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Note on the seats of Mnajdra
Ronald Poell, 2020-11-08
The Mnajdra megalithic buildings in Qrendi (Malta) have in rooms 1 (Mnajdra South) and 7
(Mnajdra North) a pair of features on either side of the central passage (fig. 1)1.
These features are often called altars, but I prefer the term seat as they look like seats and seem to
be too low for altars (figs. 2 and 3).
From a position in the middle of those seats, special features in the area are visible through the
entrance (Mnajdra South) or the porthole (Mnajdra North), save for one of them.
At room 1 in Mnadra South the view from the left seat looks straight at Ħaġar Qim (fig. 4). From
the right seat we look at the sinkhole and the only remaining standing stone of possibly two
concentric circles of megaliths2 (fig. 5)
At Mnajdra North, from the left seat the view is directed towards the winter solstice point (or more
precisely the winter solstice posthole3) (fig. 6).
From the right seat in room 7 one looks at the sea (fig. 7). This is the only view point that doesn't
seem to have a direction to something special in the area.
From Mnajdra East room 10 we look straight at Filfla but no seat is present in this building (fig. 8).
Recent observations have complemented the evidence that many construction elements in Mnajdra
South were formed and positioned to produce special effects. See e.g. Poell, R (2020b) for the
period around the autumn equinox and not yet published results for the sunrise and the full
moonrise in the period between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
For Mnajdra North there are, at this moment, only a few known construction elements that have a
specific position in relation to sun and moon events4.
All these observations seem to indicate that many construction elements of the three main buildings
of Mnajdra play a particular role in various observable phenomena.
If we assume that this was also the case for the right seat in Mnajdra North room 7 then the temple
builders must have been looking at something particular somewhere on the ground in the area in
front of the buildings up to the sea or in the sea.
Nothing particular has been found on land in the direction of the view.
On the sea bottom, on the other hand, in the directions of the view estimated between 145° and 170°
(fig. 9), there is a complex geological structure at a distance of 24 to 44 Km (fig. 10). This structure
is the end of the Malta Graben system. The main phase during which this graben was formed is less
than 1.5 million years ago5.
The area in consideration is still tectonically active. The recent earthquake felt here in Malta was
one of a series of 8 earthquakes between the 25 – 31 October 2020 and the epicenters were precisely
in this area6 (fig. 11).
1 The room numbering is after Evans, J. D. (1971), plan after Evans, J. D. (1971) modified.
2 Poell, R. (2020a)
3 See for example Lomsdalen, T. (2013) p.54
4 See for example Lomsdalen, T. (2013)
5 Dart, C. J., Bosence, D. W. J., & McClay, K. R. (1993)
6 Source Seismic Monitoring & