http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Skorba Temples Skorba Temples lie in fields overlooking Zebbiegh, a hamlet near Mgarr, in northwest Malta. The site comprises two temple remains, side by side. Skorba, excavated in the 1960s, is one of the most informative sites since it was left untouched during the first two phases of archaeological digs at temple site in the early 19th and 20th centuries. At Skorba, an earlier settlement was swept aside during the Ggantija phase, around 3500 BC, when a typical trefoil temple was constructed. The remains consist of the stone paving of the entrance passage, with its perforations to carry libation offerings, the torba floors of the apses, and one of the megalithic uprights, a 3.40 metre high slab of coralline limestone. Also of note are a step, once covered with pitting decoration, a porthole niche and two trilithon altars against the rear walls. Later alterations were made during the Tarxien phase and the Bronze Age. The use of globigerina limestone in the construction is noteworthy since it is not present in the immediate surface geology around Skorba. The nearest source was likely to have been a mile away. To transport blocks weighing more than one tonne across a mile of open country must have been an extraordinary feat. A second temple was added to the east of Skorba in the Tarxien phase. It comprises four apses and a central niche. It was in a more ruinous state when found; the megalithic blocks in the angle of the lane were probably an external shrine at the end of the facade, much like those found at the better-preserved temple at Tarxien. The site yielded a number of querns of coralline limestone. These were found in numbers in the ‘Ggantija’ hut west of the temple. Flint and chart objects as well as obsidian from the Italian Islands of Lipari and Pantelleria (lying north-east and south-west of Sicily respectively) were fairly abundant. The earliest structure identified on the site is an almost straight length of wall. Among the mound of domestic waste on its north side, which included charcoal and carbonised grain, were several fragments of daub, accidentally baked. In the field east of the eastern temple, a much more extensive structure came to light. It consisted of two rooms dated to the Red Skorba phase around 4100 BC. The irregularity of the floors, the unlevelled surface of bedrock, seems to preclude the site’s domestic use. The group of figurines found in the northern room, now on display at the National Museum of Archaeology , also suggest that this building had a religious function. It may be considered then a true predecessor of the temples which first appeared some centuries later.