ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



chamber and in the passage beyond it, and we 

 have here the work of an architect who felt the 

 aesthetic effect of every line he traced. 



Behind the circular chamber and across the 

 passage just referred to lies a small room which, 

 rightly or wrongly, has been called the ' Holy of 

 Holies,' the idea being that it formed a kind of 

 inner sanctuary to the chamber. It contains a 

 rough shelf cut in the wall, and in the centre of 

 this a shallow circular pit. It has been suggested 

 that this pit was made to hold the base of the 

 cult-object, whether it was a baetyl or an idol. 

 This, however, is a mere conjecture. In the 

 passage just outside the door of this room are 

 two small circular pits about 6 inches in diameter 

 and the same distance apart. They connect with 

 one another below, and are closed with tightly 

 fitting limestone plugs. In one of them was found 

 a cow's horn. Their purpose is unknown, but 

 similar pairs of pits occur elsewhere at Halsaflieni. 



In two of the largest chambers in the hypogeum 

 the roof and walls are still decorated with designs 

 in red paint. The patterns consist of graceful 

 combinations of curved lines and spirals. Many 

 other rooms, including the circular chamber, 

 were originally painted with designs in red, which 

 have now almost wholly disappeared. 



Many of the chambers are extremely small, 

 too small for an adult even to stand upright 

 in them, and their entrances are merely win- 



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