AFRICA, MALTA, AND THE SMALLER
MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS
North Africa is a great stronghold of the megalithic civilization,
indeed it is thought by some that it is the area in which megalithic
building originated. Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, and Tripoli all abound in
dolmens and other monuments. Even in the Nile Valley they occur, for
what looks like a dolmen surrounded by a circle was discovered by de
Morgan in the desert near Edfu, and Wilson and Felkin describe a number
of simple dolmens which exist near Ladò in the Sudan. Tripoli remains as
yet comparatively unexplored. The traveller Barth speaks of stone
circles near Mourzouk and near the town of Tripoli. The great trilithons
(_senams_) with holes pierced in their uprights and 'altar tables' at
their base, which Barth, followed by Cooper in his _Hill of the Graces_,
described as megalithic monuments, have been shown to be nothing more
than olive-presses, the 'altar tables' being the slabs over which the
oil ran off as it descended. True dolmens do, however, occur in Tripoli,
and Cooper figures a fine monument at Messa in the Cyrenaica, which
appears to consist of a single straight line of tall uprights with a
continuous entablature of blocks similar to that of the outer circle at
Stonehenge.
Algeria has been far more completely explored, and possesses a
remarkable number of megalithic monuments. Many of the finest are
situated near the town of Constantine. Thus at Bou Nouara there is a
hill about a mile in length which is a regular necropolis of
dolmen-tombs. Each grave consists of a dolmen within a circle of stones.
The blocks are all natural and completely unworked. The circle consists
of a wall of stone blocks so built as to neutralize the slope of the
hill and to form a level platform for the dolmen. Thus on the lower side
there are three courses of carefully laid stones rising to about five
feet, while on the upper side there is only one course. The diameter of
the circles varies from 22 to 33 feet. In the centre of the circle lies
the dolmen with its single long cover-slab. This usually rests on two
entire side-slabs, the ends being filled up either with entire slabs or
with masonry of small stones. In rare cases the side-slabs are replaced
by masonry walls. The average size of the cover-slab is 6-1/2 by 5 feet.
The dolmen itself is, of course, built directly on to the platform, and
the space between it and the circle is filled up with rough stones. The
orientation of the dolmens varied considerably, but the cover-slab was
never placed in such a way that its length ran up the hill-slope,
probably because in moving the slab into place this would have been an
awkward position.
Another equally fine site is that of Bou Merzoug, near Oulad Rahmoun,
about an hour's railway journey from Constantine. The place is naturally
adapted for a settlement as there is a spring of water there. This
spring was later utilized by the Romans to provide water for the city of
Cirta. The dolmen-graves lie in great numbers on the hill at the foot of
which the spring rises, and extend down into the valley. Each dolmen
lies in the centre of a stone circle. This last is in some cases formed
by very large slabs set on edge, but more often by two or three courses
of rough oblong blocks. Many of the graves are badly damaged. One of the
finest had an outer circle about 27 feet in diameter, and an inner
circle 14 feet in diameter. Between these two a third circle, much more
irregular and of small stones, could just be distinguished. But in most
cases it was impossible to make out clearly more than the one outer
circle and the dolmen within it. The dolmen itself consisted of a large
slab resting on walls formed of several large blocks, the spaces between
which were filled up with smaller stones. None of the stones used were
worked. The dolmens were not oriented according to any fixed system. M.
Féraud states that the separate graves were united together by open
corridors formed by double or triple rows of large stones, but no traces
of such a system could be found by the later visitors to the site,
Messrs. MacIver and Wilkin.
Fortunately we have some record of what these graves contained, for
thirteen were opened by Mr. Christy and M. Féraud. One contained a human
skeleton in good condition, buried in the contracted position with the
knees to chin and arms crossed. With this were two whole vases,
fragments of others, and pieces of cedar wood. At the feet of the
skeleton were two human heads, and as the graves would not have
accommodated more than one whole body M. Féraud suggests that these
belong to decapitated victims. Another grave contained, in addition to
human bones, those of a horse, together with three objects of copper,
viz. a ring, an earring, and a buckle. In another were found the teeth
and bones of a horse and an iron bit.
An entirely different type of monument is found near Msila, south-west
of Algiers. Here is a long low hill called the Senâm, covered with large
numbers of stone circles. These consist of large slabs of natural
limestone set up on edge and not very closely fitted. The height of the
slabs varies from 2 to 3 feet, and the diameters of the three still
perfect circles are 23-1/2, 26-3/4, and 34-1/3 feet respectively. At a
point roughly south-east there is a break in the circumference, filled
by a rectangular niche (Fig. 19) consisting of three large slabs, and
varying in width from 2 ft. 6 in. to 6 feet. There is a possibility that
the niches were originally roofed, but the evidence on this point is far
from conclusive. The interior of the circle is filled with blocks of
stone, apparently heaped up without any definite plan. There seems to be
no clue as to the meaning of these circles, as none have as yet been
explored. MacIver and Wilkin are probably right in classing them as
graves.
[Illustration: FIG 19. Stone circle at the Senâm, Algeria.
(After MacIver and Wilkin).]
The most famous, however, of the Algerian sites is unquestionably that
of Roknia. Here the tombs lie on the side of a steep hill. They consist
of dolmens often surrounded by stone circles from 25 to 33 feet in
diameter. The cover-slabs of the dolmens usually rest on single
uprights, and never on built walls. Several of the graves excavated
contained more than one body, one yielding as many as seven. It is
remarkable that three of the skulls showed wounds, the dead having been
apparently killed in battle. Several vases have been found and a few
pieces of bronze.
We have seen that in some of the tombs of Bou Merzoug objects of iron
were found. This makes it clear that some at least of the Algerian tombs
belong to the iron age, i.e. that they are probably later than 1000
B.C., but beyond this we cannot go. The medal of Faustina sometimes
quoted as evidence for a very late date proves nothing, as it is not
stated to have been found in a tomb. There is no evidence to show how
far back the graves go. It may be that, as MacIver and Wilkin suggest,
the parts of the cemeteries excavated chance to be the latest. At Bou
Merzoug the excavators worked chiefly among the graves on the plain and
at the bottom of the hill. The more closely crowded graves which lie on
the hill itself may well be older than these. In fact, all that may be
said of the Algerian graves is that some are of the iron age, while
others may be and probably are earlier.
In Tunis the dolmen is not uncommon, and several groups or cemeteries
have been reported. Near Ellez occurs a type of corridor-tomb in which
three dolmen-like chambers lie on either side of a central passage, and
a seventh at the end opposite to the entrance. The whole is constructed
of upright slabs of stone, and is surrounded by a circle formed in the
same way.
Morocco, too, has its dolmens, especially in the district of Kabylia,
while near Tangier there is a stone circle.
Off the north coast of Africa, and thus on the highway which leads from
Africa to Europe, lie the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa. The
latter is volcanic in origin, and its surface presents no opportunity
for the building of megalithic monuments. Lampedusa, on the other hand,
consists of limestone, which lies about in great blocks on its surface.
On the slopes of the south coast there are several remains of megalithic
construction, but they are too damaged to show much of their original
form. However, on the north side of the island there are megalithic huts
in a very fair state of preservation. They are oval in form and have in
many cases a base course of orthostatic slabs.
Some miles to the north of Linosa lies the much larger volcanic island
of Pantelleria, also a possession of Italy. Here megalithic remains both
of dwellings and of tombs have been found. On the plateau of the Mursia
are the remains of rectangular huts made of rough blocks of stone. These
huts seemed to have formed a village, which was surrounded by a wall for
purposes of defence. In the huts were found implements of obsidian and
flat stones used for grinding.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. Plan of the Sese Grande, Pantelleria.
(Orsi, _Monumenti Antichi_, IX.)]
The tombs of the people who inhabited this village are, unlike the
houses, circular or elliptical in form. They are locally known as
_sesi._ The smaller are of truncated conical shape, the circular chamber
being entered by a low door and having a corbelled roof. In one of the
_sesi_ a skeleton was found buried in the contracted position. The
finest of the tombs, known as the Sese Grande, elliptical in form (Fig.
20), has a major diameter of more than 60 feet, and rises in ridges,
being domed at the top. It contains not one chamber, but twelve, each of
which has a separate entrance from the outside of the _sese._ To judge
by the remains found in the _sesi_ they belong entirely to the neolithic
period.
The island of Malta as seen to-day is an almost treeless, though not
unfertile, stretch of rock, with a harbour on the north coast which must
always make the place a necessary possession to the first sea power of
Europe. Much of its soil is of comparatively modern creation, and four
thousand years ago the island may well have had a forbidding aspect.
This is perhaps the reason why the first great inroads of neolithic man
into the Mediterranean left it quite untouched, although it lay directly
in the path of tribes immigrating into Europe from Africa. The earliest
neolithic remains of Italy, Crete, and the Ægean seem to have no
parallel in Malta, and the first inhabitants of whom we find traces in
the island were builders of megalithic monuments. Small as Malta is it
contains some of the grandest and most important structures of this kind
ever erected. The two greatest of these, the so-called "Phoenician
temples" of Hagiar Kim and Mnaidra, were constructed on opposite sides
of one of the southern valleys, each within sight of the other and of
the little rocky island of Filfla.
[Illustration: FIG. 21. Plan of the megalithic sanctuary of Mnaidra,
Malta. (After Albert Mayr's plan.)]
The temple of Mnaidra is the simpler of the two in plan (Fig. 21). It
consists of two halves, the more northerly of which was almost certainly
built later than the other. Each half consists of two elliptical
chambers set one behind the other. The south half is the better
preserved. It has a concave façade of large orthostatic slabs with
horizontal blocks set in front of them to keep them in position. In the
centre of this opens a short paved passage formed of fine upright slabs
of stone, one of which is 13 feet in height. The first elliptical
chamber (_E_) into which this passage leads us has a length of 45 feet.
Its walls (Pl. III) consist of roughly squared orthostatic slabs over 6
feet in height, above which are several courses of horizontal blocks
which carry the walls in places up to a height of nearly 14 feet. This
combination of vertical and horizontal masonry is typical of all the
Maltese temples. To the left of the entrance is a rectangular niche in
the wall containing one of the remarkable trilithons (_a_) which form so
striking a feature of Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim. It consists of a
horizontal slab of stone nearly 10 feet in length, supported at its ends
by two vertical slabs about 5 feet high. To the right of the entrance is
a window-like opening (_b_, behind the seated figure in Pl. III) in one
of the slabs of the wall, preceded by two steps and giving access to
an irregular triangular space (_F_). In the north-west angle of this
triangle is fixed a trilithon table (_c_) of the usual type, 32 inches
high; at a like height above the table is fixed another horizontal slab
which serves as a roof to the corner. The south corner of the triangle
is shut off by a vertical slab, in which is cut a window 29 inches by
17. Through this is seen a shrine (?) consisting of a box (_d_) made of
five well-cut slabs of stone, the front being open. The aperture by
which _F_ is entered was evidently intended to be closed with a slab of
stone from the inside of _F_, for it was rebated on that side, and there
are holes to be used in securing the slab. When the entrance was thus
blocked _F_ still communicated with _E_ by means of a small rectangular
window 16 inches by 12 in one of the adjacent slabs (visible in Pl.
III).
[Illustration: PLATE III TEMPLE OF MNAIDRA, MALTA. APSE OF CHIEF ROOM
To face p. 100]
Returning to the area _E_ we find in the south-west wall an elaborate
doorway (Pl. II, Fig. I, p. 82) leading to a rectangular room _H_. The
doorway consists of two tall pillars with a great lintel laid across the
top. The space between the pillars is closed by a fixed vertical slab in
which is a window-like aperture similar to that which gives access to
Room _F_. All the stones in this doorway are ornamented with pit-marks.
The rectangular room _H_ has niches in its walls to the north, south,
and west. Each niche is formed by a pair of uprights with a block laid
across the top. The west niche is occupied by a horizontal table or
slab (_e_) supported at its centre by a stone pillar 39 inches in
height, of circular section narrowing in the centre (visible through the
doorway in Pl. II, Fig. I). The southern niche contains an ordinary
trilithon table (_f_): the northern niche is damaged, but apparently
held a table like that of the western.
The area _I_ consists of only half an ellipse, the southern half being
replaced by the area _H_, which we have already described. It has a
rectangular niche to the west containing a fine trilithon with a
cover-slab nearly 10 feet long.
The whole of the southern half of the Mnaidra temple is surrounded by a
wall of huge rough blocks of stone, presenting a great contrast to the
dressed slabs of which the inner walls are formed. They are placed
alternately with their broad faces and their narrow edges outwards. The
roughness of this enclosure wall gives the structure a remarkably wild
and craggy appearance from a distance. The northern half of Mnaidra is
clearly a later addition.
