AFRICA, MALTA, ETC. 



dows, perhaps a foot square and well above the 

 ground. 



What then was the purpose of this wonderful 

 complex of rooms ? Before attempting to answer 

 this question we must consider what has been 

 found in them. When the museum authorities 

 first took over the hypogeum practically all the 

 chambers were filled to within a short distance of 

 their roofs with a mass of reddish soil, which proved 

 to contain the remains of thousands of human 

 skeletons. In other words, Halsaflieni was used as 

 a burial place, though this may not have been its 

 original purpose. The bones lay for the most part 

 in disorder, and so thickly that in a space of about 

 4 cubic yards lay the remains of no less than 120 

 individuals. One skeleton, however, was found 

 intact, lying on the right side in the crouched 

 position, i.e. with arms and knees bent up. 



With the bones were found enormous quantities 

 of pottery and other objects, buried with the dead 

 as provision for the next world. The pottery is 

 rough in comparison with the fine painted wares 

 of Crete, but it is extremely varied in its decora- 

 tion. One particularly fine bowl shows a series 

 of animals which have been identified by Pro- 

 fessor Tagliaferro as the long-horned buffalo, an 

 animal which once existed on the northern coasts 

 of Africa. Ornaments of all kinds were common, 

 and include beads, pendants, and conical buttons 

 of stone and shell. The most remarkable of all 



in 



