Mnajdra
Updated: Sep 2, 2021
Date: 3600-2500 BCE
Period: Neolithic
Phase: Ġgantija, Tarxien
Location: Qrendi, Malta
Access: Public museum managed by Heritage Malta
Site details
Mnajdra is made up of three temples, the upper, the middle and the lower. The upper is has a trefoil or three-apsed layout and the other two have four apses.
Features
Blocks with pitted decorations
Uprights with drilled holes
Oracle holes
Libation holes
Finds
Clay figurine
Pottery
Orientation
Upper Temple - south west
Middle Temple - south east
Lower Temple - east
Interesting facts
An engraving on a megalith in the middle temple shows a roofed temple facade. Since the Maltese temples were all discovered without roofs, it's thought this showed how they originally looked.
The upper temple has an 'altar' flanked by two uprights which have lines drilled into them of irregular lengths. They may have been a counting system and associated with astronomy.
Mnajdra is thought to be aligned with the equinoxes and solstices.