THE ĦAL SAFLIENI HYPOGEUM, A SUBTERRANEAN NECROPOLIS USED BETWEEN 4,000 AND 2,500 BCE .

THE ĦAL SAFLIENI HYPOGEUM, A SUBTERRANEAN NECROPOLIS USED BETWEEN 4,000 AND 2,500 BCE 

The Republic of Malta is a three-islands archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, only 80 Km south of Sicily and just 320 sq. km in total land area. The islands were settled in 5,200 BCE, by a group of Stone Age hunters and farmers called the Sicani, who probably came from Sicily but were originally from the Iberian Peninsula. They grew cereals, raised livestock, made pottery which was very similar to the one found in Sicily, lived is oval huts with stone foundations and paved floors, worshiped a voluptuous female figure, and built the outstanding megalithic temples I covered in another post. 

Their most interesting tradition was the way they buried their dead, in collective multi-chambered rock-cut necropolises which are more properly called Hypogeum – a word meaning underground in Greek which is used for large subterranean temples, tombs, or the tunnels beneath the coliseum. 

The oldest hypogeum in Malta is also the oldest in the world, Ħal Saflieni, with the earliest human remains dating back to about 4000 BCE. It probably started with a few holes carved out of an existing cave, progressing below earth when there was no more space. At some point a megalithic enclosure was built to mark the entry to the site, though it eventually collapsed hiding the existence of the necropolis beneath it. 

Applying the same megalithic efforts below the burial site, people hewed out a three-level network of stairs, labyrinthine tunnels, alcoves and chambers which covers an area of 500 square meters and is over 10 meters deep. The chambers vary in shape and size, with the workmanship improving from one level to the next. They are so similar in design to the megalithic temples above ground that scholars think the hypogeum was more than a burial site, possibly some kind of temple for the dead which was central to death rites, burial and the afterlife.

It has been estimated that over 7,000 people were buried here over the centuries, possibly more.  Bodies were left to rot in collective rock chambers that may have held the members of a single family or lineage group, rearranging the bones from earlier burials to make space for the newcomer. Some of the remains show an abnormal cranial elongation which looks similar to the priestly skulls from Ancient Egypt, pointing to the possibility that some people bandaged their child’s heads in an effort to distort them. A variety of gifts were interred with them: pottery vessels decorated with intricate designs, rock axes, beads and pendants made of shell, bone and stone, little stone animals and birds that may have been worn as pendants, as well as a variety of stone and clay figurines depicting human figures, some of which show the beautiful fat females I will cover in the next post.  

The digging and carving was done with simple tools made of antlers or chipped flint, silica, and obsidian rock, while the biggest blocks must have been lifted using some kind of rigging which was so effective that some ceilings have one ring of carved stones overhanging the one below, imitating the corbelled roofs that were probably covering the houses and temples up above. All of it by the light of some flickering fire, because apart from some natural daylight reaching the middle level through a small opening from the top, the Hypogeum was a very dark and most probably extremely smelly place.

Unfortunately, little remains of the first level due to the collapse of the megalithic structure marking the entry, though archaeologists are working hard to restore it.

The second level is the most ornate, carved to give the impression of built masonry just like the interiors of the temples above ground. Here we find false bays, trilithon doorways, megalithic partitions, windows between chambers, and some paintings on the walls, mostly black and white checkerboards or spirals and honey-combs in red ochre. One five-meter-long chamber called the “Oracle Room” has some mesmerizing acoustics and a small niche which echoes when someone speaks into it, an effect that may not have been created intentionally, but may have been exploited during some ritual activity. 

The bottom level contains five spaces, each less than five meters in diameter, giving access to smaller rooms containing side niches serving as mass graves.

The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is the only prehistoric burial site in Europe which is accessible to the general public and it is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. To protect it, a maximum of ten visitors per hour is allowed, for a maximum of eight hours a day.

Here is a recording made in the Oracle Room, demonstrating its remarkable acoustics. Apparently, certain frequencies resonate strongly enough to be felt through the body.

Photos courtesy of UNESCO and locandalagelsomina.com