Journeys through time
The wisdom of the stones
Until quite recently, it has seemed that architecture, mathematics, medicine and writing – the benchmark of civilisation – appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia some 5,000 years ago as if from nowhere. To explain this, theories about the lost civilisation of Atlantis and even the arrival of beings from outer space have been propounded. But the truth is that this store of knowledge was accumulated from earlier generations of the human race.
This Secrets of the Stone Age programme travelled back in time from the tombs of the Pharaohs to a revolution in human living 10,000 years ago, when prehistoric peoples began to make the first settlements and to cultivate plants and animals for their food. These bold experiments by hunter-gatherer societies are traced in the temples of Malta and in the first-known towns – Asikli Höyük and Catal Höyük in Turkey.
The Pyramids of Egypt
The Great Pyramid of Giza
10 miles west of Cairo, Egypt
This vast edifice on the northern edge of the Giza plateau is thought
to have been erected about 3200 BC, during the reign of Khufu in the fourth
dynasty. The details of its size and construction are mind-boggling:
• its base covers more than 5.2 hectares (13 acres)
• it is 138.3m (454ft) high, equivalent to a 48-storey modern building
• each side has an area of 2.2 hectares (5.5 acres) and an upward
slope of 51 degrees 51 minutes
• it is composed of blocks of limestone weighing between 2 and 70
tonnes apiece.
This astonishing feat of engineering was probably never finished, for the Great Pyramid lacks the topstone that crowned most of the other pyramids. One of the first reports of its absence dates from 60 BC, when the Great Pyramid was described as without the least decay, with no sign of the damage that would have been caused by the removal of a topstone.
Yet this is a minor mystery compared to the others that still remain to be unravelled. Its internal construction is unique, with a gallery in its ascending system that implies it had a grander purpose than the pyramids that succeeded it. When the Greek historian Herodotus visited it in 440 BC, its sides were clad with highly polished limestone. What riches it may have contained will never be known, for when an entrance was forced in AD 816 on the orders of the Caliph al-Mamun, nothing was found but a polished granite coffin; looters had been there long before and removed Khufu's body and burial treasures.
Modern Egyptologists believe that it would have taken a workforce of 20,000-36,000 to build the Great Pyramid. Graffiti on the stones tell how the men were divided into crews and into smaller gangs within those crews, overseen by inspectors, directors and others whose titles are carved in hieroglyphs at the settlement nearby. In the workers' cemetery, 600 skeletons have been found, some showing evidence of emergency treatment such as splints on an injured hand.
While it has been suggested that slaves were used to build the pyramid, the gangs' graffiti reveals that they gave themselves names such as 'friends of Khufu' and 'the drunks of Menkaure', another king – inscriptions that imply these early builders were far from coerced into the project that must have been the talk of ancient Egypt.
The Step Pyramid
Saqqara, about 12 miles south of Cairo
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built for King Djoser (or Zoser), in about 2650 BC, was the first pyramid to be erected and was probably designed by Imhotep, variously identified as a vizier, high priest and physician. Saqqara is the royal burial ground of ancient Memphis. Recent excavations to the west of the pyramid have uncovered mummies, coffins, tombs and underground catacombs – and a natural configuration of land resembling a pyramid in shape that may have inspired the architect of the Step Pyramid. The latter's superstructure was made of limestone blocks and desert clay, while the interior was intended to be a replica of Djoser's palace, with a central burial place and surrounding rooms containing his possessions.
Until the time of Djoser, rulers were buried in rectangular mastaba tombs made of mud. The Step Pyramid was originally begun as a traditional mastaba, but was enlarged with the addition of extra tiers in different phases of building until it reached the six-tiered structure that still stands 63.7m (209ft) high today. It was a splendid monument for an influential ruler who was believed to have ended a period of drought by building a temple to the god Khnum, controller of the flow of the Nile. A statue of Djoser, found in the tomb chamber, is now in the Cairo Museum, but his body has never been discovered.
Find out more
Egypt Pyramids Index
www.touregypt.net/featurestories
/pyramids.htm
Don't let the bad design put you off. This website contains fabulous amounts of information on all Egyptian websites, including overviews and details of construction, mythology and more.
The Neolithic temples of Malta and Gozo
The first settlers arrived on the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo about 5000 BC, bringing with them cattle and supplies of seed for wheat and barley crops. This was a peaceful society with a strong religious imperative that gave rise to the building of stone temples that predated those of the Egyptians by 1,000 years, yet matched them in sophistication. Working only with tools of bone and antler, these Neolithic people were able to erect temples of huge stone blocks as well as carving large figurines of the mother goddess who represented the fertility of the earth that was essential to a settled society.
The temples of Malta and Gozo have a trefoil, or cloverleaf, floor plan. The outer walls are built from enormous blocks of limestone and the doorways typically consist of a post and lintel trilithon. The chambers, or apses, are an incomplete dome in shape, and probably had roofs of animal hides suspended from timber poles.
Ggantija Temples
Xaghra Plateau
Xaghra
Gozo
The Ggantija temples on Gozo, constructed of huge limestone slabs, are among the oldest buildings in the world. The two temples, which were excavated between 1816 and 1820, date from 3600 to 3000 BC and share an outer wall that may once have been 16m (52ft) high. The large forecourt may have been used for public ceremonials, while the inner apses, which have rudimentary altars, may have been the province of priests only.
Tarxien Temples
Neolithic Temples Street
Tarxien
Malta
The temples at Tarxien, probably dating from between 2400 and 1800 BC and the last to be built on the islands, were discovered in 1914 by a farmer ploughing his fields. There are three interconnected temples, in one of which the lower half of a stout fertility goddess was discovered – now in the National Museum in Valletta, with a replica on display in the temple. Elaborately carved friezes on the walls portray sheep, goats and pigs; animal skeletons, possibly the result of sacrificial rites, were also found. Round stone rollers outside the south temple were probably the means of transporting the megaliths of which the complex is built.
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
Burial Street
Paola
Malta
A labyrinth of man-made chambers about 11m (36ft) below ground, the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni seems to have been a burial site as well as a temple. There are three levels, all carved out with antler and stone tools with incredible workmanship. Motifs painted in red ochre on the walls and decorative marks inscribed in the stone indicate that this was a site of much significance, and many statuettes, figurines and vases were found. The most famous – a reclining woman – is in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
Hagar Qim
Near the Blue Grotto on the south-west coast
Malta
The ruins of Hagar Qim – which means 'stones of worship' – overlook the sea from a rocky plateau. The temple, built from the soft globigerina limestone that composes the upper crust of the plateau, is badly weathered. Nevertheless, some of the largest stones (the largest found in any of the Maltese temples) remain and it is possible to discern that the temple was aligned on the summer solstice. On the morning of the summer solstice, sunlight passes through an opening known as the 'oracle hole' and illuminates the apse of the temple.
In this sacred site were found several statuettes and altars, including a unique four-sided altar. Most remarkable is a small section of corbelling employed to narrow the span of the roof, which was next used more than 1,000 years later in the tholoi, or tombs, of Mycenae in Greece.
Find out more
The Megalithic Temples of Malta
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/
A site with photographs and plans of the temples and a map showing
their locations.
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
Via Museo/Museumstrasse 43
I-39100 Bolzano/Bozen
E-mail: museum@iceman.it
On 19 September 1991, two German hikers discovered a frozen corpse in the Ötzal Alps on the Italian/Austrian border. At first assumed to be that of a modern-day climber, the corpse was lifted carefully from the snow – but instead of 20th-century clothes, his rescuers found that he was wearing a bearskin hat, a bark-fibre cape, and goatskin and deerskin jerkin and leggings. He carried with him a fire-making kit of embers wrapped in damp leaves, a longbow, a quiverful of arrows, some birch-bark containers and a copper axe. The hikers had found a 5,000-year-old body.