There is no doubt as to the way in which the areas were roofed. In the
apse-like ends of the elliptical rooms the horizontal courses are
corbelled, i.e. each course projects slightly forward over the last.
Thus the space narrows as the walls rise, until the aperture is small
enough to be roofed by great slabs laid across. The corbelling of the
apse is just perceptible in Pl. III. Whether the roofing of the Mnaidra
temple was ever complete it is impossible to say: in any case the system
we have described could only be applied to the apsidal portions of the
areas, and their centres must either have been open to the sky or roofed
quite simply with slabs.
In the still more famous temple of Hagiar Kim we have a complicated
building, in which the original plan has been much altered and enlarged.
The main portion doubtless consisted originally of a curved façade and a
pair of elliptical areas, the inner of which has been fitted with a
second entrance to the north-west and completely remodelled at its
south-west end. Four elliptical chambers, one of which is at a much
higher level than the rest of the building, have been added. Here, too,
as at Mnaidra, we find niches containing trilithon tables. In the first
elliptical area, in which the apsidal ends are divided from the central
space by means of walls of vertical slabs, a remarkable group of objects
was found. In front of a well-cut vertical block stood what must be an
altar, cut in one piece of stone. It is square in section except for the
top, which is circular. On the four vertical edges are pilasters in
relief, and in the front between these is cut in relief what looks like
a plant growing out of a pot or box. To the left of the altar and the
vertical slab behind were an upright stone with two hanging spirals cut
on it in relief, and at its foot a horizontal slab. Both the altar and
the carved stone are covered with small pit-marks.
In the outside wall of the building, quite unconnected with the
interior, is a niche partly restored on old foundations, in which stands
a rough stone pillar 6-1/2 feet high. In front of this pillar is a
vertical slab nearly 3 feet high, narrowing towards the base, and
covered with pit-markings. This pillar can hardly be anything but a
baetyl, or sacred stone.
The temple called the Gigantia, on the island of Gozo, is no less
remarkable than the two which we have already described; in one place
its wall is preserved up to a height of over 20 feet. The plan is
similar to that of Mnaidra, though here the two halves seem to have been
built at one and the same time. Several of the blocks show a design of
spirals in relief, while on others there are the usual pit-markings.
Another bears a figure of a fish or serpent. At the foot of one of the
trilithons was found a baetyl 51 inches in height, now in the museum at
Valletta.
That these three buildings were sanctuaries of some kind seems almost
certain from their form and arrangement. We do not, however, know what
was the exact nature of the worship carried on in them, though there can
be no doubt that the stone tables supported by single pillars and the
trilithons found in the niches played an important part in the ritual.
Sir Arthur Evans in his famous article _Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult_
has suggested that in Malta we have a cult similar to that seen in the
Mycenæan world. This latter was an aneiconic worship developed out of
the cult of the dead; in it the deity or hero was represented by a
baetyl, i.e. a tree or pillar sometimes standing free, sometimes placed
in a 'dolmen-like' cell or shrine, in which latter case the pillar often
served to support the roof of the shrine. In Malta Sir Arthur Evans sees
signs of a baetyl-worship very similar to this. Thus at Hagiar Kim we
have a pillar still standing free in a niche, and another pillar, which,
to judge from its shape, must have stood free, was found in the
Gigantia. On the other hand, at Mnaidra we have pillars which support
slabs in a cell or shrine, and at Cordin several small pillars were
found which must originally have served a similar purpose.
There can hardly be any doubt that Sir Arthur Evans is right in seeing
in the Maltese temples signs of a baetylic worship. But is he right in
his further assertion that the cult was a cult of the dead? Albert Mayr
assumes that he is, and endeavours to show that the 'dolmen-like' cells
in the niches are not altars, but stereotyped representations of the
dolmen-tombs of the heroes worshipped. He thinks that the slabs which
cover them are too large for altar-tables, and that the niches in which
they stand are too narrow and inaccessible to have been the scene of
sacrificial rites. Neither of these arguments has much force, nor is it
easy to see how the cells are derived from dolmens. The fact is that the
word 'dolmen-like,' which has become current coin in archæological
phraseology, is a question-begging epithet. The Maltese cells are not
like dolmens at all, they are either trilithons or tables resting on a
pillar. They are always open to the front, and instead of the rough
unhewn block which should cover a dolmen they are roofed with a
well-squared slab. If the pillar which supports the slab is, like the
free-standing pillars, a baetyl, the slab is probably a mere roof to
cover and protect it; if not, the slab is almost certainly a table.
