in the UK.

Dr. Trump reasoned that in order to cross over from Sicily people would need some sort of water transport of some kind. Since the oldest boat known in those days - excavated near the tomb of Cheops - dated from 3,000 B.C.E., Dr. Trump argued that Malta’s first inhabitants couldn’t have crossed over from Sicily before 5,000 B.C.E. simply because no water craft of any kind – not even rafts – existed before that time.

So he dated all the Temples and the artifacts that were found therein were dated to this period.

Since those days, new archeological finds - especially those at the Xaghra Stone Circle - have established 5,600 B.C.E. as the probable date of the first arrivals of humans on the island.

This is already fantastic in itself, but recent discoveries may put this date even much further than this.

An article written by Richard Weekes in the British newspaper of very good repute "The Telegraph" of the 24th June 2001 reported the find of a boat built of wooden planks and covered in bitumen that had been dug up at Subiya in northern Kuwait by a British team of archeologists led by Dr. Robert Carter of University College London.

The remains of this boat, which was encrusted with barnacles on one side and impressions of reeds on the other, has been positively dated to 5,000 B.C.E. The encrustation of barnacles proves that this was an ocean-going boat. Besides the pieces of wooden planks, a model of how the actual boat looked was also discovered as well as pieces of flints, obsidian and shell jewelry.

The model boat found at Subiya. This holds details of ancient construction methods which were probably used to construct the "Subiya Boat".

This discovery pushes the date of the earliest possible crossing of humans from Sicily island as set by professor Trump by at least two millenia!

As if this was not enough, 1n 1999, Shaun Arrigo, a young Maltese underwater document-arist, whilst working 3km offshore from Sliema, discovered an under-water complex situated on a large ridge

approximately 500m by 900m long in nineteen meters of sea water. This temple complex consists of avenues and several large rooms with walls up to 5m high.

Since nobody in his right mind would build any structure - let

alone a whole temple complex made of stone - some orthostates of which are six metres in height and weigh tons! – in the sea, complete with an avenue of some 18 meters, this suggests that at least this temple was built when that particular area was still dry land. Since earth-quakes are pretty rare in Malta and

sunken land (caused by eathquakes) is practically unknown, this suggests that this temple complex could only have been built during the last Ice Age when the sea water level was some 87 metres lower than the present level! This would take us back at least 12,000 years ago!

This temple complex - if it is a temple complex - is still unescavated and no-one knows for sure what secrets it holds. If it is found to be a temple complex, then it will prove that the temples of Malta are far older that the established date of 3,600 B.C.E.

Having said that, - and these are facts not fantasy - the oldest human artifacts unearthed so far bear the date of 5,400 B.C.E. and they were unearthed in the Xaghra Stone Circle in Gozo. The picture (a painting by von

Brockdorff of 1750) shows what this circle looked like 150 years ago.

The statuettes (see figure on the left) that were found at the Xaghra Stone Circle and which have been dated to 5,400 B.C.E. can be seen, along with many other artifacts at the Archeological Museum at the Cittadel in Victoria, Gozo. The museum is open every day from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm.