210 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1915. 



noticed the presence of a considerable deptii of red soil upon the light- 

 yellow rock. 



Excavations were undertaken in December 1914 by Captain Laferla 

 of the King's Own Malta Militia, who uncovered the most important 

 portion oi tlie building. The plan was not completed, however, owing 

 to lack of time, and supplementary work proved necessary. This ex- 

 tended over ten days in May 1915, under my supervision. 



The remains ol the structure need, as they stand, a comparatively 

 brief description. We have, it seems, before us a sacred building of 

 the eneolithic period — contemporary, that is, with Hagiar Kim, Mnai- 

 dra, the Gigantia, and the other megalithic edifices of the Maltese 

 islands Owing to its situation it does not altogether conform to the 

 normal plan, as far as we can judge from the existing remains; 

 though the fact that much of it has fallen into the sea must always 

 be taken into account. 



We seem, then, to have before us a central portion, consisting of 

 (1) a semicircular chamber with a torba floor, with a shrine facing 

 S.E. at its N.W. extremity; (2) a passage paved with large slabs of 

 stone, which are on the level of the top of the low niche of the shrine, 

 and are indirectly reached from the chamber A by a flight of steps 

 leading into the chamber D on the S.W. side of this passage; (3) a 

 chamber at the N.W. end of this passage; (_4) another chamber beyond 

 D again. Mr. E. V. Galea has noticed that in this building only of 

 the megalithic monuments of Malta the main chambers are semi- 

 circular and not elliptical. On the N.E. side we have only the 

 beginnings of walls, from which we cannot do more than infer the 

 existei'ce of other chambers here. But from the examination of the 

 rest, it seems almost as if we might recognise in the central portion 

 an arrangement identical with that which is familiar to us in the 

 larger Maltese sanctuaries — two elliptical chambers joined together by 

 a passage across their shorter axes, with a niche at the end of this 

 passage, in a straight line with the main entrance. 



The portion of the building to the S.E. of A is constructed on a 

 fairly steep slope, and traces of steps connecting its different portions 

 may be seen at various points. For the rest, however, it is much 

 ruined, and the same is the case on the N. 



We may now proceed to describe the building in somewhat greater 

 detail, beginning at the S.E. boundary-wall. This wall follows an 

 irregular curve, and is built of rough stones of no great size. A con- 

 siderable amount of pottery and some good flints were found just 

 outside it (some in a burnt earth layer 1-00 down) as though they had 

 been thrown out here from the interior of the building, the flints more 

 especially at its extreme south point, where it turns to run south-west. 

 Somewhat scanty remains of two flights of steps ascending through it 

 to the interior of the building may be seen at two different points. 

 They both served as means of communication with the upper part of 

 the building, and apparently led to a passage which ran outside the 

 lower (S.E.) wall of A. 



There are a good many standing stones in this portion of the 

 building, none of them being preserved to any great height, so that 



