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<< Our Photo Pages >> Xaghra Circle - Stone Circle in Malta in Gozo

Submitted by enkidu41 on Thursday, 09 January 2014  Page Views: 27364

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Xaghra Circle Alternative Name: Brochtorff's Circle, Xagħra
Country: Malta Island: Gozo Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Victoria  Nearest Village: Xaghra
Latitude: 36.046456N  Longitude: 14.264911E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 1 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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wasil 43559959 kurgan would like to visit

Catrinm visited on 18th Mar 2019 - their rating: Cond: 1 Amb: 3 Access: 4 You can get there by following path next to house with red door. Its not much to see now but they hade some fantastic finds here- goddess figurines etc.

mona visited on 30th Sep 2016 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 2 Access: 4 The exact coordinates: 36.046456N 14.264911E This site can only be visited by Appointment. I booked a guided tour which was very interesting. All of the items found during excavations are exhibited in the Ġgantija visitor center.

SolarMegalith visited on 22nd Mar 2013 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4

Andy B myf have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2 Ambience: 2.67 Access: 4

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by enkidu41 : Also known as Brochtorff's Circle. The actual circle is about 120' in diameter. Only about 85' of the circumference still stands and is obscured by by soil pile up and thick vegetation. The rest of the circle is outlined by a modern wall. The feature shown here is the central excavation in which Herr Brochtorff supposedly found other megaliths including an altar-like structure. The remains are tho... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stone Circle in Gozo. In a field about 700 metres to the west of Ggantija. Not a true stone circle in the common meaning it was a circular walled construction about 120 metres in circumference consisting of uprights about 2 metres high and 1 metre wide.

Most of these have disappeared and replaced in parts by a modern field wall. A painting by Charles de Brochtorff in c. 1830 depicts an excavation and shows megaliths and and altar-like structure. A man is also shown emerging from a cave carrying a human skull.

It seems likely that this was a temple serving both ceremonial and communal burial functions standing in relation to Ggantija in the same way that L-Imrejzbiet stands to Borg il-Gharib and, on Malta, the Hypogeum to Tarxien.

The site is not directly accessible being enclosed by a 10' high wire fence.

Note: Revealed...the face of a Maltese woman 5,600 years ago, see latest comment
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Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by mona : Figurines found at the Xagħra Stone Circle (Vote or comment on this photo)

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by AlexHunger : This Stone Head was found at the Xaghra Stone Circle and now resides at the Valetta Museum. It's a fine example of neolithic Pebble art. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by riotgibbon : Also called Brochtorff's Stone Circle. Underground remains. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by Andy B : Reconstruction of Xaghra circle mortuary complex (after Stoddart et al. 1993) Part of book review of An Archaeology of the Senses - Prehistoric Malta (Vote or comment on this photo)

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by Jon : (1 comment)

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by Jon : This site is now thought to be associated with the Gigantija Temple and may be a communal burial temple and ritual site in the same way that the Hypogeum is associated with the Tarxien Temple on Malta.

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by mona : Pottery found at the Xagħra Stone Circle

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by SolarMegalith : One of the side chambers in Xaghra Circle. Not all of them were excavated by Stoddart and Malone, therefore the full extent of the rock-cut features remains unknown (photo taken on March 2013).

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by SolarMegalith : General view of Xaghra Circle. The site has been partly excavated by Simon Stoddart and Caroline Malone (photo taken on March 2013).

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by SolarMegalith : Rock-cut tomb - the oldest feature in Xaghra Circle (photo taken on March 2013).

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by Jon : Shot showing the paving slabs to threshold.

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by Jon : Shot showing rock cut tomb and modern vine pits.

Xaghra Circle
Xaghra Circle submitted by riotgibbon : Underground remains

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 142m NE 35° L'Ghar ta' Gejzu* Cave or Rock Shelter
 233m E 82° Ggantija Standing Stones* Standing Stones
 391m ENE 76° Ggantija* Ancient Temple
 446m W 278° Santa Verna* Ancient Temple
 547m ENE 64° L’Ghar Tramuntana* Cave or Rock Shelter
 926m ESE 123° In-Nuffara Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement
 1.0km NNW 328° Il-Gebla ta' Sasuna* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.2km SSW 203° Ta' Blankas Stone Row* Stone Row / Alignment
 2.2km SSW 201° Ta' Blankas Cart Ruts* Ancient Trackway
 2.2km SSE 169° Ta' Lambert Stones* Stone Row / Alignment
 2.2km SSW 201° Ta' Blankas Dolmen B* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.3km SSW 202° Ta' Blankas Dolmen A* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.3km W 268° Gozo Museum of Archaeology* Museum
 2.3km WSW 237° Tac-Cawla Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement
 2.3km SSE 165° Ta' Lambert Cart Ruts* Ancient Trackway
 2.5km SE 134° Borg il-Gharib* Ancient Temple
 2.6km SE 137° L-Imrejzbiet* Stone Circle
 2.7km WNW 300° Is-Srug* Cave or Rock Shelter
 2.7km WSW 237° Ta' Marziena* Ancient Temple
 2.7km NW 323° Ta' Kuljat* Ancient Village or Settlement
 2.8km N 350° Ghajn Damma Stones* Standing Stones
 2.9km SSW 197° Ta' Cenc Gallery Grave* Chambered Tomb
 2.9km SSW 197° Id- Dura tax-Xaghra L-Kbira* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.9km SSW 197° Id-Dura tal-Mara* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.9km S 186° Id- Dura tal-Imramma* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
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"Xaghra Circle" | Login/Create an Account | 10 News and Comments
  
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Visualising Taphonomy: reconstructing burial practices at the Xagħra Circle hypo by Andy B on Friday, 02 June 2017
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Visualising Taphonomy: reconstructing burial practices at the Xagħra Circle hypogeum - J. E. Thompson, University of Cambridge

The dense deposits of largely disarticulated and commingled human bone from the Xagħra Circle hypogeum on Gozo, Malta provide a rich case study from which the process of death, and interactions with the dead, can be visualised. The hypogeum and nearby rock-cut tomb, both contained by a surrounding stone circle, held the remains of between 700-900 individuals, deposited from c. 4300-2300 cal BC.

Preliminary analyses have shown that in most cases primary inhumation gave way to prolonged periods of engagement with the materials of the dead body, resulting in patterned deposits of rearranged skeletal remains. These episodes of activity are now being investigated through both taphonomic and spatial analyses. The excavation plans from the Circle have been digitised (by Dr. K. Boyle, Dr. R. McLaughlin, E. Parkinson and J. Thompson) in ArcGIS, providing means to study the spatial distribution of the remains, in relation to features such as skeletal element, age, sex, pathology, and taphonomy.

This paper will investigate the alignment of ArcGIS with taphonomy, through a detailed examination of 1m2 of burial deposit on the edge of a single, large context (783). Within this 1m2 area, more than half of the 3,611 analysed fragments range in age from foetal to adolescent. The high percentage of nonadult remains allow us to theorise about the intersection of personhood with age and burial modes, through detailed visual and contextual analysis.

https://youtu.be/R6Te_LdMkWs
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Revealed...the face of a Maltese woman 5,600 years ago by bat400 on Thursday, 09 January 2014
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Malta's megalithic temples are slowly revealing secrets about a population that was clever, artistic, creative and talented with an eye for detail and a taste for the delicate and the exotic.

Heritage Malta this evening surprised guests at the Malta Fashion Week with an exhibition entitled Jewellery through the times showing that Malta's first residents were not the aggressive, dirty individuals with unkempt hair which most imagine them to have been.

The exhibition was followed by a fashion show of replica prehistoric jewellery, which preceded the main highlight: changing the misconception related to the image of prehistoric people by means of a unique reconstruction.

The items featured in the fashion show were replicas of objects worn by individuals who lived on the Maltese islands some 5600 years ago. The artefacts exhibited were discovered at various Prehistoric Temple sites and form part of the permanent display at Heritage Malta’s National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

Heritage Malta also launched a 3D virtual reconstruction of facial features based on one of the prehistoric skulls (over 5,000 years old) found at the Xagħra Stone Circle in Gozo. It revealed, for the very first time, what one of the earliest Maltese actually looked like.

It was a face which was much closer to what one would expect from a woman of our day and age rather than that of a person who lived on the islands over 5,000 years ago.

Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, see http://www.timesofmalta.com
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    Fashion takes a huge step back in time by bat400 on Thursday, 09 January 2014
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    And a similar article submitted by coldrum:

    A Neolithic woman’s face stole the show at this year’s edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Members of the audience at Kind’s showroom in Lija were slightly taken aback when the catwalk started to resemble a prehistoric temple, as models wore replicas of jewellery believed to have been worn by people who lived in Malta some 5,600 years ago.

    The star of Tuesday evening, however, was a 3D virtual reconstruction of a woman’s face based on a prehistoric skull found at the Xagħra Stone Circle in Gozo.

    The woman’s strong features and dark brown eyes were described by members of the audience as “undeniably Maltese”.

    The woman behind the reconstruction, Prof. Caroline Wilkinson, is a British anthropologist best known for her reconstruction of the head of King Richard III of England.
    Heritage Malta said: “The Megalithic Temples are slowly revealing secrets about a population who was artistic, creative and had an eye for detail as well as a taste for the delicate and the exotic.”


