Temple of Skorba
The temples of Skorba are located one kilometer east of the Ta ' Ħaġrat complex near Mġarr on the southeast slope of the Bidnija Ridge near beimebbiegħ on Malta . They are among the Megalithic Temples of Malta , which were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and have been included in the National Inventory of the Cultural Assets of the Maltese Islands . There are megalithic ruins.
The cult site, which is one of the oldest in Malta, has been used continuously since the Għar Dalam phase and continues until the end of temple culture . The western stone temple was used from the Ġgantija phase, the eastern one from the Tarxien phase.
The catchment area of the cult square includes the terra rossa floors in the hill country and the eastern part of the Binġemma depression. The cult place is of particular importance due to the main connection between central and northern Malta, which branches off here from the Falka Gap.
Two neighboring temples (west and east), perhaps once both with a five-lobed composition. The west temple with a deep, the east temple with a flat head niche. Remnants of stone in the east of the fence testify that the cult site encompassed a larger area than the demarcated area.
West temple
The design of the preserved transverse wing and the mantle are similar to that of the south temple of the Ġgantija . An upstream transverse wing cannot be ruled out, as the deep corridor with two rows of floor holes suggests a system of intermediate doors rather than an entrance. During the Tarxien phase, the head was separated, a second layer of the gate floor was drawn in, and parts of the right mantle were removed for the extension of the east temple. The somewhat destroyed transverse tract consists of numerous basal remains of the two side niches. In the right one there were blinded niches in the apex and at the end plate. The head niche shows the remains of an altar and an axial trilithic entrance (similar to the western temple of Kordin III and Ta 'Ħaġrat main temple).
East Temple
Only the stone remains of the outer building and the 2nd transverse wing made of coral limestone have been documented by excavation . The floor has clay screed in all side niches. The first transverse tract has a smaller clear width than the second transverse tract; this unusual relationship is otherwise only found in the southern temple of the Ġgantija.
settlement
The buildings documented in the excavation area show that the settlement and the cult site existed side by side. Individual stone walls built on rock and various adobe buildings built on cultivated soils demonstrate the continuous use from the Għar Dalam to the Ġgantija phase. The floor plans of the mud brick buildings show oval or four-sided curved floor hollows with stone foundations on the edge of the hollow. The floors in the hollows are made of pounded clay. Their entrances were usually on a broad side.
The find from Għajnsielem proves that the oval mud brick buildings of Skorba are settlement buildings. In this context, the so-called miniature no. 5 gains importance because it shows that there were oval structures with built-in on the broad side, also in megalithic stone construction.
Skorba's ceramics
The development of the Maltese settlement is given in periods and phases, the exact time delimitation of which has not yet been clearly established. There are sometimes very different information to be found. The classification is used to determine the time of the found ceramics and sculptures. The individual phases often bear the name of a well-known temple from the corresponding period. The gray scorba (4500–4400 BC) and the red scorba (4400–4100 BC) represent the oldest settlement ceramics on the island. A female figure similar to the Cycladic idols was also found in Skorba.
literature
- Joachim von Freeden: Malta and the architecture of its megalithic temples. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1993, ISBN 3-534-11012-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ For a selection of sources, see for example: dmoz.org
- ↑ http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html Malta Before Common Era
Coordinates: 35 ° 55 ′ 14.8 " N , 14 ° 22 ′ 39.6" E