. , TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 733 



a building of a similar nature excavated in 1909 on the hill of Corradino, and 

 seems to have been a regular feature. No further additions (except in small 

 details) were made to the plan of Hagiar Kim, but at Mnaidra it was found 

 that besides the two main parts of the structure there were some subsidiary 

 buildings, which, though less massive, were of considerable importance; they 

 were perhaps devoted to domestic uses, inasmuch as a very large quantity 0/ 

 pottery was found in them. It was also ascertained that the site for the upper 

 part of the main building, which is undoubtedly later in date than the lower, 

 was obtained by heaping up against the external north-east wall of the latter 

 a mass of small stones so as to form a level platform, instead of by cutting 

 away the side of the rocky hill upon the slope of which Mnaidra is situated. 



In both buildings there were places in which the soil had not yet been 

 completely cleared away, and chambers in which the ancient floors of pounded 

 limestone chips (locally called 'torba') still maintained their hardness after 

 perhaps 4,000 years. It was here that small objects were found in considerable 

 quantities — numerous fragments of pottery and of flint, but no trace of metal. 

 The former corresponded absolutely with that found in the hypogeum of 

 Halsaflieni (recently described in an interesting and well-illustrated little book 

 by Professor T. Zammit, the curator of the Valletta Museum), and in the other 

 megalithic buildings of the island ; to that it seems clear that Hagiar Kim and 

 Mnaidra, like the rest, belong to the neolithic period. 



Under one of the earlier floors in Mnaidra a curious group of small votive 

 terra-cottas was found. 



A few examples were also found of the email stone pillars, often narrowed in 

 the centre, which are common in the megalithic buildings of Malta, both in 

 isolation and as supports to the cover-slabs of the dolmen-like niches which are 

 so important a feature in these buildings. In either case Dr. Arthur Evans 

 thinks that they must be treated as baefyli, or personifications of the deity. 

 Dr. Albert Mayr, in his valuable book on " Prehistoric Malta," is of opinion that 

 the round towers, of which some half-dozen exist in Malta, also belong to the 

 prehistoric period ; but in a final excavation at Torre Tal Wilgia, near Mkabba, 

 we were not able to find any evidence in favour of this supposition, all the 

 pottery which came to light belonging at the earliest to tho Punic period. 



9. Cup- and Ring-Markings and Spirals : some Notes on the Hypogeum at 

 Halsaflieni, Malta. By Rev. H. J. Dtjkinfield Astxey, M.A., Litt.D. 



This hypogeum, or series of subterranean chambers, is one of the most interest- 

 ing of the many prehistoric remains in the island of Malta. It has been thoroughly 

 excavated, and has recently been described by Professor Zammit. An explora- 

 tion of the chambers and an exhaustive examination of the human remains and 

 the pottery and figurines accompanying them, both on the spot and in the 

 museum at Valletta, confirm conclusions reached by Dr. Ashby and Mr. Pect 

 (Brit. Assoc Iiep., Winnipeg, 1909, p. 619), that the hypogeum is a monument 

 of the late Neolithic Age of Mediterranean culture. 



Three of the chambers have decorated roofs and walls, and a fourth has a 

 series of decorations on both lintels of a fine double dolmen-shaped doorway. 

 These decorations, in red paint, quite clear and distinct, though somewhat worn 

 by time, consist of a number of cup- and ring-markings and spirals, finely 

 executed and in great variety. The combination is not common in prehistoric 

 Europe, though it is in Australia. It would seem to point to an infiltration of 

 Bronze Age, or Mycenean, culture, superimposed upon the Neolithic culture of 

 the earlier population towards the close of that age. It is native work, but the 

 influence of Crete is seen. 



1910. 3 b 



