Malta · Series: Prehistoric Sites, Ta’ Ħaġrat

Ta’ Haġrat belongs to the Neolithic temple culture of the Maltese islands. Between the fourth and third millennia BC, the communities of that time constructed several structures from large stone blocks laid without mortar. They were built before the Egyptian pyramids and the surviving main parts of Stonehenge. As the population of Malta did not use writing at that time, neither the names of the builders nor the exact function of the structures have been handed down.

Characteristic of the Maltese temples are articulated interior spaces with semicircular apses, which were accessible from a central corridor. Archaeological finds such as pottery, altars, animal bones and figurines suggest communal ceremonies and religious activities. However, which deities or ideas were associated with them remains unknown. A small limestone model of a roofed building was also found at Ta’ Haġrat. It indicates that at least parts of the temples may originally have had roofs.

Excavations led by the Maltese physician and archaeologist Themistocles Zammit systematically uncovered the site in the 1920s. Traces beneath the temple structures show that the site had already been inhabited previously. Ta’ Haġrat was therefore not isolated, but belonged to a long tradition of settlement and construction in the area around Mġarr. Skorba, another prehistoric site, is located nearby.

UNESCO groups several Maltese temple sites together as a World Heritage Site. Ġgantija on Gozo was initially inscribed in 1980; in 1992, the inscription was extended to further temple sites on Malta, including Ta’ Haġrat. The coin was part of a multi-year Maltese 2-euro series dedicated to the country’s prehistoric sites. Through this series, the individual sites were presented one after another as evidence of an independent Neolithic culture.