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Ġgantija - World's Oldest Man Made Structures


The_Spartan

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Ġgantija

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ggantija templeĠgantija (also Ggantia) IPA: [gænti:ə] is a megalithic temple complex on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (part of Malta), constructed by the Sicani tribe from the Italian island of Sicily, when the people first inhabited Malta.[1] The two temples of Ġgantija on the island of Gozo are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, which were erected during the Neolithic Age (c. 3600-2500 BC). At more than 5500 years old, the Ġgantija temples are the world's oldest free-standing structures (Even older than the Pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge) and the world's oldest religious structures.[citation needed] The temples were possibly the site of an Earth Mother Goddess Fertility Cult, with numerous figurines and statues found on site believed to be connected with that cult.

In the Maltese language, Ġgantija means "belonging to the giants". According to local Gozitan legend, the temples were built by the giants who resided in Gozo during ancient times. It is said that the temples themselves were used by the giants as watchtowers.

Its quite distressing to learn that these ancient structures which are even more ancient than the Pyramids and the Stonehenge are not taken seriously by the archaeological community in a manner they do with the Pyramids and the stonehenge!!!

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[above pictures are from wikipedia.org]

I feel that lots more stone has been used up in building these huge temples than for the stonehenge!

the following pictures are ©1998-2008 / Malta (Vista) www. maltavista.net

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The three images above are from www. maltavista.net - please visit the site to see more photos since i cant link too many images in here.

You folks tell me, why are these oldest strutures ignored so much??

Edited by Da Verminator
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Here's a nice site about the temples there on Malta

It really is a quite impressive place.

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You folks tell me, why are these oldest strutures ignored so much??

I got the same feeling. Somehow suggesting new alternative history theories that don't fit current dogmatic Smithsonian/Darwinian consensus amounts to heresy. Too bad, I just love reading Hancock, Steiger, Cremo, Bauval, West, Dunn, David et all. There's a lot more going on that is hidden/discarded that we are led to believe.

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Very simple... they are being ignored by the general public because neither Daniken nor Sitchin or any other quack has claimed that it was build by extraterrestrials. Archeologists are all but ignoring that site.

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I got the same feeling. Somehow suggesting new alternative history theories that don't fit current dogmatic Smithsonian/Darwinian consensus amounts to heresy. Too bad, I just love reading Hancock, Steiger, Cremo, Bauval, West, Dunn, David et all. There's a lot more going on that is hidden/discarded that we are led to believe.

So what you're saying is aliens built it and they dont want us to know about it?

Maybe it's just an ancient stone building built by stacking stones, and the reason we don't hear about it is because it's nowhere near on the scale of the pyramids or stonehenge.

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So what you're saying is aliens built it and they dont want us to know about it?

Maybe it's just an ancient stone building built by stacking stones, and the reason we don't hear about it is because it's nowhere near on the scale of the pyramids or stonehenge.

But it is older than the Pyraminds and the stonehenge!! That should make it primary!

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...what is it with ancient man using these megalithic stones throughout the ancient world...most be compensating like buying a big car, LOL.

The whynsos to get her be patient and anything is possible

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But how can these be the world's oldest human-built structures when there are ruins in Turkey which are twice as old? I speak, of course, of Gobekli Tepe, which is nearly 12,000 years old (9,500 BC).

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But how can these be the world's oldest human-built structures when there are ruins in Turkey which are twice as old? I speak, of course, of Gobekli Tepe, which is nearly 12,000 years old (9,500 BC).

Which are largely unknown because the afore mentioned quacks have not put it on their list of extraterrestrial monuments.

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Tarxien Temple (Tar-sheen)

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A German couple have been researching this site for a number of years. It's believed that more of the complex has fallen into the ocean.

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The two temples of Ġgantija on the island of Gozo are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, which were erected during the Neolithic Age (c. 3600-2500 BC). At more than 5500 years old, the Ġgantija temples are the world's oldest free-standing structures (Even older than the Pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge) and the world's oldest religious structures.[citation needed] The temples were possibly the site of an Earth Mother Goddess Fertility Cult, with numerous figurines and statues found on site believed to be connected with that cult.

The Tarxien Temples (IPA: [ˈtarʃiɛn]) are an archaeological complex in Tarxien, Malta. They date back to approximately 2800 BC.[/b] The site was accepted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 along with the other Megalithic temples on the island of Malta.

and thanks to oldtimeradio, i stand corrected

Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for "Hill with a Belly") is a hilltop sanctuary built on the highest point of an elongated mountain ridge about 15km northeast of the town of Şanlıurfa (Urfa) in southeast Turkey. The site, currently undergoing excavation by German and Turkish archaeologists, was erected by hunter-gatherers in the 10th millennium BC (ca 11,500 years ago), before the advent of sedentism. It is currently considered the oldest known shrine or temple complex in the world, and the planet's oldest known example of monumental architecture. Together with the site of Nevalı Çori, it has revolutionised the understanding of the Eurasian Neolithic.
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Is there any other links to verify the age of Ggantija? The ones that represent Malta tourism or the govt of Malta that I have seen make me suspicious. Basically any government that can stand to gain tourist dollars might stretch the numbers. National Geographic had nothing on them. According to legend they were built by 'giants'. Nephilim eh?

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Is there any other links to verify the age of Ggantija? The ones that represent Malta tourism or the govt of Malta that I have seen make me suspicious. Basically any government that can stand to gain tourist dollars might stretch the numbers. National Geographic had nothing on them. According to legend they were built by 'giants'. Nephilim eh?

http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/malta/ggantija.html

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/malta/g...ija-temples.htm

and if you don't trust any of these you may find:

Encyclopedia of Sacred Places (Paperback)

by Norbert C. Brockman (Author)

Oxford University Press, USA (February 25, 1999)

# ISBN-10: 0195127390

# ISBN-13: 978-0195127393

in your local library.

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Aye, I saw those two sites but thank you. The first stated on source claimed it was that old so is that the only source or is there others...not much to find online though I do not think so. The second is clearly a site based on tourism revenue.

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Is there any other links to verify the age of Ggantija? The ones that represent Malta tourism or the govt of Malta that I have seen make me suspicious. Basically any government that can stand to gain tourist dollars might stretch the numbers. National Geographic had nothing on them. According to legend they were built by 'giants'. Nephilim eh?

Sure there are, try some university papers:

http://www.sanandrea.edu.mt/Senior/CyberFa...tijaTemple.html

http://www3.niu.edu/anthro/pdf/kolb/kolb05a.pdf

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It seems currently in favor to describe the builders of Gobekli Tepe as "hunters-gatherers."

But I'd submit that any culture which could construct such a magnificent complex had long-since passed out of the "hunter-gather" phase.

And "hunter-gatherer" itself is a neat little potted phrase made up decades ago by anthropologists to "explain" a pre-historic period about which we actually know next to nothing.

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question - why isnt there much on Gobekli Tepe ?? why is it not in the news? why arent archaeologists coverging on Gobekli Tepe and doing further investigation??

beacuse no psuedo archaeologists cared for it since it didnt provide any mysteries.

I wonder....that society/man kind is more prone to believe psuedo-what-ever-ians than the accredited/experienced/proffessional views.

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I have a feeling that it all has to do with dates and theories already being "committed", and this just ends up putting a wrench in a lot of theories about what we assumed about mankind back that far. I feel mankind was much more advanced than the time-line indicates in most archaeological circles. But, thats just me nattering away, not like I'm a professional (maybe a professional natterer)

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I have a feeling that it all has to do with dates and theories already being "committed", and this just ends up putting a wrench in a lot of theories about what we assumed about mankind back that far. I feel mankind was much more advanced than the time-line indicates in most archaeological circles. But, thats just me nattering away, not like I'm a professional (maybe a professional natterer)

I don't know if they were much more advanced, but just as capable of doing the same as most later cultures the only difference I believe is they were not as aggressively pushing for a full blown society, just aspects of it.

the whynsos ...indeed I'm a father on the day of fathers day so uh...yea! :D

Edited by Eieam Wun
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question - why isnt there much on Gobekli Tepe ?? why is it not in the news?

But very nearly everything I know about Gobelki Tepe (admittedly not enough!) has come from the news.

