I recently stumbled upon something that piqued my interest and thought I'd pass it along.  It's about a group of stone structures believed to have been temples.  Sources say they are the oldest in the world.

 

 

 

These temples are located on the island of Malta.  Parts of the descriptions that follow are from www.art-and-archaeology.com/malta/malta.html.

 

"The prehistoric temples of Malta are unique in all the world. They are the oldest standing stone structures which remain to us from ancient times. The temples date from 4000 - 2500 BC. They are older than Stonehenge, older than the Pyramids."

 

Some sources say the stone temples go back even further. 

 

Residents of the island of Malta say that giants built these incredible structures. 

 

"At major sites, two or more temples would be built next to each other, the whole complex being encircled by a common outer wall. The size of the temples varies, but an apse might measure fifteen or so feet in diameter, with outer temple walls rising well over twice the height of a person. For example, the two-temple complex at Ggantija measures about 120 feet side-by-side; the major axis of the larger temple is about 90 feet."

 

"They worshiped a mother goddess whose type is known from early statuettes found scattered around the Mediterranean. Similar statues are also found on Malta, several being of uniquely large size. We know from physical evidence that worship in the Malta temples included animal sacrifice..."

 

Examples of the mother goddess statues are shown below.  What intrigued me is that these grotesque images are extremely similar to other ancient images found throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere.  I think I have even seen similar effigies reported in the British isles.

 

    

 

Another feature that appears in the temples is the appearance of stone spirals.  I had never paid much attention to this decoration before, but after thinking about it, I realized that I've seen similar spirals in nearly every ancient culture.  Even in the American south-west.  Odd, don't you think?  I wonder why the spiral image was so important,  I tried to research it, but most of what I read was new age bunk.

 

 

Any quick study of ancient sites can lead you down some pretty dubious paths, but I thought this was interesting enough to share.  Do they predate the flood?  Why do so many of the features show so much similarity to other ancient cultures?  I never knew of the existence of these temples on the island of Malta. I find that they raise more questions than answers.

 

YBIC

Bruce Baber