At the same time, although we may not accept the hypothesis that the
cell is derived from a dolmen, Sir Arthur Evans may still be right in
supposing the worship to have originated in a cult of the dead. But he
was almost certainly wrong, as recent excavation has shown, in supposing
that the cells were the actual burial place of the deified heroes.
A number of statuettes were found at Hagiar Kim, two of which are of
pottery and the rest of limestone. One figure represents a woman
standing, but in the rest she is seated on a rather low stool with her
feet tucked under her. There is no sign of clothing, except on one
figure which shows a long shirt and a plain bodice with very low neck.
All these statuettes are characterized by what is known as steatopygy,
that is, the over-development of the fat which lies on and behind the
hips and thighs.
Steatopygous figures have been found in many places, viz. France, Malta,
Crete, the Cyclades, Greece, Thessaly, Servia, Transylvania, Poland,
Egypt, and the Italian colony of Eritrea on the Red Sea. The French
examples are from caves of the palæolithic period; the rest mainly
belong to the neolithic and bronze ages. Various reasons have been given
for the abnormal appearance of these figures. In the first place it has
been suggested that they represent women of a steatopygous type, like
the modern Bushwomen, and that this race was in early days widely
diffused in the Mediterranean and in South Europe. Another hypothesis is
that they represent not a truly steatopygous type of women, but only an
abnormally fat type. A third suggestion is that they portray the
generative aspect of nature in the form of a pregnant goddess.
Naturally there are considerable local differences in the shapes of the
figures from the various countries we have enumerated, and it may be
that no single hypothesis will explain them all.
There are other megalithic buildings in Malta besides the three which
we have discussed, but none of them call for more than passing mention.
On the heights of Cordin or Corradino, overlooking the Grand Harbour of
Valletta, there are no less than three groups, all of which have been
lately excavated. In all three we see signs of the typical arrangement
of elliptical areas one behind another, and in the finest of the three
the curved façade and the paved court which lies before it are still
preserved.
It was for a long time believed that there were no dolmens in Malta.
Professor Tagliaferro has been able to upset this belief by discovering
two, one near Musta and the other near Siggewi. It is hardly credible
that these are the only two dolmens which ever existed in Malta. More
will no doubt yet be found, especially in the wild north-west corner of
the isle.
The megalithic builders of Malta did not confine their achievements to
structures above ground, they could also work with equal facility below.
In the village of Casal Paula, which lies about a mile from the head of
the Grand Harbour of Valletta, is a wonderful complex of subterranean
chambers known as the Hypogeum of Halsaflieni, which may justly be
considered as one of the wonders of the world.
The chambers, which seem to follow no definite plan, are excavated in
the soft limestone and arranged in two storeys connected by a staircase,
part of which still remains in place. The finest rooms are in the upper
storey. The largest is circular, and contains in its walls a series of
false doors and windows. It is in this room that the remarkable nature
of the work in the hypogeum is most apparent. On entering it one sees at
once that the intention of the original excavator was to produce in
solid rock underground a copy of a megalithic structure above ground.
Thus the walls curve slightly inwards towards the top as do those of the
apses of Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim, and the ceiling is cut to represent a
roof of great blocks laid across from wall to wall with a space left
open in the centre where the width would be too great for the length of
the stones. The treatment of the doors and windows recalls at once that
of the temples above ground. The mason was not content, when he needed a
door, to cut a rectangular opening in the rock; he must represent in
high relief the monolithic side-posts and lintel which were the great
features of the megalithic 'temples' of Malta. Nor has he failed in his
intention, for, as one moves from room to room in the hypogeum, one
certainly has the feeling of being in a building constructed of separate
blocks and not merely cut in the solid rock. No description can do
justice to the grace of the curves and the flow of the line in the
circular chamber and in the passage beyond it, and we have here the
work of an architect who felt the æsthetic effect of every line he
traced.
