Ħal Ġinwi Temple
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The Ħal Ġinwi temple () was a
prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins  million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
megalithic temple site located southeast of
Żejtun Żejtun ( ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at the end of 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Ferdinand von ...
,
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
dating back to the
Ġgantija Ġgantija (; "place of giants") is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic era (–2500 BC), on the List of islands in the Mediterranean, Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temp ...
phase (3600–3200 BCE). The site is located in an area bearing the same name, or alternatively Ħal Ġilwi, which is known for its archaeological remains, and lies around one kilometre from the Tas-Silġ multi-period sanctuary and archaeological site.


History

Remains of the temple at Ħal Ġinwi were found in the vicinity of San Niklaw chapel, to the right of the main road from Żejtun to
Marsaxlokk Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishing and history. As of March 2014, the village had a populati ...
, between Żejtun and the Tas-Silġ temple. The site is today represented by a few ashlar blocks still visible in a field wall. More remains may survive beneath the soil, since its excavation was superficial. The site was originally excavated by Albert V. Laferla in 1917.
Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Albert E. Vassallo drew the site during Laferla's archaeological excavations.
Themistocles Zammit Sir Themistocles "Temi" Zammit (or Å»ammit; 30 September 1864 – 2 November 1935) was a Maltese archaeologist and historian, professor of chemistry, medical doctor, researcher and writer. He served as Rector (1920–26) of the Royal Univer ...
, however, interpreted the remains as a possible domestic dwelling. John D. Evans suggested that the
megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...
ic structures resemble more a dual temple site.


Archaeology

The site has five semi-rectangular rooms enclosed within a megalithic wall, and like
Tal-Qadi temple The Tal-Qadi Temple is a megalithic temple in Salina, limits of Naxxar, Malta. It is in a very bad state of preservation, with only the temple's general outline still visible. Site The site of Tal-Qadi was possibly in use around 4000 BC during ...
, it had an anomalous form when compared with other megalithic temples in Malta. The floors were paved in hard stone or covered in beaten earth (
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...
: ''torba''). Many pottery shards were found on site, and stone whorls, while
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
and
chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
remains were scarce. Part of a handled cup, with a decoration of pointillé triangles was found on site, which can be compared with remains found at , Filicudi, an island off
Lipari Lipari (; ) is a ''comune'' including six of seven islands of the Aeolian Islands (Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi and Alicudi) and it is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, Southern Italy; it is ...
. The pottery dated mainly to the Ä gantija and Tarxien phase, with very few sherds from the Tarxien cemetery phase. The site included remains of a Roman period house, with mosaic floors.


See also

*
List of megalithic sites This is a list of monoliths organized according to the size of the largest block of stone on the site. A monolith is a large stone which has been used to build a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. In this list at l ...


Notes


References


External links


OMNIA - Hal Ginwi (Malta)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ħal Ġinwi temple, Malta Neolithic sites Megalithic Temples of Malta Żejtun National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands