Mnajdra: Cosmology of the Sky

by Irene Friesen

Original submitted March, 2014 To Dr. Lisa Micheelson, Instructor

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts – Integrated Studies

Athabasca University

This pre-publication version was posted on www.academia.edu, September 2014 Contact Irene Friesen, wolfston@mts.net

Conference travel and dissemination made possible with support from

MNAJDRA: COSMOLOGY OF THE SKY Irene Friesen 2

Mnajdra: Cosmology of the Sky

Abstract This paper, based on theoretical research, hypothesizes an Afrocentric origin for the astronomical knowledge that informed the megalithic temple builders of Malta. In the first section, using recent research by Cox and Lomsdalen, I describe the astronomical features of Mnajdra in the context of its matricentric features. Understanding that cosmology, epistemology and methodology are interconnected in any study of ancient cultures, I consider cosmology as an ancient layer beneath and intertwined with culture. Cosmology, established in myth, lives on in the instinctual life of people, even as culture shifts in response to factors such as climate, migration or invasion. Using a cosmological epistemology, I hypothesize the cosmological principles that were expressed in the astronomical and matricentric design of Mnajdra. In the second section, I explore ancient cultures of North Africa for evidence of astronomical knowledge. Drawing on the archaeo-astronomical studies by Wendorf, I describe the star-gazing cultures of Nubia, Egypt and the Sahara. Using cultural and mythological studies, including Griffis-Greenberg’s study of Libyan Neith, I seek out cosmologies where sky deities and matriculture intersect in Nubian and Tamazight (Berber) cultures. This search introduced me to Tanit, one of North Africa’s earliest deities. In the final section, I synthesize my hypothesized cosmology of Malta and the cosmologies of North Africa to a conclusion that ancient North African cosmology informs Mnajdra’s astronomical design and matriculture. I also suggest that the Maltese megalithic culture was focused on natality, not on necrophilia as theorized by several archaeologists.

Keywords: Mnajdra Malta astronomy Tanit Neith Tamazight Berber Afrocentric matriculture

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to explore Malta's Mnajdra Temple with the question: what is the cosmology that is expressed in Mnajdra? What are the origins of this cosmology and the astronomical knowledge evident in the architecture of Mnajdra? In preparing for my 2012 trip to Malta, I found many sources that implied that Malta’s megalithic temples had been constructed by a European culture. In this paper, I hypothesize an Afrocentric origin for the astronomical knowledge and celestial cosmology that informed the megalithic temple builders of Malta.

Methodology Drawing on Harald Haarmann’s theory and methods of studying culture, I seek evidence of the inter-relationship of humans and the cosmos by reading the language of culture in myth, ritual, sign and symbol, and this requires an interdisciplinary approach.

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In order to avoid projecting modernist concepts onto Malta’s neolithic culture, I bring these assumptions to my study:

1. Cosmology is a comprehensive and integrated perspective of cultural knowledge that functions as a paradigm for ecologically and socially sustainable living in a society; it is articulated in terms of time, space and place.

2. Cosmology lies intertwined with and beneath culture. Culture is specific to place and experience and thus relatively transitory, whereas cosmology lives on for much longer once it is established in the myths, legends, instincts and traditions of people. It is deep knowledge that is lived, embodied and often not articulated in linguistic form. Cosmology survives for millennia. A transition from one belief system to another requires a long process of change. Remnants of old beliefs are retained in myth and custom in spite of new technology and other cultural changes (Haarmann, 2007, p.176).

3. Religion emerges from cosmology and culture to formalize the embodied relationship of humans to their environment. Religion, a modern social concept, gives institutional form to cosmological ideas and related ritual practices. Religions are linked to text, but retain traces of shamanic and pagan elements that reflect the pre-literate cultures from which they emerged.

4. The human/nature relationship is characterized by nonduality in which nature is an embodied and enspirited experience (Haarmann, p.159).

Based on these assumptions, this study of prehistoric Mnajdra does not use the term ‘religion’ because it implies conceptual solidity documented in text, institutionalized ritual, and priestly roles – three factors for which there is scant evidence. Eschewing the word ‘cult’, I prefer the term ‘spiritual tradition’ to imply a worldview characterized by a reciprocal participatory relationship with enspirited nature and a fluid, unregulated, sacred epistemology. Rationalism dominates Western thinking and often obstructs an understanding of cosmology which is best understood using other ways of knowing. Cosmological epistemology engages in big-picture thinking about the cosmos and creates symbolic language to articulate a mythic structure for living in the cosmos and engaging in life as an organic totality. Spiritual epistemology experiences life as sacred through deep connection with enspirited nature and through unitive, nondual experiences. Embodied epistemology refers to instinct, bodily felt senses, sense of place and deep connectedness with nature. Relational epistemology refers to the affective domain that is integral to living in harmony, building community, working collectively, welcoming difference, offering hospitality and caring for the vulnerable. My study is situated within a feminist perspective and applies a deliberate focus on gender. I bring to this study an assumption that women were active participants as astronomers, architects and users of Mnajdra. I bring epistemological pluralism to my research by accepting that feminist theory, critical theory, cultural studies, postcolonial and postmodernism provide a diversity of perspectives for interrogating humanities and the study of antiquity. I also accept that our interpretations are filtered through a web of values, expectations and vocabularies that influence understanding. Influenced by Hannah Arendt’s philosophy of natality, I search for evidence of the human capacity to bring forth the new, the radical and the unprecedented (Arendt, 1958, p.9). Reflecting on the impact of living in a necrophilic Western culture, I am curious about the possibility of social transformation toward a culture that values natality and creativity.

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Afrocentric theory has increased my awareness of the androcentric, racist, ethnocentric and colonialist biases of Eurocentric scholarship. Afrocentric theory infers that humans originated in Africa, that first civilizations were in Africa, and that human migrations flowed from Africa to other continents. An Afrocentric view of Malta starts with this set of assumptions:

• Humans, as well as animals such as hippopotamus and dwarf elephant migrated to Malta and Sicily from North Africa via the continental land mass that bridged Europe and Africa up to the last Ice Age. After the last Ice Age, water levels of the Mediterranean Sea rose, turning Malta and Sicily into islands.

• A culture that participates in the cosmos values nature, ancestors, peace and mothers. • Knowledge flowed from south to north through diffusion and cultural exchange.

In contrast, Eurocentric scholarship infers that classical Greek and Roman cultures were the origin and prototype of Western civilization. Africa is viewed as the dark continent; no civilization (except Egypt) existed in Africa. Some Egyptologists view Egyptians as white. A Eurocentric view of Malta starts with this set of assumptions:

• Seafarers from Sicily were the first settlers on Malta, c.6000 BCE. • Cultural development and progress requires an elite class to dominate others and to

control natural and economic resources. Rivalry, conflict and war are normative. • Knowledge flowed from north to south, or evolved independently of external influences.

Gender must be a consideration in the study of cosmology and social culture as well as in material culture. The decades-long debate among archaeologists about patriarchy and matriarchy has often pitted them as binary oppositions, according to the structuralist theory of Lévi-Strauss. Bella Zweig views them as a “mirror-reverse image” of domination, in contrast with egalitarianism, which implies complementarity and negotiated power, not sameness (Zweig, 1993, p.157). Peggy Reeves Sanday proposes a continuum of social structures in which matriarchy and patriarchy anchor the ends, and most cultures are located on a spectrum (Sanday cited by Haarmann, p.162). There are language issues. Heidi Goettner-Abendroth, like Diop, uses ‘matriarchy’ as a synonym for matrilineal and matricentric, distinguishing it from patriarchy:

In patriarchal societies, all social spheres are strictly separated and isolated in various institutions. That in turn creates elite groups and serves to enforce power interests. All of society is hierarchically ordered according to these power interests. The result is domination and oppression – not only within but among the individual institutions… Matriarchal societies did not recognize such hierarchies and consequently knew neither dominance on the one hand nor oppression and exploitation on the other. (Passman, 1993, p.186)

Joan Marler uses ‘matristic’ defined as “pertaining to the mother in a spectrum that includes matriarchy, matrilineal, matrifocal and egalitarian” (Marler, 2008, note 1). Tina Passman uses ‘matricentric’ and ‘matricultural’ to describe “matrilinear culture with women as the focus; in such a culture, there is usually an extended clan structure, with goods and status passed through the motherline. This culture does not presume the subordination of men, but rather a partnership between the sexes, and the expected division of labour determined by gender” (Passman, p.185). In this paper, I follow Passman in my usage of ‘matricentric’ and ‘matricultural’. Some Eurocentric scholars subscribe to the notion of universal patriarchy, claiming that matriarchy is impossible, that it has never existed and will never exist. Lewis-Williams

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exemplifies the assumption that domination is biological when he writes, “The way in which monuments were laid out reflected and controlled social distinctions that were, in turn related to neurologically wired concepts” (Lewis-Williams, 2005, p.171). Environmental philosophy is relevant to this study of ancient Malta. There is a tendency for Western scholars to project an anthropocentric and mechanistic worldview onto ancient cultures. “Shades of Green” (Table 1) is a continuum of environmental philosophies that describes the spectrum of values that characterize the human/nature relationship (Friesen, 2013, p.8).

Table 1: Shades of Green - a Continuum of Environmental Philosophies Organic Cosmology Deep Ecology Conservation Utilitarianism

ecocentric anthropocentric Reciprocal relational

regeneration respect for life participatory

nature is enspirited

equal protector

interdependent ‘nature is wild’

nondual

superior caretaker steward

‘nature is dynamic’ ecosystem manager

sustainable development

superior colonizing

owner ‘nature is dead’

mechanistic dualistic

reductionism “Shades of Green” illustrates the difference between the Utilitarianism category, which generally characterizes the Western worldview and the Organic Cosmology category, which generally characterizes indigenous cultures. Anthropocentric philosophies are rooted in Cartesian dualism that views humans as separate from and superior to nature, which is regarded as devoid of intelligence, agency or spirit. In contrast, Organic Cosmology describes an ecocentric philosophy that is deeply connected to nature and that regards humans as participants in a reciprocal relationship with nature, which is experienced as intelligent, dynamic, enspirited and sacred. My work in cultural studies indicates that the Organic Cosmology category is highly nuanced; however “Shades of Green” is useful in illustrating the distance between contemporary Western values and the values of indigenous and prehistoric cultures. I begin my analysis of the culture that built Mnajdra with an assumption that its human/nature relationship reflected many of the attributes of the Organic Cosmology category.

1. Mnajdra Malta’s megalithic temples are regarded as the world’s oldest known free-standing structures; they were constructed between c.4600 and c.2500 BCE by neolithic communities whose tools were made of stone and bone. Malta is located in the Mediterranean Sea, 560 km north of Libya, 310 km east of Tunisia and 100 km south of Sicily. Hagar Qim and Mnajdra are temple complexes, only 600 metres apart, overlooking the southern Mediterranean. This study focuses on Mnajdra and explores three inter-related elements: astronomy, matriculture and cosmology. Mnajdra is a complex of three conjoined but not connected temples with an elliptical forecourt that separates the temple site from a slope that runs down to the sea. The central niche in each temple is rectangular and the focal point from the main entrance to the temple.

• Small Trefoil is the oldest temple and is dated to the Ggantija phase between c.3600 and c.3200 BCE. It has 2 elliptical apses.

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• Mnajdra South is closest to the sea and was built second, probably in stages, between c.3150 BCE and c.2500 BCE. It has a concave façade and trilithon entrance. The megaliths surrounding the entrance are decorated with shallow holes called pitted decoration. There are four apses along a central passage to the rectangular niche at the back. Of the three Mnajdra temples, this one has the most complex floor plan and includes several niches and altars, giving one the sense that the functions performed here required quickness, ease of movement, complex rituals and access to supplies. The front right apse has two oracle holes, a cut out door to an external room and three stone benches.

• Mnajdra North was built most recently, after Mnajdra South. Its entrance is on a larger scale. It has four apses and a large niche. The design is minimalist compared to Mnajdra South.

Figure 1. Mnajdra South (left), Mnajdra North (middle), and small trefoil (right) (Gimbutas, 1999, fig.74).

Figure 2. Drawing of double seated female sculpture found on Gozo (Gimbutas, 1999, fig.76).

The temple floor plan resembles a mother’s body with wide hips and full breasts (Figure 1). There are two narrowed passage ways, one to the womb and one between the breasts. The floor plan of Mnajdra’s two largest temples resembles the Gozo sculpture of two females sitting side by side, holding a small human and a cup (Figure 2). Further studies are required to explore the motif of twinning and the meaning of removable heads.

Mnajdra’s Astronomical Features At the outset of this study, I believed that Mnajdra South was the only temple with astronomical features, but in the course of this study, I have read recent research by Cox and Lomsdalen that identifies possible solar and stellar alignments at several of Malta’s twenty-three megalithic temples. Archaeo-astronomers have been studying Mnajdra’s astronomical features for over thirty years and in this section, I present an overview of their findings:

• The small trefoil temple features two orthostats with neat rows of drilled holes. • The entrance to Mnajdra South faces significant sunrises of the solstice and equinox

(Cox and Lomsdalen, 2010, np). The first rays of the rising sun at summer solstice lights up an orthostat in the left front apse. At the spring and autumn equinox, the rays of the

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rising sun light up the central passage and the inner niche. Lomsdalen provides detailed descriptions of these solar events (Lomsdalen, 2010, p.9f). The first rays of the rising sun at the winter solstice light up a narrow slit on an orthostat opposite in the right front apse.

• Mnajdra North is designed to observe a “major lunar standstill alignment” through the north side of the main porthole entrance as well as a Winter solstice sunrise (Lomsdalen, 2013, p.192).

Several Maltese scholars have contributed to identifying the astronomical features of Mnajdra. In 1980, Agius and Ventura identified astronomical alignments but were not confident that the alignments were intentional. In 1990, Paul Micallef pointed to the significance of the north and south vertical orthostats inside Mnajdra South based on his observations of winter and summer solstice sunrises. In 1992, Serio, Hoskin and Ventura suggested that the alignments could be intentional and that the motive of the temple builders appeared to be related to sky-watching (Serio et al., 1992, p.117f). In 1993, Ventura, Serio and Hoskin published evidence of time-reckoning at Mnajdra, based on their analysis of two orthostats with neat rows of drilled holes in the small trefoil temple. “The rows convey the strong impression of being a tally – but a tally of what?” they asked. In their view, the tally marks indicate that Mnajdra sky-watchers worked with “great precision” and that the tally marks indicated intention. They considered the possible alignment to face the rising point of Pleiades (Ventura et al., 1993, p.35). In 2010, archaeo-astronomers Cox and Lomsdalen studied twenty-five temples on Malta and Gozo for astronomical alignments. They identified lunar and solar alignments but determined that additional research is required to confirm possible stellar observations. They addressed the issue of intentionality: “Although the number of astronomical cases is not great enough to demonstrate a deliberate alignment at the time of foundation, their number is sufficient to suggest it may have been intended in some cases” (Cox and Lomsdalen, np). Maltese scholars have been studying two stones that appear to have astronomical features. The scholars are Anthony Pace, Anton Mifsud, Chris Micallef, George Agius, and Frank Ventura. The fan-shaped Tal-Qadi stone, recovered from the small Tal-Qadi temple, has radiating lines and symbols that represent stars and the crescent moon, and may have been an instrument for stellar observations. These same scholars note that several temples are aligned with Alpha and Beta Centauri, but not with enough accuracy to definitively say that was the intended use (Pace et al., np). Hagar Qim, a temple just 600 meters from Mnajdra, was the find-spot for a stone solar wheel. It would have taken generations of astronomical observations to design Mnajdra. There are no texts with records of the sky-watchers’ calendars and observations, so contemporary researchers must examine pitmarks, incised disks and other material evidence. Was sky-watching so valued by the Maltese communities that it warranted the considerable effort required to build Mnajdra North? How did the Maltese acquire this astronomical knowledge? Did Malta’s neighbours in North Africa also have advanced astronomical knowledge?

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Mnajdra’s Cosmology I have explored Mnajdra’s astronomical features and the facts that indicate a culture engaged in sky-watching. In this section, I will explore the link between astronomy and sky cosmology in neolithic Malta. Bella Zweig, classicist, draws on her aboriginal roots to understand the primal mind of pre-literate cultures. Her cosmology oriented toward spiritual traditions is more gender-sensitive than Lewis-Williams and Pearce’s Neolithic Mind. According to Zweig, cosmology and human behaviour are interdependent (Zweig, p. 150f). Table 2 identifies five attributes of organic cosmology that link humans to time, space and place.

Table 2: Organic Cosmology 1/ Relationality

Everything is interconnected and indivisible; all things have matter and spirit. The heart, rather than the mind, is the instrumental source for connectedness to all beings. Maintaining harmonious relationships is a matter of the heart, and this leads to a value on cooperation, generosity and hospitality in social interaction. Maintaining relations with the spirit world (i.e., cosmic deities, nature spirits, ancestor spirits) holds primary importance that is far greater than economic, political and other social constructions because it involves the heart (Zweig, p.150).

2/ Reciprocity

Gods and goddesses, representing cosmic forces, are engaged in the affairs of the world. As meta-characters, they embody energy, emotion, magic and ethics. Deities share the human capacity for affection and anger, generosity and revenge, and their emotions are expressed through wind and rain, thunder and lightning, rainbows and sunshine. Humans engage with the cosmic forces of earth and sky in a reciprocal relationship in order to maintain balance and harmony in the environment they inhabit. Because maintaining balance and harmony with cosmic forces is essential for cultural continuity, it is a collective and individual responsibility. Ritual practices are one way for humans to invest in reciprocal relations. Ritual practises perform the myths and cultural knowledge and are an important tool for maintaining collective memories. Reciprocity should not be confused with propitiating and placating.

3/ Respect for Life

The universe is alive, aware and intelligent because all things are ensouled. All living things are enspirited, even stone. Deceased relatives remain in the community as ancestor spirits. Unborn babies are enspirited in the womb by a sky goddess. Deities of the netherworld take care of the souls of deceased relatives until they are ready to be reborn as ancestor spirits.

4/ Regeneration

Birth and death cyclical; they are co-occurring continuously.

5/ Participation

Participation means conscious, dynamic involvement of a person with microcosmos and macrocosmos. Participation is the opposite of objectivity which requires aloofness. Artistic expression is participation in the continuous creative energy of the Creator deities. Creative work participates in sacred relationship on behalf of the community; it is a collective investment in reciprocal relationship.

Many respected scholars have offered interpretations that imply a cosmology based on rivalry, domination and manipulation, but I now view these interpretations as projections of Eurocentric values. Some scholars offered fresh interpretations that open new pathways to cosmological thinking:

• Lewis-Williams and Pierce assert that megalithic architecture is a way of expressing the cosmological universe (Lewis-Williams, p.171). “As later thinkers and scientists, such as Copernicus and Galileo, drew diagrams of the solar system, so neolithic people constructed monuments that not merely represented their ideas of the cosmos but that embodied those concepts” (p.180).

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• Malone and Stoddart’s notion of “regeneration and celebration of the cycle of life” indicates one aspect of cosmology. They suggest that there are “clear underlying structuring principles behind the layout of the temples and that “their animal and human representation is …potentially suggestive of cosmological beliefs” (Malone & Stoddart, 2001, p.768f).

• Lomsdalen posits that the temple design represents “an image of the world” in the context of cosmological time and space. Following Eliade, he emphasizes that stone was a manifestation of power and was regarded as sacred because it is timeless and predictable. The megalithic proportions of the temples symbolize the immensity of the temple builders’ cosmos. In Lomsdalen’s cosmological interpretation, the rhythmical moon phases gave the reassurance of survival by linking “time” to birth, becoming, death, plants and fecundity. Mnajdra was built as an observatory of solar time cycles; it marked the passage of the sun which symbolized the assurance of ‘never changing’ time or immortality (Lomsdalen, 2010, p.3f).

Lomsdalen’s interpretation of cosmology is insightful in its engagement with time and space. His analysis acknowledges the relationship with landscape, ancestors and spirit worlds that are typical of indigenous spiritual traditions. He looks to the east and south for the origins of megalithic architecture.

Mnajdra’s Matriculture Features In this section, I explore Mnajdra’s matricultural features. Matriculture acknowledges that women’s procreative and creative abilities are interwoven in human thought and action. Whereas Western culture discounts the value of reproduction and women’s creative consciousness, ancient cultures “affirmed the power of the inner, intuitive, feminized realm” (Zweig. p.151). I posit that the meaning of Mnajdra’s architecture will be unlocked only when we comprehend how the ancient Maltese viewed motherhood and birthing. Temple imagery does not represent the nubile body of young woman or the sagging body of elderly woman; it appears to offer an aesthetic representation of the body of mothering woman. Furthermore, the female imagery is not sexual, provocative or coy. In this section, I will describe the matricentric images found in Mnajdra and interpret those images in relation to cosmology. What are the links between architecture, art and cosmology? Mnajdra South and Mnajdra North are similar in shape and size, reflecting a twin motif that is also represented in the Gozo sculpture of two females sitting shoulder to shoulder, one holding a smaller sitting human figure (Figure 2). Over thirty female sculptures have been found in Malta’s megalithic temples, ranging from small mobiliary art to monumental statues of women. They leave little doubt that female gender was significant to the cosmology and architecture of the temple builders, and that compels us to search for female Creator deities that articulate many of the attributes embedded in Mnajdra. Within this context, I turn my attention to the sculpture called Mnajdra Woman (Figure 3), which was found by Ashby in 1910 in a pit under the torba floor of Mnajdra South’s inner right apse, along with five clay lumps. The ancient sculptor of Mnajdra Woman created detail related to late stage of pregnancy, including pendulous breasts, swollen belly and incised vagina. The back features an exaggerated spinal column of twelve vertebrae and eight ribs. The sculptor did not

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depict facial features or legs. Given her find-spot and attributes, Sara Rich proposes that the sculpture was used by midwives to teach about pregnancy and miscarriage (Rich, 2008, p.261) or as a prop for childbirth rituals (p.263). The clay twists (Figure 4) have been interpreted as representations of fetuses at various stages of development (Rich, p.261; Gimbutas, 1989, p.109). Rich concurs with Isabelle Vella Gregory’s interpretation that “prehistoric women chose to embody in clay significant events in their lives: giving birth and possibly miscarriage. These representations also shed light on another aspect of women’s lives – the transmission of knowledge and the creation of a community feeling among women as they spoke about and shared their experiences of their lived bodies” (Gregory cited by Rich, p.263).

Figure 3. Mnajdra Woman. Height 5.2 cm Dates to the Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE).

Source: Heritage Malta. Photo: M&K Davison. Courtesy Heritage Malta.

Figure 4. One of five clay twists. They may represent fetuses at early stages of development. Average size is 4.5 x 3 cm.. Source: Heritage Malta. Photo: Dr.Bernadette Flynn. Courtesy Heritage Malta.

Weaving is a motif at Mnajdra and throughout neolithic Malta. Bobbin artefacts were found by Ashby in 1910 in the small room of Mnajdra North. Cutajar identified carved motifs related to weaving and spinning tools. A limestone relief appears to represent spindle-whorls (or bobbins) and ovoid-shaped loom-weights. “Actual specimens of …these spinning implements were recovered in dated archaeological contexts at Hagar Qim, Saflieni, Mnajdra and Tarxien…thus leaving no doubt as to their being well-known and very likely common” (Cutajar, 1986, p.164). Weaving is one of the creative arts performed by women in many cultures. Anthropologist Barbara Tedlock explains the link between weaving and birthing: “For millennia, women the world over have sat together spinning, knotting, weaving, and sewing. These rhythmic acts of unravelling and tying together can be seen as expressions of unity and hope in the face of the reality of change, destruction and death…Women’s rituals surrounding the weaving of cloth often evoke those performed during childbirth” (Tedlock, 2009, p.223). The artefacts found at Mnajdra indicate that one of the possible functions of Mnajdra was supporting mothers in giving birth. I offer an interpretation that the temples expressed the heart of the Maltese people; they were an intimate investment in their reciprocal relationship with the cosmos. The temples were sacred places because The Mother Principle was embedded in their architectural design. The four-apsed design has two narrowed passages which could symbolize the passage through the birth canal and the passage at death through the gates to the netherworld. This interpretation offers an alternative to the modernist interpretations of temple builders as construction managers using local materials based on logical decisions that were motivated by

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rivalry with neighbouring communities and designed for use by male elites to maintain power over the masses.

2. North Africa In this section, I explore the ancient cultures of North Africa to identify knowledge and cosmology that may have contributed to Mnajdra’s astronomical architecture and its matricentric values. This paper does not explore Gobekli Tepe in Turkey which may challenge Malta’s claim as the oldest known megalithic architecture. Its astronomical alignments are still under investigation (Lomsdalen, 2010, p.3).

African Astronomy Nabta Playa, the world’s oldest known astronomical site, was established by a prehistoric Nubian culture c. 4500 BCE (Wendorf & Malville, 2001, p.489; Malville et al., 1998, np). It was located in the Nubian Desert about 100 kilometres west of Abu Simbel on the Nile. The Nubians of Nabta Playa herded cattle. They dug deep wells to support a more sedentary life in planned villages, making Nubian culture more advanced than other cultures in the Nile Valley. The Nubians abandoned Nabta Playa c.3300 BCE after desertification made the Sahara uninhabitable due to the 5.9 kiloyear event, which caused migration toward river valleys. Nabta Playa predates Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period c. 3100–2686 BCE. Nabta Playa included a twelve foot stone circle with twenty-four alignments, indicating centuries of sky-watching to observe lunar, solar and stellar movements. Researchers suggest that the astronomers of Nabta Player were familiar with observable star cycles, including precession, and that the site indicates mathematical astronomy. Wendorf and Malville hypothesized a stellar alignment with Sirius (Wendorf & Malville, p.489). Brophy proposed an alternate hypothesis: that the calendar circle is aligned with Orion in the period 6400 to 4800 BCE, which matches the radio-carbon dating of campfires around the circle (Brophy & Rosen, 2005, p.24). The cultural investment in sky-watching demonstrated its value. Its significance would have been embedded in a sky cosmology, transmitted through myths, rituals and symbols. Robert Palter, in Black Athena Revisited, is categorical in denying that Egypt had developed advanced astronomical knowledge: “Egypt has no place in a work on the history of mathematical astronomy” (Palter, 1996, p. 216). Palter also rejects Bernal’s assertion that Nubian and Egyptian astronomical science had discovered the precession of the equinoxes, and defends the claim that mathematical astronomy was first discovered by Babylonians and Greeks between 670 and 332 BCE (p.214f). Of course, Palter rejects Diop’s claim that, compared to the Egyptians, Mesopotamians were mediocre astronomers and geometers (p.216). Only two years after Palter published in Black Athena Revisited, Wendorf and his team discovered Nabta Playa. We can conjecture that several millennia of sky data passed by oral transmission within the Nubian culture and via North African trade routes. Sahara nomads and traders used the stars to navigate the desert. It is possible that, during the millennium interval between the construction of Nabta Playa and the construction of Mnajdra South, Nubian astronomical knowledge could have

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travelled across the Sahara to the Mediterranean and to Malta. Before desertification, cultural knowledge would have travelled via the large river valleys, now dried up, that crossed the Sahara savannah and it is likely that other astronomical centres were constructed where there were long-term sedentary settlements. After desertification, Sahara communities were buried by sand but the rock art of the Sahara holds the cultural signs of an ancient pre-Egyptian neolithic culture that included bovine herders and agriculturists. Desertification compelled communities with herds to migrate to river valleys where there was access to water. Tamazight (Berber) origins are as veiled as the nomads that traverse the Sahara. Tamazight culture is heterogeneous, comprised of several ethnic groups including Tuareg and Kabyle. In Tamazight, the oral language of North Africa, the T-prefix indicates the feminine and the A-prefix indicates the masculine. The classical form for the culture was Timazighin (fem.pl.); however, in the contemporary political movement, the common forms are Amazigh (m.sing.) and Imazighen (m.pl.), which mean ‘free men’; however, these forms are not inclusive and threaten the matricentric foundation of the culture (Nesmenser, 2014, np). In my studies, I use ‘Tamazight’ to describe the culture as well as the language because it is inclusive and recognizes the matricultural value embedded in the language. I recognize that the global community of scholars uses the term ‘Berber’ as synonymous with Tamazight, however most Tamazight people reject this term as a pejorative that perpetuates the indignity of a ‘barbaric’ identity imposed by invaders and colonizers, similar to ‘Indian’ in Canadian English. Few megalithic sites in North Africa have been studied by archaeo-astronomers. Nick Brooks posits that “stone arrangements with apparent astronomical functions are abundant throughout the Free Zone [Amazghi territory], and are generally situated in the same locations as burial groups” (Brooks, 2005, np). The Mzora (also spelled Msoura, M’soura, Mezorah and Mezzorah) megalithic circle near Asilah, Morocco has recently been identified as an astronomical site (Salisbury, 2011, np), but alignments have not been confirmed. The Elles Necropolis and other megalithic sites in Tunisia and Libya have not been dated or surveyed for astronomical alignments. Megalithic sites in Libya are documented in the published work of 19th century archaeologist H.S. Cowper (1897). There is evidence of a pre-Roman agricultural calendar. There remains much work to be completed before absolute statements can be made concerning astronomical alignments in North Africa, but there is good reason to expect that when it is finalized, the evidence will indicate that Tamazight cultural astronomy can be traced back to the Neolithic. In summary, I have demonstrated that advanced astrological knowledge existed in the Nubian culture that constructed Nabta Playa c.4500 BCE, predating Mnajdra by at least one millennium. Nubian astronomical knowledge would have been valuable for desert navigation, farming and seasonal livestock migration. The knowledge would have dispersed via oral traditions through Saharan trade routes and cultural interactions.

African Cosmology In this section, I explore North African cosmology related to the sky and natality. In particular, I am interested in cosmologies that predate the Egyptian civilization. I conjecture that the ancient astronomers of Nabta Playa who used the stars to navigate the Sahara embedded their knowledge of the sky in a cosmology with sky deities that governed time and space. Their practical

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knowledge of the sky would have been expressed in a sky cosmology with rituals and symbolic structures that, in their minds, explained how cosmic forces interacted with humans and nature. Ancient astronomers knew Neith as Opener of the Sun’s Paths in all Her Stations. Tanit/Neith ruled the daily risings and settings of the sun, and also the rising and setting sun at various places along the horizon during the year, notably the equinoxes and solstices. These solar gateways existed beyond the boundaries of our world. The brilliant play of color in the sky at dawn and sunset was thought to offer a glimpse of the glory of the sky realm of Neith. It is at these changing points on the horizon that Neith reigns as a form of sky goddess, beyond the sky that is seen. This is why Neith says of Herself, “I come at dawn and at sunset daily” (Iles, 2007, np; Griffis-Greenberg). Tanit/Neith is the oldest known deity in North Africa. She is “the eldest, mother of the gods, who illuminated the first face.” She was “unequivocally portrayed as autogenetic / parthenogenetic creatrix” (Rigoglioso, 2010, p. 23). This primordial deity is sometimes portrayed as having undifferentiated gender or possessing both genders. She is the “first conscious act of creation from the void, who takes the inert potential of Nun and causes creation to begin” (Griffis-Greenberg, 1999, np).

“I am all that has been, that is, and that will be. No mortal has yet been able to lift the veil which covers me.”

The Primordial Mothers of Africa have common attributes because they are one and the same, with minor cultural distinctions: Tamazight Tanit, Libyan Neith, Canaanite Anat, Egyptian Isis, Akan Ngame and more. Johanna Stuckey, in her study of Tanit, lists her many names, including Tanit, Thinit, Tanis, Rat Tanit, Lady of Carthage, Lady of the Sanctuary, Tinit, Rabat (Chief) and Tanou. These names represent the original great mother goddess, an ancient and powerful force, self-generating and holding up the sky. Tanit is indigenous to North Africa and shared her name and attributes with Neith, who later became central to the Egyptian pantheon (Stuckey, 2009, np). In this study, I use ‘Tanit’ and ‘Neith’ interchangeably. Tanit was referred to as Opener of the Ways. She was responsible for opening the cosmic pathways. She opened the birth canal for new life to emerge. She opened the portals to the underworld, the unseen sky that exists below the horizon, so deceased souls could find their way (Iles; Griffis-Greenberg). In Egypt, her functions were later split into Nut, patron of childbirth and mother of Isis, who is the manifested night sky, and Hathor, the manifested sky of the day. As Mistress of the Bow and Ruler of Arrows, Tanit used her bow and arrows to govern the stars (Figures 5 & 8). She was venerated as the ruler of the sky, the earth, and the underworld. Known as the Ever-Ready Shooter, she gave life to humans and all living things on earth by shooting into their inert bodies particles of her kra or vitalizing moon fire. Her kra is critical to the formative phase of a human being before birth. She also took them back to herself after death and oversaw the rebirth of the deceased (Rigoglosio, p.27, 42; Griffis-Greenberg). She may have been a Mistress of Animals as well as a warrior (Dexter, p.25). It was said that Tanit/Neith wove the world on her loom, weaving both gods and humans. Neith, as patron of weavers, provided the bandages and shrouds used in mummification and the respectful care of the dead. Each weaver’s weaving is symbolic of her becoming, a continuation

MNAJDRA: COSMOLOGY OF THE SKY Irene Friesen 14

of the parthenogenetic power of the first Weaver. Her name may be derived from netet meaning “to knit, to weave” (Dexter, p.24).

