Malta is an island of mystery and has awe inspiring structures on Earth.  It is blessed with one of the most advanced cultures who left a timeless legacy.  It is extremely imaginative to perceive how tiny Malta started the Neolithic Temple building revolution in the Mediterranean, culminating in the spectacular evidence of the temples. 

Hypogeum Malta

It is thought that the inspiration for temples came from rock cut tombs were the lobed plan of tombs was translated into above-ground architecture. Although, there is no direct proof of this is a reasonable hypothesis, especially when one considers the evidence from Skorba, where small religious structures were built well before the Temple Period.

The many altars found in the temples were obviously used for offerings of some sort, however there is absolutely no evidence of human sacrifice. This evidence of animal sacrifice also points to the ritual importance of animals in the community, people offered their animals, which were presumably highly valued, to their deities, perhaps this was to ensure continued animal fertility and to keep the balance with nature.

Prehistory relates to the period before written history.  The earliest concrete evidence of the first settlers dates to around 5,000 BC. This date was obtained from radiocarbon tests from a deposit at Skorba, on the outskirts of Mgarr, Malta.