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http://users.aber.ac.uk/jpg/malta/arch.html

It so would be a beautiful place to visit....

Yes anyone who could build something like this is further along on the evolutionary trail.

http://www.carnaval.com/goddess/malta_temples2.htm

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It appears that the site was first in use around 3600 BC when some natural cavities were used as a repository for the bones of the dead. As the cavities filled up, newThe Hypogeum on Malta chambers were cut progressively deeper into the rock.

An underground area of more than 500 square meters devoted to worship and burial - the bones of over 7000 people have been found. The system of caves, passages and cubicles cut into the stone is similar to the interiors of megalithic temples.

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is an enormous subterranean structure excavated with cyclopean rigging to lift huge blocks of coralline limestone around the year

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:lol:B);) UFO gossip related to Malta???

:yes: Too late!!!

http://www.ufoarea.com/aas_malta.html

http://www.ufocasebook.com/malta1947.html

http://www.maltavista.net/en/list/photo/1034.html

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http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/UFOs/tunnels.html

An opening in the wall opposite the entrance to this cave leads to a passage narrow and torturous, the entrance to the real caves. This passage ends on a pathway which extends along the side of a vast cleft in the earth, a pathway along the edge of a veritable chasm, a pathway which leads ever downward to the long underground tunnels and series of caves which are reputed to allow one to traverse the entire length of the island and even further.

Legend has it that these passageways at one time connected with the underground crypts from which the Catacombs of Rome were created. This may very well be true; for the reader must remember that the Mediterranean Sea was created after neolithic times by earthquakes and the shifting of the earth's crust. Therefore, while the ancient tunnels may have existed, they might have been closed by cataclysms of this type, with the knowledge of them coming down to us only in legends.

The tunnels under the "Hypogeum" have been sealed off ever since a school teacher took 30 students into the caves and disappeared, guide and all. It was stated that the walls caved in on them. Search parties were never able to locate any trace of these people.

It has been asserted that for weeks the wailing and screaming of children was heard underground in different parts of the island, but no one could locate the source of the sound. If the walls caved in, why the cave-in could not be found and excavated to free the children remains a mystery.

How the children could live to scream for weeks later is another involved puzzle. At any rate, the underground entrance to the caves in Malta has been sealed off, and nobody is allowed to investigate the site.

MALTA – Cone Head Race Alien Sapien

http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/pu...article_226.php

Italian writer Adriano Forgione has investigated a cone head or dolichocephaly race on the Mediterraen island of Malta. The cone head or elongated skulls found in Maltese temple-tombs are similar to those found in Peru and studied by Dr. Von Tschudi. The"oldest city in the Americas," is "a massive 4,600-year-old urban center called Caral" in Peru (L.A. Times, 27 April 2001). Maltese cone head skulls are dated from 4100 B.C.-2500 B.C., that is several hundred years later.

http://www.biped.info/articles/missingrace.html

http://www.gizapyramid.com/adriano_forgione.htm

Another race

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_maltaskulls_1.htm

Even the other skulls we examined presented strange anomalies. Some were more natural and harmonic than the cranium that mostly gained our attention, but they still presented a pronounced natural dolichocephalous and we could assume, without fear of refutation, that it is distinctive of an actual race, different to the native populations of Malta and Gozo. This consideration was confirmed by the Maltese archeologists themselves, Anthony Buonanno and Mark Anthony Mifsud, who said:

"They are another race although C-14 or DNA exams haven't yet been performed. Perhaps these individuals originated from Sicily".

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We shall discuss this detail further on. Meanwhile, it's worth the while to emphasize that one of these skulls showed unequivocal signs of surgical intervention in the occipital area. The outlines of three small holes, made in the occipital bone called inion, had time to cicatrize, therefore the patient survived the operation although such intervention surely would have undermined his motorial faculties. But there is more. A fair part of the 7000 skeletons dug out of the Hal Saflienti hypogeum and examined by Themistocles Zammit in 1921, present artificially performed deformations.

he origins

The skulls we examined are dated 2500 B.C. (but may be even older) a date in which Malta's megalithic history ends, initiating a period of historical darkness and absence of population that will last about 300 years, until the arrival of the Phoenicians. These will begin to make Malta their Mediterranean outpost. The Phoenicians will also erect temples to the Mother Goddess in Malta, calling her Astarte, the snake-faced Goddess. Again we find the representation of a Goddess who is associated with the snake and healing powers, almost as if the Phoenicians wanted to continue an interrupted tradition. But it's the date of 2500 B.C. that presents a fundamental key of interpretation for understanding who these long-headed individuals were and to use it we must move from Malta to nearby Egypt.

