The Temples of Malta

Ġgantija Temples (visitmalta.com)

What are older than the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge and every other ancient stone structure that survives today? The prehistoric Temples of Malta.

Around 7,000 years ago, Malta's earliest inhabitants most likely migrated from Sicily and belonged to an agrarian society that worshipped a goddess of fertility through animal sacrifice and other rituals. From around 4,000 to 2,500 B.C.E., they constructed megalithic temples with trefoil floorplans, apses extending from a central path, small inner chambers where priests and priestesses likely performed ceremonies, incomplete domes with curved walls and pole-and-hide roofing. Many have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Oddly, in about 2,400 B.C.E., the inhabitants of Malta simply disappeared. There is no sign of pestilence or epidemic, war or catastrophe. One theory: Several drought years may have sent the agrarian society, who raised livestock and grew crops, in search of a better climate and more fertile land.

I'll be preparing my first Maltese dish on Wednesday, so check back then!