Figure 5: Drawing of ancient rock engraving of a female archer from Wadi In Habeter in southwestern Libya (Pöllauer)

Figure 6. Tanit icon (Museum of Assaraya Alhamra)

Figure 7. Variants of Tanit’s iconography include oval womb, pubic triangle, arms holding up the sky, horizontal line representing sky or loom, crescent moon, rectangle representing loom.

Figure 8. Neith, Egyptian iconography

Tanit’s symbol (Figure 7) may be linked to the ankh, Egyptian symbol of life, in which the womb oval is situated over the birth canal, and the two arms of the fallopian tubes. The Libyan symbol of Tanit, with arms holding up the sky and a horizontal line representing both sky and loom, has an oval womb inside the pubic triangle (Figure 6). She is associated with the scarab beetle. Like sailors and Saharan nomads, the scarab can orientate itself by watching the sky. On clear nights, a myriad of stars shine over the deserts where the beetle makes its home. The scarab, or dung beetle, uses the light of the Milky Way to keep it on a straight course, scientists found (The Telegraph, Jan.24, 2013). Neith, as The Great Cow, takes the form of a cow and symbolizes the nursing mother. Rock art throughout northern Africa, dating as far back as 6000 BCE, depict sacred bovines and female figures wearing horns, which may represent early forms of Neith, and later deities that Egyptians identified as Hathor and Isis. Bernal, in Black Athena, argues that Neit (Neith) is the root of the West Semitic Atanait (Tanit), which was modified in the Doric dialect to Athana or Athene. The ancients saw Neith and Athene as two names for the same deity (Bernal, 1987, p.51f). Artemis, like Athena, may be derived from Neith. Artemis’ name is not Greek in origin; her titles and epithets include Goddess of the Moon and Lady Delighting in Arrows. According to historical records, Plutarch, Diodorus and Herodotus wrote that the Libyan (African) birthplace of Neith, whom the Greeks adopted as Athena, was the traditional homeland of the warrior women known as the Amazons around the legendary Lake Tritonis (Rigoglioso, p.56).

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Other attributes of African cosmology include: • Relationality extends backwards in time by venerating ancestors and forward in time by

considering future generations in how local resources are harvested. • In a nondual perspective, there is a both/and approach to life. Something is not this or that

– it is both together in. Contradiction is not a problem. • Relationality-in-community is expressed as “I am because we are” (Ubuntu).

Accordingly, there is no individual without the collective and the collective includes human beings, other-than-human beings, ancestors and spirits.

• The act of giving is congruent with cultural knowledge that the universe is responsive; it creates and sustains relationships, not only with the land, but also with ancestors.

• Humans show respect by sensitive listening to the world at large and the world within. In summary, Tanit is the indigenous Primordial Mother deity of North Africa, the foundation of Tamazight matriculture. She was known to the Nubians and Egyptians as Neith. Tanit’s icon, carved into stone stelae, is frequently represented standing holding up the sky. I suggest that African Tanit pre-dates the Canaanites on Malta and may be the Primordial Mother venerated by Malta’s neolithic culture that built megalithic temples in her form.

African Matriculture Tanit integrates two themes from Mnajdra’s material culture: sky cosmology and natality. I interpret natality literally, as the birth event, and figuratively, as creative expression in art and architecture. Time and space do not permit a comprehensive exploration of African matriculture, so I highlight only two well-known Afrocentric scholars. Diop writes extensively about African matriarchies, which he distinguishes from regimes which dominated men “by techniques intended to debase the male” (Diop, 1974, p.145). For Diop, matriarchy is “characterized by the collaboration and harmonious flowering of both sexes, and by a certain pre-eminence of woman in society, due originally to economic conditions, but accepted and even defended by man” (p.145). Diop insists that “matriarchy is a basic trait of Negro agricultural civilization” (p.144) and conjectures that African matriarchal societies are linked to women’s role as agriculturists (p.143f). Ifi Amadiume concurs with Diop that motherhood is central to African culture but she opines that Diop’s theory of matriarchy is based on the matrilineal descent system, whereas she defines matriarchy as a matricentric ideology - a core societal value in which motherhood has wider socio-political expression: “the traditional power of African women had an economic and ideological basis, which derived from the importance accorded motherhood” (Amadiume, 1997, p.112). Amadiume asserts that the matricentric production unit is the “basic material structure of African matriarchy” and that it is “common to all traditional African social structures, since it generated affective relationships.” Her thesis, in Re-inventing Africa: Matriarchy, religion and culture, is that there is a “missing system of matriarchy in European studies of African societies,” and that this blindness is “the consequence of gender prejudice and ethnocentrism, as a result of the masculinization of language, and the imposition of the structures of Greek and Hebrew mythologies on Africa” (p.29). Nubian queens played an important role in the lives of their people. Queen Candace of Meroe stood at the head of her warriors and delivered fierce, unyielding resistance to military invaders (Diop, p.143). Ten sovereign ruling queens are recognized from the period (p.25) and were often

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portrayed as very rounded (p.27). The Nubian queens were called both gore, meaning ruler, and kandake, meaning queen mother (p.28). There is considerable material, textual and cultural evidence of matricentric culture in Africa. Sculptures of females found in paleolithic and neolithic layers accentuate reproduction, child-bearing and nurturing. Saharan cave art from Tassili n’Ajjer and Tadrarc Acacus depicts men and women in many roles. Matricentric cultures have survived to current times. Cosmology continues to be expressed in the creative arts, particularly pottery decoration and weaving. Therefore, it is not surprising that we find matricentric elements in Tamazight culture. Dr. Malika Grasshoff, a Kabyle woman, tells her story about the central position of women in the life of the Tamazight of North Africa. Her story illustrates many matricentric elements: from the cradle to the grave, the woman as mother is the protector of life; she is the potter, the provider, the weaver of human bonds (Grasshoff, 2009, p.187). The adoration of the mother is expressed as ancestor veneration and in rituals performed for nature in order to create a spirit of unity with the ancestors and all of life (p.180). I offer two excerpts from Dr. Grasshoff’s story:

