January 5, 1922] 



NATURE 



27 



The Megalithic Monuments of Malta. 



AT a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute 

 held on November 15 last Miss M. A. Murray 

 gave an account of her recent excavations in Malta'. 

 The excavations were carried out with the consent and 

 kind help of Prof. Zammit. Three sites were ex- 

 plored, all three being in the south-east of the island. 

 The first excavation was of a mound called Santa 

 Sfia, near the village of Hal Far ; this proved to be 

 a megalithic site re-used later, and yielded no result. 

 The second excavation was at Santa Maria tal 

 Bakkari, about half a mile away. Here the remains 

 of a double edifice, locally supposed to be two 

 churches, were found. But various indications, 

 amongst others a torba floor, suggest that the build- 

 ing was pre-Christian, and the form and position of 

 many of the stones show that it was originally a 

 megalithic structure. The supposed dedication of the 

 double building to Santa Maria and Santa Katerina 

 may indicate that the shrine was dedicated to two 

 goddesses, and may therefore throw some light on 

 the early deities of Malta. The name of St. Mary 

 is too universal to be any guide, but as St. Katherine 

 has taken the place of a goddess of beacons and light- 

 houses, we may have here a sanctuary of that 

 divinity. The position of the shrine lends itself to 

 this conjecture, as it stands on high ground in a 

 direct line with a tiny creek, now unused, but suffi- 

 ciently large for the small fishing-boats of Neolithic 

 times. The name Tal Bakkari is probably connected 

 with the Arabic Fagr, "dawn, daybreak "; the name 

 "St. Mary (or the goddess) of the daybreak" would 

 be appropriate for a shrine built on a hill, from which 

 the open sea due eastward across the Bay of Marsa 

 Scirocco is clearly visible. The first rays of the rising 

 sun strike directly on the shrine. 



The third excavation was at Borg en Nadur, close 

 to St. George's Bav. A group of megaliths have 

 always been a well-known feature of the site ; this 

 groun consists of two dolmenic structures and a 

 building which now anoears to be a semi-circular 

 apse, like the apses at Tarxien and the other Maltese 

 temples. In the short time that could be devoted to 

 this excavation it was possible only to prove that the 

 building extended over a wide area, and may possibly 

 be a double temple like those already known. Behind 

 the uncovered apse and on a level with its highest 

 stones is a field, terraced up to its present height in 

 the usual way by a wall of stones. The axis of the 

 "temple " runs directly into this field, and it is very 

 probable that the whole building remains intact 

 hidden under the soil, as was the case at Tarxien. 

 Excavations in the field in which the uncovered apse 

 stands showed a megalithic building extending more 



than a hundred feet northward from the apse, and 

 a broken baetyl was found in situ. Time did not 

 permit of more than a cursory examination of this 

 portion of the site, and it is still uncertain how far 

 or in what way this building is connected with the 

 apse. South-eastward from the apse is another dol- 

 menic structure built into the wall of the field, and 

 adjoining it in the field behind is an apse filled in 

 and covered with stones, but retaining the charac- 

 teristic semi-circular form. Excavations on the site 

 will be continued next year. 



In the course of the discussion which followed the 

 paper Sir Arthur Evans said that, taking the mega- 

 lithic monuments in Malta as a whole, it was clear 

 that they belonged to a western Mediterranean pro- 

 vince which included Sardinia, the Balearics, and 

 possibly the African side. In the Bronze age the 

 evidence was clear ; the implements fitted on to the 

 Spanish group. In Spain are found small segmented 

 beads of faience which were a stage in similar forms 

 found in Scotland and parts of England, and began 

 in Egypt with the XVIIIth Dynasty, and appeared 

 in Crete at about the same time. Possibly they were 

 diffused by the Cretans. Although the segmented 

 beads had not been found in Malta, an imitation, asso- 

 ciated with them in Strain, had been found there, and 

 it was probable that the segmented beads would also 

 be found. The Neolithic ornament showed a regular 

 progression, starting from Hagia Kim, but it ap- 

 peared at so advanced a stage that it conH not have 

 originated there, and was, possibly, to be derived from 

 Egypt. A vase from Kamares showed strong affini- 

 ties with a vase from the Neolithic chambers of 

 Malta. The deduction was that the later stage of 

 this culture in Malta came down to about 1600 n.r. 



Mr. Peake referred to the raoid development which 

 had taken place in our knowledge of the prehistory 

 of Malta. In IQ13 nothing was known of the Bronze 

 age, but the knowledge of an independent type of 

 pottery had now been developed. The evidence 

 pointed to 1800 B.C. as a possible date for Hal 

 Tarxien. The culture was identical with that found 

 all over the megalithic area. The pottery, for instance, 

 was common to Taranto, Spain, Brittany, Guernsey, 

 Arran, Scandinavia, and also Algiers. The only 

 locality outside the megalithic area in which it 

 occurred was Sicily, where, however, a double spiral 

 stone occurred, similar to one from Hal Tarxien, 

 showing that it belonged to the same order. In 

 connection with his suggestion that this culture 

 came from the East, it was interesting to note 

 that Prof. Zammit had also suggested a con- 

 nection between Malta and the Persian Gulf. 



Graft- Hybrids. 



A MONG the departures in procedure which marked 

 •**• the Edinburgh meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion was the prominence given to a botanic lecture 

 which aimed at a scientific, but non-academic, account 

 by Prof. Weiss of "Graft-Hybrids." Grafting had 

 been a horticultural practice from very ancient times, 

 and was said to date from that of the Phoenicians, 

 and was certainly practised by the Romans, who be- 

 lieved that the stock exercised considerable influence 

 over the scion. 



The question of the production of hybrids by graft- 

 ing first came to the notice of scientific observers in 

 connection with the Bizzaria orange, raised in Flor- 

 ence in 1664, and described in the second volume of 



NO. 2723, VOL. 109] 



the Philosophical 'transactions of the Royal Society 

 of London. In this case an orange grafted on a 

 lemon stock bore a large variety of fruits, some re- 

 sembling oranges, some lemons, while others were 

 intermediate in shape and colour. The most curious 

 combination appeared to consist of an orange shell 

 with lemon pulp. This latter feature was significant 

 in relation to the "graft-hybrids" afterwards ob- 

 tained, probably the best known and most frequently 

 discussed of which is Cyiisus Adatni, obtained in Paris 

 in 1825 by grafting a small purple-flowered Cytisus 

 purpureiis on an ordinary yellow laburnum. The graft 

 did not succeed, but from a small bud arising close 

 to the place of insertion a branch was produced inter- 



