After a hearty breakfast at our hotel we met our small tour bus at a nearby hotel and then transferred to a larger bus for our cave and temple tour. The large cave (Ghar Dalam) was used for living at one of the early time periods and excavation in the site has proved there were extensive amounts of prehistoric bones and such from lots of animals. The cave ended up being a bone deposit when the river overflowed and the animals had no way to escape and eventually they became fossilized. The next group of people used it for living purposes since human food remnants from plant and animal were discovered.
Snake-like figure etched in doorway of temple.
The temples that we visited (Large Megolithic Structures) are 1000 years older than the pyramids. The one temple was on the top (Hagar Qim Temple) and the (Mnajdra Temple) was at the bottom near the water. They were both very impressive as to how they were constructed with only basic tools and without the invention of the wheel. The huge slabs of limestone rock were gotten from a nearby quarry where they were dragged on logs to the areas where they were constructing these buildings. The entrance had a snake figure etched in the rock but not sure of what that significance is. It does seem to appear in various places on other temples. The entrance where the sun strikes the sides of the entrance indicates either the Winter and Summer Solstice. Of course the fertility statues were very numerous since they needed to have people to work and live in these huge structures. They have discovered that there were numerous plants in the area at the time and that they did have animals which were used for milk and food.
The sun would strike either the right or left side and the rock would be sort of orangish from the sun’s glow. This would indicate either the Winter or Summer Solstice.
Snake-like figure etched in doorway of temple.
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