I was born in Kabylia and was able to observe how people preserved some of their traditions… the veneration of saints, belief in the magic and power of the earth, the sun, the moon, springs and the rain. As a young girl I had already learned about the secret code of women, displayed on hand-painted ornamentation on pottery and on the walls of Kabyle houses. It took a long-lasting initiation by old women-potters in the '80s to actually enable me to decipher the symbols that can only be truly appreciated by women because they relate directly to femininity and maternity. (p.178)

The ritualised life of the Kabyle women, especially of the grandmothers, emphasises the reverence of mothers. All rituals in the traditional life cycle of a Kabyle woman, which accompany her existence from cradle to grave, show up matriarchal structures of previous times. These rituals have been preserved in the life of women. They can be called magical, because they mirror the cosmic creation in human procreation. In this way women see themselves not only as creatresses of human life, but also as a symbol of the creative power itself. Therefore they see uniquely this creative and magical power in everything they themselves have created. (p.188)

Hélène Claudot-Hawad studies the Tuareg of the Sahara and describes the pre-eminent role of women in this indigenous society. Her study of Tuareg culture is excerpted here to illustrate its matricentric elements:

In the beginning…there was a single being, a single body, encompassing time and space, female and male, the same yet different. The body of this indistinct whole descended through the void and landed on a vague expanse, an undefined space, where it began to move…At each move, at each point of contact with this unknown space, the body left behind a part of itself. In the first two stages, it set down its heaviest and fullest base material, containing its primordial essence, solid, compact, inert, autonomous, and concentrated. This part of the body was the female part… In this way, during what one might call the “founding cosmic landing,” female and male become separate, and time and space are created. The female pole is defined by its precedence, its density, its stability, and completeness in contrast to the male

MNAJDRA: COSMOLOGY OF THE SKY Irene Friesen 17

pole that comes after and seems less substantial, allowing itself to be taken further by the initial thrust. But both parts belong to the same whole and are totally interdependent, unable to exist one without the other. (Claudot-Hawad, 2009, p.161)

This cosmology illuminates three principles that are fundamental to Tuareg philosophy: the female came before the male; difference is essential for progress, that is for existence in time and space; and the parts which make up the whole are complementary. In Table 3, I supplement Table 2: Organic Cosmology with additional elements from African matriculture.

Table 3: African Matricultural Elements of Organic Cosmology 1/ Relationality

The mother/child bond is the most important relationship.

2/ Reciprocity

The Primordial Mother refers to the deity who created first life. The first deity is generally a parthenogenetic female who gives birth to herself (eg., Ge/Gaia, Neith/Tanit) and then creates the world and gendered humanity.

3/ Respect for Life

The female existed before the male and gave birth to humanity. Respect for difference is essential for progress. The parts which make up the whole are complementary. A culture that respects nature also respects women. Respect for mothers is integral to living in balance and harmony with the cosmos and with nature. Birthing is an event that reinforces the sacredness of life and respect for the mother who gives us birth; it is a microcosmic drama that repeats the macrocosmic first birth and continual renewal of space through time. For this reason, mothers must always have shelter and food.

4/ Regeneration

The mother/daughter dyad represents cultural continuity.

5/ Participation

Female procreative capacity continues the creative work of Primordial Mother. Women’s creative work as weavers and potters participates in the creativity of the Primordial Mother. Spiritual insights come from the place of creation.

In summary, matriculture in North Africa is both historical and contemporary, both ancient and modern. The role of mother is honoured because she ensures cultural continuity. The mother – daughter bond is the primary familial relationship and represents continuity. Could Malta’s cosmology share this matricentric cosmology? Is the double female sculpture (Figure 2) a symbol of cultural continuity: grandmother, mother and infant daughter? Based on my assumption that knowledge flowed from south to north, and that there was cultural exchange between Malta and North Africa, I suggest that the ancient Tamazight mythology of Tanit may have influenced the matricentric ideology that appears to be central to Malta’s culture and architecture.

3. Mnajdra’s African Roots In Section 1, I explored Mnajdra’s astronomical and matricentric architecture and artefacts in order to develop a tentative hypothesis of ancient Malta’s cosmology. In Section 2, I explored North Africa for astronomy and matriculture expressed in cosmology and culture. Now I will focus on the intersection of African and Maltese cultures in order to locate possible Afrocentric contributions to the cultural knowledge of Mnajdra’s community.

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Astronomy Observational astronomy contributes to cultural knowledge and engages a culture in developing insights into the meaning of the cosmos. Based on assumptions that knowledge is incremental and that knowledge flowed from south to north, I suggest that the astronomical knowledge of Nabta Playa was not lost in the sands of the ever-expanding Sahara, but continued to expand over the next millennia across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. It would be reasonable to conjecture that this knowledge reached Malta where local astronomers continued to advance the knowledge and to embed it in local architecture. At the time of this writing, there is no evidence that astronomical knowledge flowed from Europe to Malta. I acknowledge that the circumstantial evidence presented here must be corroborated by further research. I must allow that astronomical knowledge could have developed spontaneously on Malta, however my leanings are toward cultural exchange, not spontaneous cultural development. At this time, Mnajdra South is the only Maltese temple with known alignments to the solstices and equinoxes. It may have stellar alignments. Researchers continue to explore the possibility that other temples may have stellar alignments. Sky-watching was probably part of the spiritual tradition at Mnajdra. It is unclear if there were a few astronomers working out of each temple, or if the entire population participated in sky-watching at the temple observatories. We can assume that astronomical knowledge was highly valued and had practical application. We do not yet have evidence that solar observations of seasonal changes were used by neolithic agriculturists. We do not yet know the nature of seasonal rituals, such as festivals. Sky-watching was probably one of the many spiritual practices whose purpose was to maintain reciprocal relationship with the sky deities who opened the pathways of time so that souls, like birds, could travel into a body before birth and could journey to the netherworld after death. The belief in the intertwining of death and birth still lingers in contemporary Malta, northern Africa and in most of Europe. According to a Maltese proverb, “a woman’s grave is open from the day she has conceived till the fortieth day after her deliverance” (Gimbutas, 1989, p.219).