    Source: http://www.timesofmalta.com
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A visit to less well known megalithic temple sites in Gozo by Andy B on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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A visit to less well known megalithic temple sites in Gozo - Xaghra Stone Circle and Hypogeum, Santa Verna (Xaghra), Ta' Marziena (Tac-Cawla, Rabat) and Borg l-Imramma (Ta' Cenc/Sannat).

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Archaeologists in new study at Xaghra by Andy B on Wednesday, 10 December 2008
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Archaeologists from Queen’s University in Belfast and from Cambridge University are currently in Gozo carrying out archaeological work in connection with excavations carried out between 1987 and 1994 on the Xagħra Stone Circle. The project is being carried out in collaboration with Heritage Malta and the University of Malta.

The Department of Information said the aim of this project ,which is sponsored by the British Academy, is to extract additional samples and reorganize the finds from the site to establish and confirm dating of the prehistoric levels of the site. The information obtained will shed new light on the customs and way of life of people living on the Maltese islands during prehistory. Bone and pottery samples dating between 6000 and 4400 years will be studied in the laboratories of the Universities of Belfast and Oxford to attempt to refine the dating sequence of early Malta.

Other studies to be carried out through this project will provide information on the diet of these people. This aspect may help in the interpretation of the changes in society and economy at the end of the Temple Period and the eventual collapse of the Maltese Temple Culture around 4400 years ago.

Gozo Minister, Giovanna Debono, paid a visit to the archaeologists during the course of their work. Dr Caroline Malone and Dr Simon Stoddart, the two archaeologists leading this project, explained to the Minister the complex processes undertaken during the last fifteen years for the study of the material excavated from the Xagħra Stone Circle. Two hundred thousand human bones and almost a ton of pottery fragments were studied with the aim of building a clear picture of the customs of these people particularly connected with burial ritual. The Minister also discussed proposals for better preservation, presentation and interpretation of the site.

Artefacts found on the site have shed invaluable light on the artistic capabilities of prehistoric people living on Gozo. A selection of the most significant and important finds, including unique pieces of sculpture, are permanently on show at the Gozo Museum of Archaeology at the Cittadella.

Source:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080918/local/archaeologists-in-new-study-at-xaghra
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Development permission recommended at Xaghra Circle by Andy B on Tuesday, 31 July 2007
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The Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s Development Control Commission has been advised to grant permission to a private developer to build a two-storey house and swimming pool adjacent to Gozo’s prehistoric Xaghra Circle.

The site in question, in the shadow of the Ggantija Temple and in the middle of an archaeologically rich area, lies partly within the limits of the important Xaghra Circle archaeological site.

Mepa’s development permission application report in fact notes that the back of the site falls within an area designated as an archaeological park.

But despite the development’s obvious patrimonial sensitivity, Mepa’s report notes the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee (CHAC, found “no objection to the proposal from a heritage point of view provided that excavation works are monitored by The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage”.

While the report refers to consultations with the CHAC, it does not mention consultations with or feedback from the Integrated Heritage Management Team or the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, which are allowed 30 days to reply to a proposed development – failing which they are considered to have had no objection.

Neither does Mepa’s report mention the fact that Xaghra Circle is a Grade 1 site and as such should have a 100-metre buffer zone between its parameter and the closest development.

Contacted yesterday, Prof. Anthony Bonanno – Head of the Classics and Archaeology Department at the University of Malta and one of the leaders of the 1987-1994 excavations at the burial site – expressed his concern over the recommendation.

Giving a reaction of “total objection” to any development permission within such proximity to the Xaghra Circle, Prof. Bonanno said the development would “impact the site visually and in every other way”.


More:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=55089
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Re: prehistoric religion of Malta by Aluta on Thursday, 23 November 2006
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>>Left means profane, unclean, female, death, rubbish, dark, weak. The right means sacred, pure, male, life, food, light, strong.<<

Gotta love it!
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    Re: prehistoric religion of Malta by Anonymous on Thursday, 23 November 2006
    Sounds like a religion officiated by old men! Er ... like most religions! The more things change ...
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The real prehistoric religion of Malta by Anonymous on Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Forget the goddess theory, which you hear every tourist guide trying to explain the huge statues at the National Museum of Archaeology or while touring Hagar Qim.

That may not have been the original religion of Malta.

This was the startling starting point in a lecture “Ritual, Space and Structure in Prehistoric Malta and Gozo: New Observations on Old Matters”, given by Dr Caroline Malone, co-director, Xaghra Stone Circle excavation during the recent Heritage Malta international conference held at the Grand Hotel in Gozo.

Dr Malone is senior tutor at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and Director of studies in archaeology and anthropology and principal research investigator for the Cambridge Templeton Project “Explorations into the conditions of spiritual creativity in prehistoric Malta” at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

The goddess theory may not have been adequately investigated and structured from the many archaeological remains in Malta and Dr Malone dismissed it summarily as a “faulty” theory.