The Ice Man, given the name 'Ötzi', is now in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, after being subjected to intensive research. Investigations of the contents of his colon showed that it contained pollen from the hornbeam tree, which means he must have died in late spring or early summer when the tree was in flower. Barley, meat and a grain known as einkorn were also found, as well as eggs of the parasitic whipworm. The cause of his death was for some time unknown, but tests conducted in 2001 discovered a flint arrowhead that had penetrated his back and stopped 2.5cm (1in) short of his left lung, inflicting a fatal wound.
His joints show damage caused by arthritis. Remarkably, a series of tattoo marks on his body have been recognised as matching the acupuncture points that a modern-day acupuncturist would use to treat arthritis. The tattoos may, in fact, have been a kind of prescription for another practitioner to follow.
However, despite the intestinal disorders that would have resulted from the whipworm and his arthritis, Ötzi reached the age of about 46 before he died on the mountainside, an average lifespan for medieval times. He is now preserved in a specially designed storage chamber at a temperature of -6ºC, where he can be viewed by visitors to the museum.
Find out more
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
www.archaeologiemuseum.it/f01_ice_uk.html
Gives a little information on the Ice Man, with photographs, plus
details on the museum's location and services.
Otzi the Ice Man's home
www.mummytombs.com/museums/italy.tyrol.otzi.htm
Enthusiast's detailed description of what can be seen at the South Tyrol Museum.
Europe in the Neolithic by Alasdair Whittle (Cambridge University
Press, 1996) £25.99
The author reviews archaeological evidence on Neolithic Europe
from 7000 to 2500 BC and describes the changing nature of Neolithic society
during the period.
Catal Höyük and Asikli Höyük
The ancient Turkish towns of Catal Höyük and Asikli Höyük were the human race's first experiments in large permanent settlements.
Catal Höyük
37 miles south-west of Konya
Anatolia
Turkey
Catal Höyük, which dates back to 6800-5000 BC, was built on 10 levels, with rectangular flat-roofed houses made of mud brick huddled around courtyards. The houses, which have no doors, would have been entered via the roof. All were built to the same ground plan, with living rooms, storage rooms and kitchens.
The inhabitants had an unusual method of disposing of their dead. They were left outside for the vultures, and after the bones had been picked clean, the skeletons were placed beneath the floor in the house.
The walls of the houses were decorated with spectacular paintings of bulls, birds, hunting scenes and other preoccupations of the inhabitants' lives. This is the site of the oldest-known scenery painting, of a volcanic eruption that is probably Mount Hasan near Cappadocia. It may also have been the origin of the statues of the female fertility goddess, which recur throughout much of the ancient world.
Asikli Höyük
near Aksaray
Anatolia
Turkey
Asikli Höyük was built in three phases in about 10,000-9000 BC. As in Catal Höyük, the houses were mud brick and entered through the roof. Archaeologists have discovered large numbers of artefacts made from obsidian – black volcanic glass – as well as bone, antler and copper, with an array of blade types. Here too the dead were buried beneath the floor, and one of the skeletons that has been analysed shows evidence of trepanation (the drilling of a hole in the skull), perhaps for some form of surgery.
This was a sophisticated society with a wide-ranging diet that consisted of meat from both wild and domesticated animals and a variety of cultivated wheat, barley, peas and lentils – a huge step forward in human progression from the nomadic hunter-gatherers.
Find out more
Catalhöyük: Excavations of a neolithic Anatolian höyük
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/
A website for those interested in the ongoing excavations at Çatalhöyük,
Turkey, providing information about the activities of the project and
the different aspects of the research being conducted there. There is
a map and details of how to get there.
History of Cappadocia
www.cappadociaonline.com/history.html
Short description of the results of excavation at Asikli Höyük.
Elsewhere on this site are details (including a map) on how to get to
there.
