Rock graves and sites on Gozo

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The six rock graves and sites on Gozo are located on the 90 to 150 m high ridge in the central part of the island of Gozo , part of the Malta archipelago .

Phase overview of the Maltese culture

  • Żebbuġ phase 4th millennium BC Chr.
  • Temple culture 1; Mġarr phase
  • Temple culture 2; Ġgantija phase
  • Temple culture 3; Tarxien phase (around 2500 BC)
  • Tarxien Cemetery Phase

Find places

Xagħra North Plateau

  • Northern find Għajn Damma: Difficult to locate megalithic remains and ceramic finds from the Tarxien phase.
  • eastern point of discovery Calypso's Cave: Abri with fragments from the Tarxien phase; probably only temporary use.
  • southern site of discovery il-Pergla: rock cave (or rock grave) with ceramics from the Ġgantija and Tarxien phases as well as human and animal bones.

Is-Sruġ

Abri with hearth with charred animal bones, pottery of the late temple culture

Xagħra (place)

Various ceramic finds from a settlement (?)

Xagħra South Plateau

  • North Cave: Rock chamber in the coral limestone plateau 54 m north of the Ġgantija burials with pottery from the Tarxien phase. According to Bonanno / Gouder / Malone / Stoddart, it is also a landfill for disused cult implements and votive offerings from the temples of Ġgantija.
  • Brochtorff Circle (also Xagħra Stone Circle) megalithic remains ( viewed as a stone circle by the Danish painter Charles de Brochtorff in 1827 ); Like the original entrance to the Hypogeum on Malta, the building appears to be connected to a rock tomb (cf. Luqa, it-Tumbata). Obviously, it has been in use since the zebbug phase. The discovery of a sculpture in the manner of a statue menhir is unique (see graves of Żebbuġ, Ta 'Trapna ż-Żgħira). New excavations began in 1988.

Xagħra rock tomb

Rock chamber grave with extraordinary ceramics near Brochtorff Circle (grave after John Davies Evans does not belong to the temple culture).

Għar ta 'Għejżu

Megalithic remains and cave in a rock step approx. 300 m southwest of the Ġgantija. According to Evans, the structure, combined with the cave, contained findings from the Ġgantija phase (vessel fragment with applied shape); after Bonanno / Gouder / Malone / Stoddart, it is also a landfill for disused cult implements and votive offerings from the temples of Ġgantija.

Tas-Salib

Megalithic remains and ceramics from the Ġgantija phase.

Ghajnsielem

Spectacular find of differentiated architecture of a large oval and a small round building with adobe pillars was made in 1987 by the University of Cambridge. The important complex tal-Qigħan and l-Imrejżbiet is now separated by the modern Rabat - Xewkija road.

See also

literature

  • Joachim von Freeden: Malta and the architecture of its megalithic temples. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1993, ISBN 3-534-11012-9 .
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .