MALTA: THE HALTING PLACE OF NATTONS 



4 / 6 



Let us make a tour through 

 the temple, following the rough 

 plan reproduced on this page. 



We stand first on a semicir- 

 cular stone, A in the plan, in 

 which are drilled two holes con- 

 nected at the lower ends. This 

 is the ordinary tie-hole of Stone 

 Age times and may have been 

 used to tether sacrificial animals 

 outside the temple. On each side 

 can be traced large horizontal 

 blocks of stone extending in a 

 semicircular direction, doubtless 

 the fore-court, or public place in 

 which the people assembled be- 

 fore divine service. 



These large blocks apparently 

 served as foot-stones to support 

 large upright masses of masonry 

 forming the outer wall of the 

 temple. One of the blocks has 

 a conical hole in it, besides sev- 

 eral small circles engraved on it 

 (A 1 ), all doubtless having some 

 religious significance or used in 

 the public worship or sacrifice. 

 A few yards farther on is a stone 

 (A 2 ), about two yards square, in 

 which are five holes, some of 

 oval shape and some round. 



For what purpose this stone 

 was used is not known. Possi- 

 bly it was employed in the cere- 

 mony of ablution, as a somewhat 

 similar contrivance was found in 

 the Stone Age temple a mile 

 away, at Corradino, shown on 

 page 476. It has been suggested 

 that this was the altar of sacri- 

 fice, and that the holes were to 

 catch the blood of the victim. 

 This is possible, but the sacrificial victim 

 must have been killed first, as no tie-holes 

 exist in these stones. 



After the temple had fallen out of use 

 prehistoric boys may have found that 

 this formed an excellent bagatelle board, 

 and by using rounded stones and possibly 

 numbering the holes quite a good game 

 could be played. A quantity of round 

 stone balls was found on this site. 



Returning to position 1 on the plan, we 

 enter the passage A C and arrive in the 

 building marked B E. Facing to the 

 right, there is a beautiful carved dado 



A SKETCH SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OE THE 



CHAMBERS OF THE STONE AGE 



TEMPEE OE TARXIEN 



These ruins have been unearthed by a band of students 

 working under the direction of Prof. T. Zammit, C. M. 

 G. The work proceeded throughout the stressful period 

 of the World War, despite limited government appro- 

 priations. 



round the room. In the center is the 

 broken lower portion of a huge female 

 figure, of which only the feet, fat calves, 

 and fluted skirt now remain. When 

 complete the figure was probably seven 

 feet high. It stands on a slab of stone 

 ornamented with egg-shaped symbols and 

 would lead to the inference that it was 

 the image of the Goddess of Life and 

 Fertility. Carefully placed near her feet 

 was found a sacred cone, possibly repre- 

 senting the male element. 



Standing in position C of the plan, 

 which is a spot worn away by innumer- 