Behind the circular chamber and across the passage just referred to lies
a small room which, rightly or wrongly, has been called the 'Holy of
Holies,' the idea being that it formed a kind of inner sanctuary to the
chamber. It contains a rough shelf cut in the wall, and in the centre of
this a shallow circular pit. It has been suggested that this pit was
made to hold the base of the cult-object, whether it was a baetyl or an
idol. This, however, is a mere conjecture. In the passage just outside
the door of this room are two small circular pits about 6 inches in
diameter and the same distance apart. They connect with one another
below, and are closed with tightly fitting limestone plugs. In one of
them was found a cow's horn. Their purpose is unknown, but similar pairs
of pits occur elsewhere at Halsaflieni.
In two of the largest chambers in the hypogeum the roof and walls are
still decorated with designs in red paint. The patterns consist of
graceful combinations of curved lines and spirals. Many other rooms,
including the circular chamber, were originally painted with designs in
red, which have now almost wholly disappeared.
Many of the chambers are extremely small, too small for an adult even to
stand upright in them, and their entrances are merely windows, perhaps
a foot square and well above the ground.
What then was the purpose of this wonderful complex of rooms? Before
attempting to answer this question we must consider what has been found
in them. When the museum authorities first took over the hypogeum
practically all the chambers were filled to within a short distance of
their roofs with a mass of reddish soil, which proved to contain the
remains of thousands of human skeletons. In other words, Halsaflieni was
used as a burial place, though this may not have been its original
purpose. The bones lay for the most part in disorder, and so thickly
that in a space of about 4 cubic yards lay the remains of no less than
120 individuals. One skeleton, however, was found intact, lying on the
right side in the crouched position, i.e. with arms and knees bent up.
With the bones were found enormous quantities of pottery and other
objects, buried with the dead as provision for the next world. The
pottery is rough in comparison with the fine painted wares of Crete, but
it is extremely varied in its decoration. One particularly fine bowl
shows a series of animals which have been identified by Professor
Tagliaferro as the long-horned buffalo, an animal which once existed on
the northern coasts of Africa. Ornaments of all kinds were common, and
include beads, pendants, and conical buttons of stone and shell. The
most remarkable of all are a large number of model celts made of
jadeite and other hard stones. These are of the same shape as the stone
axes used by neolithic man, but they are far too small ever to have been
used, and they must therefore have been models hung round the neck as
amulets. Each is provided with a small hole for this purpose. The
popularity of the axe-amulet makes it probable that the axe had some
religious significance.
Finally Halsaflieni has yielded several steatopygous figurines. Some of
these resemble those of Hagiar Kim, but two are of rather different
type. Each of these represents a female lying on a rather low couch. In
the better preserved of the two she lies on her right side, her head on
a small uncomfortable-looking pillow. The upper part of her body is
naked, but from the waist downwards she is clad in a flounced skirt
which reaches to the ankles. The other figurine is very similar, but the
woman here is face downwards on the couch.
The bodies themselves were so damaged with damp that only ten skulls
could be saved whole. These, however, afford very valuable
anthropological evidence. They have been carefully measured by Dr.
Zammit, and they prove to belong to a long-headed (dolichocephalic) type
usual among the neolithic races of the Mediterranean.
We have still to discuss the purpose of this great complex of
underground chambers and passages. It is quite clear that its eventual
fate was to be used as a burial place for thousands of individuals, but
it is far from certain that this was the purpose for which it was built.
The existence of the central chamber, with its careful work and
laborious imitation of an open-air 'temple,' is against this
interpretation. It has therefore been suggested that the hypogeum was
meant for a burial place, and that the central chamber was the chapel or
sanctuary in which the funeral rites were performed, after which the
body was buried in one of the smaller rooms. This, however, does not
explain the presence of burials in the chapel itself, and it is far more
likely that it was only after Halsaflieni had ceased to be used for its
original purpose that it was seized upon as a convenient place for
burial.
The question of the date of the Maltese megalithic buildings is a
difficult one. It is true that no metal has been found in them, and that
we can therefore speak of them as belonging to the neolithic age. But
the neolithic age of Malta need not be parallel in date with that of
Crete for example. It is extremely probable that Malta lay outside the
main currents of civilization, and that flint continued to be used there
long after copper had been adopted by her more fortunate neighbours.