malta
Water, geomythology and cosmology in the late Neolithic Malta
Reuben Grima
problematic: water, hydrology
description: The present paper sets out to explore the question of attitudes to water among the Neolithic inhabitants of the Maltese archipelago, best known for the series of remarkable megalithic monuments they created during the 4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC, usually referred to as ‘temples’ in the literature. The landscape setting of these monuments is considered below, followed by the hydrology of the archipelago, and some of the associated beliefs and toponyms that are documented from more recent periods. The prehistoric evidence for the use of water in different contexts is then examined against this background.