The remains of the Megalithic Temples of "Skorba" are found at "Zebbiegh" near "Mgarr", in the North West of Malta. When archaeologists dug in the area where the temple stands now, the found pottery remains similar to pottery remains found in Sicily. Thus, this gives us evidence that Neolithic men came from Sicily. While digging here archeologists also found the remains or primitive huts and so think that the first Neolithic settlement/village in Malta was built on this site. Later, the Neolithic people built a Megalithic temple on the same site they had built their pre-historic huts.

Another Megalithic temple is that of "Bugibba", which is situated at the town of "Bugibba", at the North of Malta. This town is nowadays very popular summer residence. The remains of this temple are now found near the swimming pool of the Dolmen Hotel, which was named after the "dolmen" (a horizontally placed megalithic stone, which is an architectural feature of the Bronze-Age), found here. In this temple archeologists found a stone slab with designs of fish carved onto it. This available evidence suggests that the temple was attended/used or built by a fishing community living in "Bugibba" by the sea.

Another Megalithic temple is the one at "Kordin" situated in the East of Malta. However, we practically have very little remains of this temple. This is because during the Second World War, this part of Malta was heavily bombarded by Italian and German warplanes.

The only remains of "Hal Kirkop" Temple is a Monolith or Menhir (a vertically place megalithic stone, which is an architectural feature of the Bronze-Age People), which can nowadays be seen on the right-hand side of a main road from Valletta to Kirkop (a town in the South of Malta).

At Gozo, (Malta"s sister island) there are megalithic remains on the plateau known as "Ta' Cenc" in the south-east of the island; at "Borg tal-Imramma" in the district of Xaghra (where the Ggantija Temple is also situated) and the ruins of "Santa Venera" at the town "Ghajnsielem", on the road leading to "Victoria" (Gozo's main town).

The original pottery and archaeological remains found in the Megalithic Temples can be seen in the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. Since Malta is so small and at the same time so densely populated with Megalithic Temples, it might be that in Pre-Historic times, Malta was considered as a Sacred Island with Neolithic people doing pilgrimages to Malta! So many temples near each other could also have been the result of competition between territories ruled by chieftains. (Like in our times we have competition between the various parishes!!)



1.Ghar Dalam & Skorba - 2.The arrival of Pre-Historic people in Malta - 3.Neolithic life in Malta - 4.The temple construction 5. The Shape of the Temples - 6. The Location of the major Temples - 7.Ta' Hagrat Temple - 8.Ggantija Temple - 9.Hagar Qim Temple 10. Imnajdra Temple - 11. The Hypogeum - 12. Tarxien Temples - 13. Borg in-Nadur Temple - 14. Other minor Megalithic Temple remains 15. Frequently Asked Questions - 16.Worksheets - 17.The Young Historians - 18.Bibliography - 19.Links