Malta - Day Two - Part Two

Kristu Re Church - Paola

True to her word, Josephine appears on time and drives me the few miles south to the Hypogeum in the suburb of Paola.   (Remember yesterday’s ticket bought at the Fine Arts Museum?)  That strange name means “underground chamber” and that’s just what it is, although in fact there are three levels of chambers.
       Here is something that was dug out of the earth over 5,000 years ago, making it older than the Pyramids, older than Stonehenge.  It was discovered by accident in 1902 during excavation work for housing.  Unfortunately for archaeology, it wasn’t reported immediately, for obvious reasons, and some damage was done to the upper level, but the middle and lower levels are intact.  No one knows exactly what its purpose is, but from the clues left behind it was used both for burials and rituals.
       Visitors are limited to 80 a day because the space is tight.  Walkways have been installed to protect the ruins and lighting provided.  And as groups are international, the human guide has been replaced by an excellent audioguide, although you’re accompanied by a security person (with an extra flashlight, just in case).  The middle level is perhaps the most amazing, and seen as a temple to Mother Earth, as witnessed by the Sleeping Lady statue and others found here.  Stonehenge-like stone columns and lintels stand between the different chambers, and concentric circles of lintels decrease in diameter to form a kind of dome over the main chamber.  From the very beginning of Man’s presence on this island, it was necessary to learn how to quarry stone, work it and know how to prevent things from caving in.  That last point is especially important, as Malta has experienced multiple earthquakes over the millennia.  And yet here is the Hypogeum, still standing.  This domed Holy of Holies was the site of animal sacrifices, judging by the relics found.  It also has a niche where a deep man’s voice reverberates around the room, filling every nook and cranny with a spooky, other-worldly sound.  The builders of this temple were also experts in acoustics.
       One amazing detail revealed is on the Lower Level.  There are seven steps carved into the rock, leading down to a central chamber that might have been a granary, or perhaps a common grave into which bodies were tossed.  Without today’s powerful lighting, and in spite of the one ventilation shaft, the stench of 7,000 rotting bodies in this huge tomb - if that’s what it was - must have been overpowering!  But another theory is that this chamber in the far reaches of the earth may have contained something valuable.  And that would explain one quirky detail:  after the seven steps leading down, there’s a sharp turn to the right... and a sheer drop of several meters.  It was probably intended to send robbers plummeting to their doom in the darkness below, because there’s no way short of a ladder for climbing out.  And I’m sure the ladder was removed.
       In some places, there are still traces of pigments*, and some decoration is still visible.  But
just breathing in and out can damage it irreparably, and some day this, too - like Lascaux - may be closed to the public.  I’m so glad I got to see it in person.

Tarxien Temple

Nearby there’s another prehistoric site:  the Tarxien Temples.  The Hypogeum has a tiny map that they give out, so I take one - as does another couple - and off I go.  It’s less than ten minutes away and it gives me a chance to see Paola.  Well, kind of, because it’s a holiday and all the shops are closed, making the town a bit dead.  Still, as all towns on the island apparently, this one has its own magnificent domed church, which looks much more recent than the ones I saw in Valetta.  And Paola also has young and crazy drivers who like to make a lot of noise gunning their engines.  Some things don’t change, wherever you go.

       Discovered in 1914 by a farmer simply plowing his field, it’s really four different temples on what must have been seen as a very holy site.  And from objects uncovered, it was evidently dedicated to Mother Earth.  Part of a huge statue of a full-bodied female was found in one of the apses of the central temple; there’s a copy here but the original is in the Archeology Museum of Valetta.  The top half is missing, but it would have stood a respectable 2½ m (8.2 ft), making it the tallest free-standing human figure discovered to this day.
       The central temple is the most recent and the best preserved of the four.  I find it amazing to think how such huge slabs of stone were moved.  It’s a question asked about the moai of Easter Island as well, and of Stonehenge.  One theory is that boulders were rounded and used as ball bearings to slide the slabs along the ground.  And there are a few such stones near the south temple.  They’re too round to be just acts of nature.
       But to me, the most amazing feature here is all the carvings.  Spirals are a common theme found on several altars and screens.  There are also carvings of domestic animals - a bull and a suckling sow, as well as goats and a ram.   The men who erected these megalithic temples were skillful not only in architecture - with tall columns and lintels forming majestic passages from one apse to another - but also masterful artists capable of carving rich and intricate stonework.
       One silly detail.  This is thought to have been a burial site, evidently, or rather a cremation cemetery.  And right behind it, visible beyond the walls, is... a cemetery.  A modern-day graveyard, with marble tombs and flowers.  It just seems logical somehow.
       More than most other places, Tarxien lifts the corner on the mystery of life in such ancient cultures.  For instance, on two upright megaliths there are weather-worn traces of superimposed lines that seem to depict Bronze Age boats, and as such “are some of the earliest representations of sea-faring boats in the Mediterranean”.  Even more so than the Hypogeum, this temple complex - there’s no other way to describe it - is proof that Malta had a thriving culture here at the dawn of the Bronze Age, and even before.

* The decoration was in ocher, which is interesting because there's none on the island.  The closest place with ocher is Sicily which is over 100 miles away across the open waters of the Mediterranean.  A long way to paddle.  But there were perhaps ships back then, which would be unheard of.  And yet at Tarxien, there are those scratchy representations of ships. That would explain how the ocher was transported from Sicily to Malta, and make the Bronze Age Maltese perhaps the earliest mariners ever.



(to be continued)