Matriculture It is likely that the cosmology of Mnajdra’s builders and users was matricentric and had elements similar to the cosmology of the Tamazight culture of North Africa. I conjecture that ancient Malta recognized a primordial mother/creator deity who was also a ruler of the skies, similar to Tanit/Neith. The design of the temples appears to represent matriculture in its floor plan that symbolizes birth-giving Mother with wide hips and full breasts. It is possible that Mnajdra was used as a birthing centre, similar to the birthing room at Catal Huyuk:

At Catal Huyuk, in south central Turkey (ancient Anatolia, excavations revealed a room where inhabitants apparently performed rituals connected with birthing…A low plaster platform could have been used for actual birthing. The color and symbolism in the room suggest that people regarded birth as a religious event and that they accompanied it with ritual. (Gimbutas, 1999, p.11)

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The artefacts of Mnajdra Woman and the five clay lumps, which appear to represent fetuses, support this hypothesis; however, additional research is required to compare artefacts found at Mnajdra to those found at other temple sites. This interpretation avoids essentialism because “this is not a matter of romantic exaltation of women as mothers; still less is it a reduction of ‘woman’ to the function of mothering. Rather, it is the shift of Gestalt that we are connected with all other persons, female and male…This connectedness with all others, while allowing for great diversity, can therefore be recognized as the material basis of ethical responsiveness…grounded in the imaginary, and worked out in symbolic and social structures” (Jantzen, 1999, p.150).

Cosmology Architecture is a way of re-stating a culture’s cosmology. Perceptions of cosmic order and guiding principles (beliefs) are translated into architectural design and art. The relationship between the macrocosmos is palpable in the microcosmos of Mnajdra’s architectural design. Aligning physical structures with cosmic forces symbolized the people’s alignment with the spiritual forces of their world. I suggest that Mnajdra was made sacred because it was a symbol of the cosmic order, and thus the modern word ‘temple’ is fitting. It was a place to re-enact, through ritual, the cosmic drama. The first scholars who hypothesized that the megalithic temples of Malta and the thirty sculpted figures indicate a culture that venerated a mother goddess were regarded as controversial. In 1985, Maltese classicist Horatio Vella observed that “of all the neolithic temples in Malta and Gozo, the one at Tas-Silġ is unique in the islands in that a female divinity was venerated with a certain amount of continuity from neolithic times down to the Christian era. In the same place we have neolithic, Phoenician, Classical, Byzantine and Arab traces, and only a few yards from the site of a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Snow” (Vella, 1985, p.315). There is little controversy about Malta’s veneration of a female divinity subsequent to the Phoenician era. It is accepted that when the Phoenicians arrived on Malta, their goddess Astarte was merged with Tanit, creating a syncretic Tanit-Astarte. According to Stuckey, when the Romans conquered the Canaanites, they re-named Tanit to Juno Caelestis and dedicated the Maltese temple at Tas Silq to her (Stuckey, np). The controversy centers on the matricentric cosmology of the neolithic temple builders before the collapse of their culture c. 2500 BCE. Some scholars offer an ambiguous response, allowing that the Maltese sculptures “represent a continuation of a philosophical idea given visual form from a long line of female figures originating in the Paleolithic. Thirty of these figures, both nude and clothed, have been found in the late Maltese temples and Hypogeum …Their sexlessness signified their universal quality – female in identification but beyond the dualism of male and female” (Biaggi, 1986, p.139). I concur with Biaggi’s critique of ‘fertility cults’ and view the term as pejorative, however I suggest that the gender ambiguity of the sculpted figures indicates the androgyny – a lack of gender differentiation – of the Primordial Mother. Evidence is accruing to support a hypothesis that neolithic Malta honoured a primordial Mother deity. In concluding this study, I argue that the cosmology of the neolithic temple builders seems

MNAJDRA: COSMOLOGY OF THE SKY Irene Friesen 20

to mirror the Tamazight matricultural cosmology that venerated Tanit/Neith as Primordial Mother, Weaver and Ruler of the Skies. Underneath the modern veneer of Malta’s Catholic piety, we find the ancient memory of the Tanit/Neith. The ‘eye of Isis’ is painted on fishing boats. Ankh amulets are still popular. The scarab is a Maltese icon. Parish churches remain as central to culture, faith and celebration today as the temples were in the Neolithic. Malta’s arts community is vibrant and includes weavers and ceramic artists. In short, Malta flourishes as a culture of creativity. I offer this visual image of Malta’s ancient sky cosmology that was integrated in its cultural activities related to megalithic architecture, sculpting, weaving, sky watching and birthing (Figure 8). Cosmology, as the centre of ancient Maltese life, was embedded in the culture of creativity that flourished at Mnajdra.

Conclusion In 2012, I visited Malta with notions that the megalithic temples were built by the Bell-Beaker culture or other un-named European culture. In this paper, I have challenged my Eurocentric assumptions by looking to Africa for knowledge of astronomy that influenced ancient Maltese pre-occupation with sky-watching. I submit this hypothesized cosmology of Mnajdra tentatively, with openness to critique and with anticipation of new evidence that will refine, revise and confirm this hypothesis.

…

Weaving

Pottery Architecture

Matriculture

Astronomy SKY COSMOLOGY Ruler of the Skies

Figure 8: Sky Cosmology

MNAJDRA: COSMOLOGY OF THE SKY Irene Friesen 21

Mnajdra was a temple to observe the sky. As a centre for observational astronomy, Mnajdra appears to have been designed to observe the sun. Mnajdra South allowed sky watchers to observe the march of the seasons by marking the equinoxes and solstices of the sun’s annual journey. The small trefoil temple appears to be a stellar observatory where local astronomers made tallying marks to document the interval between the stars’ path across the skies. We can assume that the considerable effort to build Mnajdra North was warranted by its contributions to advancing astronomical knowledge. Archaeo-astronomers continue to research the possibility that Mnajdra and other temples were stellar observatories. It is my hypothesis that the Maltese temple builders integrated their cosmology into their architecture. Their cosmology included a Primordial Mother deity, similar to or the same as Tanit/Neith, eldest of North African deities. Tanit, as Ruler of the Skies, was Opener of the Ways; she opened the passage for new life to be born and she opened the gates for deceased souls to find their way to the netherworld below the horizon. Mnajdra may have served as a birthing centre where midwives supported women through pregnancy and birthing. The motif of birthing is represented by Mnajdra Woman and the five clay twists. I suggest that the Primordial Mother presided over Mnajdra’s embodied and relational culture of creativity, where the creative arts of architecture, weaving and sculpting maintained the reciprocal relationship with the deity on behalf of the collective community. Hannah Arendt wrote that natality is the distinctly human capacity to bring forth the new, the radical, and the unprecedented. Mnajdra is a celebration of newness. It is testimony to the creative capacity of the human mind that, in the 21st century, we continue to find new interpretations of Mnajdra that deliver the gift of surprise as well as emancipation from the mechanistic and hierarchical thinking of the 20th century. I welcome critique of this interpretation and look forward to years of discussion as scholars continue to solve the megalithic puzzles of Mnajdra.

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