Brochtorff Circle

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Watercolor by Charles Frederick de Brocktorff
The hypogeum of Xaghra
The double idol
The so-called shamans

Brochtorff Circle (also called Xagħra Stone Circle) is an almost assumed megalithic stone circle with a diameter of about 45.0 m. It is located on plateaus of coarse coralline limestone on the Maltese island of Gozo , about 300 m from the Ġgantija temple, near the settlement of Xagħra . It is included in the National Inventory of the Cultural Assets of the Maltese Islands .

discovery

The name Brochtorff Circle goes back to the Danish painter Charles Frederick de Brocktorff (1775–1850), who made various watercolors of the square in 1828 and 1829, including pictures from the excavation of 1829. The stone circle was later used as a quarry and the area used for agriculture; the exact location of the circle was forgotten.

With the help of Brocktorff watercolors and the field boundaries that still follow the original stone setting, the place was rediscovered in 1965 by J. M. Attard-Tabone. An extensive excavation took place between 1987 and 1994. The megalithic circle marked the entrance to a hypogeum or rock tomb . Similar to the hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni on the main island of Malta, the complex complex is inaccessible.

It has been proven that the underground structure dates back to 3900 BC. BC so existed during the Żebbuġ phase . It contained about 50 burials. At that time, about 2000 years after the archipelago was first settled by members of the Stentinello culture (a group of the Cardial or Impresso cultures ), a second immigration from Sicily is said to have taken place. The Żebbuġ phase leads to the megalithic Mġarr phase . However, this migration is only derived from the fact that the rituals and cult buildings have changed significantly, which (as on other Mediterranean islands) can represent an endogenous development.

description

A shaft led into a grave carved out of the rock, which consists of two chambers about two meters in diameter. The remains of about 63 people were found in it. Many skulls and long bones were missing. The dead had been deposited with necklaces made of clam shells, pots of ocher and small pendants made of stone and bone. A statue menhir stood at the entrance to one of the chambers . In the other was a large shell in an ocher vessel.

Later these relatively small graves were overlaid by much larger graves. The new necropolis was created in a natural cave system, which was supplemented by stone blocks. A circle of megaliths was set up around the complex. Two larger, upright stones flank the entrance. A large temple structure stood in the center of a ceilingless cave. The excavations unearthed a small shrine flanked by megaliths. A bundle of figures made of flat, schematic bodies, a clay sieve, a small pot with yellow ocher and a large stone vessel were found here. A sculpture depicting two corpulent people sitting on a wicker sofa is unique to Malta and is also different from other Mediterranean forms of sculpture. They have uneven braid hairstyles. The head obtained has an elaborate topknot with a hanging braid. One figure is holding a smaller representation of himself in his hand, the other a small vessel. The honey-colored stone was originally painted in color. Traces of black, red and yellow can still be seen. A natural pit filled with bones next to the shrine served as a grave. Small figures made of baked clay lay with the dead. These had not been buried as an intact corpse. They had been subjected to rituals by which their bones were scattered over the caves and niches of the complex. In addition to bundled or burned bones, there were corpses, some of which were still in the bone, and stacks of skulls. There were also formations of human remains, some of which lay next to pigs, sheep, and a puppy dog. A preliminary analysis of the bones suggests that people of all ages and both sexes were deposited here. The place was evidently the focus of the community in the Żebbuġ phase.

The archipelago, burned out by overpopulation, was later abandoned. It is possible that the consumption of marine resources has offset the decline in agricultural yields. One way to determine the amount of marine protein in human food is to chemically examine human bone material. The investigation of stable isotopes on seven AMS radiocarbon- dated Neolithic individuals from Brochtorff Circle did not provide any evidence of any significant use of marine food.

literature

  • A. Bonanno, T. Gouder, C. Malone, S. Stoddart: Monuments in an Island Society: The Maltese Context. In: World Archeology. 22, 2, 1990, ISSN  0043-8243 , pp. 190-205.
  • Joachim von Freeden: Malta and the architecture of its megalithic temples. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1993, ISBN 3-534-11012-9 .
  • Themistocles Zammit : The Prehistoric Temples of Malta and Gozo. A Description. sn, Valetta 1995.
  • David Trump : New Views on Death in Prehistoric Malta. The district of Brochtorff. In: Göran Burenhult (Hrsg.): Illustrated history of mankind. The people of the stone age. Hunters, gatherers and early farmers. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0742-3 , p. 100.
  • Joseph Attard Tabone: Robert Hay in Gozo and the Lost Stone Circle . In: 60th Anniversary of the Malta Historical Society: a Commemoration , Malta Historical Society, 2010, pp. 73-84.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “Run out” is the term used to describe systems that have left little or no trace.
  2. ^ MP Richards, REM Hedges, I. Walton, S. Stoddart, C. Malone: Neolithic Diet at the Brochtorff Circle, Malta . In: European Journal of Archeology 4, No. 2, 2001, pp. 253-262. doi : 10.1177 / 146195710100400206

Coordinates: 36 ° 2 ′ 47 "  N , 14 ° 15 ′ 54"  E