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The Hypogeum Hal Saflini was discovered by chance. While constructing
houses on the outskirts of Valetta on Malta, somebody suddenly fell into a
hole in the ground. Later, the site was excavated and the outcome was
unrivalled: an underground, temple-like
structure, seemingly made of megalith blocks but actually carved into the
earth.
It has 3 levels and dates from ancient times, perhaps around 3000 BC.
Imagine constructing this multi layer underground temple without
heavy-duty tools or lighting. Why would people want to do this?
Malta is a small island, so
whoever lived there in those days, must have had specific reasons for doing so.
If it was a temple, then there must have been (many) people around to attend the
worship services. But on Malta, such a tiny island? Even if
one assumes that the island was connected to the Italian
mainland in those days, it would still have
been ‘at the end of the world’.
There is nothing
similar to the Hypogeum in the world – it is unique. An underground temple would
be a rather inconvenient place for priests and visitors to stay in for extended
periods of time because of darkness, lack of fresh air and rainwater leaking in.
The only feasible reason is that it was not a temple but a shelter and that those who lived down there could
not stand the sunlight and UV/IR radiation.
More about the
Hypogeum can be found in the Dutch book "Verborgen geheimen van
de mensheid", and in the work of professor Zammit, Mayrhofer and Pace.
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