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Ġgantija Temples (pronounced ju-gan-tee-ya) The earliest of the Maltese megalithic temples, older than the pyramids of Egypt.
Their makers erected two temples during the Neolithic Age (c. 3600-2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old,
and the world’s second oldest manmade religious structures. According to local Gozitan folklore, they were built by a giantess for
places of worship, and were probably the site of a fertility cult. Local residents knew about the temples for a long time, and plans
were made as early as the 18th century. Excavations began in the 1820s, though serious archaeological work didn’t start until the 1930s.
All images are © Chris Gibbins