How did the Temple-Building Society evolve?
Carbon-dating indicates that, between the years 3600 – 2500 BCE - 1400 years after their arrival in Malta, these skilled people raised over 30 free-standing, megalithic (large stoned) temples throughout the Maltese archipelago. Although each site has its own idiosyncrasies, the structures share a number of common features: - They all consist of a number of semicircular chambers (apses) with three lobes (trefoils), which are organized symmetrically around a central axis;
- The entrances of each of these structures are erected monumentally within a concave façade which looks out onto an open space or plaza; and
- In general, the temples’ finely finished trilithon doorways (two upright megaliths supporting a lintel slab) are orientated towards the south-east and south-west. One exception, the Mnajdra Lower Temple, faces exactly towards the East.
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