The pyramids in Egypt, King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, Stonehenge in England, the Acropolis in Greece, the Coliseum of Rome every famous building you can think of - all were constructed after the megalithic temples of Malta.

2) How many temples are here?
There are 23 known places in Malta and Gozo, which once had Megalithic buildings. More temples sites are suspected to have existed but have not been clearly identified, usually because more modern buildings have been put over their ruins

Some of the known site today consist of only a few stones and have not been excavated. Others are rough outlines, maybe with the remains of a doorway, broken walls and paving stones. Yet certain separate complexes are surprisingly well preserved, as is an underground burial complex which probably also had ritual functions.

3) Why did the people build temples?
We don't know why they decided to start building these huge stone places. Maybe they thought that they needed an important place for people to meet together.

4) What were the people like? How did they live?
The people who developed and used the megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo were remarkably advanced for their time 6,000-4,500 years ago. They did not need to worry too much about finding food, and the weather was not extreme. Life was comparatively comfortable with no wild beasts here. Without serious daily challenges of survival, the people were able to use their energies creatively. The construction of the temple alone tells us that they developed very sophisticated engineering and planning skills.

The bones recovered from the excavation at the "Brochdorff Circle" (an important archaeological site) in Gozo show that they were healthy and were about the same size of people in Malta today. The people had strong teeth.

The artefacts on display at the national museum archaeology in Valletta tell us even more about the people if we look closely. Even though they are said to have lived in the Neolithic period "new stone age", the garments of the Maltese temple culture were not made of cave-men animal skins. The people wore structured clothing of woven fabric. Some sculptures seem to show tailoring details like set-in-necklaces, waistbands and pleats. The archaeologists even found buttons!

5) What kind of food did the people eat?
Healthy bones show that the people of the temple period were eating balanced diets that would have included fresh vegetables and fruits, milk and meat. The condition of the tooth surfaces seems to show that they were eating finely ground grain without grit or dirt in it.

6) How do they light their fires?
A cook fire would be hard to light without matches, but the prehistoric people didn t have any of those. They probably would have kept a fire burning all the time; (maybe at the temple) so that each family could have a place to get a start to relight their fires.

7) What did the temples look like back then?
Based on some models and fragments, which were discovered inside the temples, they were huge - probably three times higher than what we see today. Rising from the rocky plateaus, they must have been very imposing. Traces of pigment and plasters suggest that the inside walls were smooth and painted red. They were highly decorated as we can see from the stones that still exist. Carvings of animals and the universal spirals in different designs are strong elements.

The temples were dark and cool in contrast to the fear sunlight of summer in Malta. At night, the glow of oil lamps and torches flickering inside the depths of the temples would have looked almost magical.

8) Why do some people think the temples were built for worshipping a goddess?
Some scientists think the temples may even shape in the image of a Neolithic goddess of fertility and abundance. In very old times many people observed that it was the female animals that gave birth and fed their young, so they identify their god as a female source of creation and nourishment. In the Native American Indians and other primitive people who took all their needs from the earth had a concept of "MOTHER NATURE".

It's possible that the temple people of Malta were the same, but we cannot know for sure.

9) Did they have human sacrifice
No evidence of human sacrifice has ever been found in the Maltese temples. The bone fragments and other material found in the temple niches and behind altars belonged to animals like goats, sheep, and cattle.

10) Why do most of the statues not have heads?
In many cases, detached heads were found near by when the statues were discovered. It seems possible that they were made this ways that the heads could be interchanged in the statue sockets. It has also been suggested that the head is the hardest part to "get right" and that the prehistoric artist may have found a way to salvage his labours in case he made a mistake, so he wouldn't have to start over again.

11) What happened to the people who built the temples?
We don't know what happened to the temple people. They just seem to have stopped building great monuments after about 2,500BC. From that time onwards, people turned their attention to other interests such as the use of metal and the construction of smaller buildings called dolmens. Over thousands of years the Maltese islands receives many ancient travelers and came to form part of large empires such as those of Carthage and Rome. Maybe thought history the spirit of the far distant descendants of the temple civilization managed to survive. What is certain is that the people of Malta and Gozo today are the caretakers of these wonderful UNESCO world Heritage sites.