Professor Walter B. Emery (1903-1971), the famous Egyptologist, author of "Archaic Egypt", who excavated at Saqqara in the 30's, indeed discovered the remains of individuals who lived in pre-dynastic epoch. These presented a dolichocephalous skull, larger than that of the local ethnic group, fair hair and a taller, heavier build. Emery declared that this stock wasn't indigenous to Egypt but had performed an important sacerdotal and governmental role in this country. This race kept its distance from the common people, blending only with the aristocratic classes and the scholar associated them with the Shemsu Hor, the "disciples of Horus".

Edited by crystal sage
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I am from Malta, and i have to say that they are quite a site. I always wondered why there weren't as appreciated as other archaeological sites around the world, considering those are some of the oldest man-made structures ever discovered so far.

There is also another site called Hagar Qim.

Source

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The layout of the building is quite complex, perhaps the most complex of any of the temples, and the design is very sophisticated. Its most dramatic feature was the use of exceptionally tall stone uprights, which would have been highly visible for miles around. As you approach the site, you are immediately impressed by the building’s façade of carefully dressed megalithic blocks. The tallest ones were at the corners and had been notched to accommodate two horizontal courses running between them—in short, looking very similar to the model found at Tarxien. The pillars and lintels that make up the trilithon doorway have been compared to those of the Lion Gate at Mycenae built some two thousand years later. To either side was a low stone bench that runs the whole length of the façade. In front is a block with a V perforation—a feature that is found at some other sites and is generally thought to be for tethering animals.

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It would appear that the original plan was for a ‘standard’ four or five-apse temple (Spaces 1-6) but instead of a terminal apse or niche there is another doorway at the rear of the building. It would appear that at some point the decision was taken to add more rooms (10-13) to the south and the external wall was substantially rebuilt to accommodate them. As was the case at other temples, such as Tarxien, one of the apses (6) was remodelled to provide access.

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The main doorway led to a small court (1) with apses on either side. However, each of these apses are screened off by thin megalithic slabs. Access is through carved porthole in the central stone. To the left was an elaborately carved pedestal altar with reliefs of potted plants on all four sides and a slab with pitted and spiral decoration. Five statues were found here, including the so-called ‘Venus of Hagar Qim,’ in the 1830’s along with another four in the adjacent Apse 2. Apart from the figures, little was found in either of the rather plainly finished outer apses.

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Further along, Apse 5 is characterized by fairly uniform megalithic architecture with a line of orthostats of uniform height supporting a number of courses of corbeled masonry. Inside the room is a curved setting of smaller upright slabs set just inside the wall. David Trump offers the opinion that it was some sort of animal pen but this cannot be proven. In the wall is small aperture known as an ‘oracle hole’ that connects the room to a small shrine (16) on the exterior of the building. In this case, however, the hole is positioned so that the light of the rising sun shines into the apse on the day of the summer solstice.

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The goddess that they used to worship was the goddess of fertility, in Maltese ''Il- mara il- hoxna'', which literally means the fat lady. Probably thats why they depicted her as fat, which meant abundance and fertility.

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How beautiful is this?

Down the centuries, the Maltese have developed a clever system of underground tunnels, called galleries, to extract the water for human consumption.

Salt rise

About 97m (320ft) beneath the surface of the island lie the Ta' Kandja galleries. Reached by a lift, the tunnels stretch out for several kilometres like the spokes of a wheel, all half-filled with water that is pumped up to the surface and then to homes and farms around the island.

The water in the tunnels is fresh. But just 10m below, it is salty. And thanks to climate change the brackish water is rising.

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Edited by crystal sage
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