All human societies are based on structured ritual and deal with such themes as life and death, male and female, right and left, good and bad, clean, and polluted. The human body is very important in that it constitutes a universal cipher for these themes.

The temples were for ritual, “the goddess”, fertility, sunrise, priests. Hypogea were for burial and also for the cult of ancestors.

Cult places in general are very special places, for the most part man-made, but possibly also using natural locations. They were mostly enclosed spaces, with controlled access. They were directional – orientated towards the sunrise. The presence of altars and libation holes in the temples in Malta shows this was a highly organised and repetitive religion with ritualistic symbols, participation in offering, with priests and a hierarchy.

The Maltese prehistoric society was a relatively stable, agricultural community, an intense and densely populated island, celebrating cyclical cycles of life, rites of passage, transitions between different stages of life, from separation to reintegration, fertility, ancestors, good spirits welcomed, bad spirits avoided, all in a cosmological context.

The Maltese prehistoric temples contain elements expected of ritual and cult – a regular layout along axis lines, enclosed spaces and public spaces offering only restricted views from the outside. The axis orientation (at Mnajdra it is clearly based on the solstice) is linked to a cosmology in an awe-inspiring location. Hagar Qim is surrounded by performance areas to which everybody had access. There are also oracle holes and even shrines in the outside wall focused on fertility and gender. But there are also barriers and thresholds controlling access to the interior. This is evident from the doorjambs and the holes for barriers. There are also thresholds, steps, in a word, exclusion.

It is also very significant to study the location of various objects. Libation holes, for instance, are always to be found on the left or in the middle, never on the right. The oracle holes in the restricted areas are always on the right. This was the domain of priests, the shaman, and altars.

Left means profane, unclean, female, death, rubbish, dark, weak. The right means sacred, pure, male, life, food, light, strong.

There are still some unresolved issues: Hagar Qim is a monument in the round, interesting inside, but equally so on the outside. It is also somewhat complicated to decipher: it seems to encourage increased audience participation and the pits for ritual rubbish and the fire pits are on the right.

Tarxien is the only temple where not only do we know what was there but also its exact location, thanks to Temi Zammit’s notes. Access was more controlled here: you did things in a particular pattern.

Hal Saflieni and the Xaghra Stone Circle

Read the rest of this post...
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Gozo prehistoric artefacts to go on permanent display by Anonymous on Tuesday, 27 December 2005
Unique archaeological artefacts unearthed during excavations at the Gozo Stone Circle in Xaghra are expected to return to Gozo next year after the Ministry for Gozo installs state-of-the-art showcases at the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, the government said yesterday.

The museum is one of four within the Victoria Citadel managed by Heritage Malta. Nine state-of-the-art showcases, procured through the EU Structural Funds 2004-2006, will be installed by mid-2006.

The government's statement said these showcases offer the maximum protection and security possible for these unique artefacts, including shatter-proof glass and a climate-controlled environment.

Moreover, it said, they enhance the visitor's experience at the museum through an improved presentation of the island's archaeological heritage. The artefacts will be permanently on display.

The Gozo Stone Circle is a prehistoric cemetery in Xaghra situated a few metres away from the Ggantija Temples and used at the same period. It was first recorded by Father Pelagio Mifsud and Jean Houel in the 18th century.

In the early 19th century, early clearance works were carried out by Otto Bayer, with the only documentation of these works being two watercolour paintings by Charles Frederick de Brocktorf, now kept at the National Library of Malta.

Between the early 19th century and the second half of the 20th century, trace of this prehistoric cemetery was lost until Joseph Attard Tabone from Xaghra again discovered its exact location in the 1960s.

In 1987, scientific excavation works were led by the universities of Bristol and Cambridge together with the University of Malta and the Museums Department. Excavations were led by Anthony Bonanno, Tancred Gouder, Caroline Malone, Anthony Pace, Simon Stoddart and David Trump.

The excavation brought to light accurate and scientific information about the population of the island of Gozo during those times, since remains of around 700 individuals were found. More awareness and information about the island's prehistoric heritage is available now that the artefacts have been unearthed, shedding light also on the rituals connected with death and burial in prehistoric times.

These unique artefacts of world importance were exhibited for the first time in Gozo for one month in the late 1990s and afterwards toured major European cities including London, Florence, Prague and Amsterdam.

The return of the artefacts will be complemented by a modernisation project of the Gozo Museum of Archaeology that is being carried out by Heritage Malta.

This project is being carried out by the Ministry for Gozo in close collaboration with Heritage Malta.

Source: Times of Malta:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=209837
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