Item Details

An Investigation of the possible Equinox Alignment at Mnajdra, Malta

Issue: Vol 3 No. 1 (2017)

Journal: Journal of Skyscape Archaeology

Subject Areas:

DOI: 10.1558/jsa.32149

Abstract:

A general study of the orientations of the prehistoric temples of Malta showed that the main axis of the Mnajdra I temple had the same orientation as the equinox sunrise. But was this a coincidence or a deliberate choice of the temple builders? This query led to a survey of the karstic terrain forming the eastern skyline of Mnajdra for any evidence of observations of sunrise in the Neolithic age, especially at the solstices. This report describes the procedure, observations and challenges of this survey, as well as the discovery of some interesting features, including two possible postholes. Further measurements showed that a post in the southernmost hole could have been used as a foresight, marking winter solstice sunrise fairly accurately. The other possible posthole is off-set from the summer solstice sunrise position by about three degrees in azimuth. A discussion of the relevance of these findings concludes this report.

Author: Frank J Ventura, George Agius

View Original Web Page

References :

Agius, G. and Ventura, F., 1980. Possible Astronomical Alignments of the Copper Age Temples in Malta. Malta: Malta University Press. Later revised in Archaeoastronomy: The Bulletin of the Center for Archaeoastronomy 4 (1): 10–21 (1981).
Evans, J. D., 1976. The Prehistoric Antiquities of the Maltese Islands: A Survey. London: Athlone.
Laskar, J., 1986. “Secular terms of classical planetary theories using the results of general theory”. Astronomy
and Astrophysics 157: 59–70.
Lomsdalen, T., 2013. “Mnajdra was not built in a day – A Neolithic temple in Malta”. Anthropological Note-
books 19 (Supplement): 185–197.
Lomsdalen, T., 2014. Sky and Purpose in Prehistoric Malta: Sun, Moon and Stars at the Temples of Mnajdra. Cere-
digion, Wales: Sophia Centre Press.
Malone, C., S. Stoddart and G. Cook, 2009. “Dating Malta’s Prehistory”. In Mortuary Customs in Prehistoric
Malta: Excavations at the Brochtor Circle at Xagħra (1987–94), edited by C. Malone, S. Stoddart, A. Bonanno
and D. Trump, 341–346. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Norton, A. P. and J. Gall Inglis, 1964. Norton’s Star Atlas and Telescopic Handbook (15th edition). Edinburgh:
Gall and Inglis.
Pace, A., 2004. “Mnajdra”. In Malta Before History, edited by D. Cilia, 127–141. Malta: Miranda Publishers. Tanner, J., 2011. Obliquity of the Ecliptic and Nutation in Obliquity [online]. Accessed October 2016, http://
www.neoprogrammics.com/obliquity_of_the_ecliptic/
Trump, D. H., 1990. Malta: An Archaeological Guide (2nd edition). Malta: Progress Press.
Trump, D. H., 2004. “Dating Malta’s Prehistory”. In Malta before History, edited by D. Cilia, 127–141. Malta:
Miranda Publishers.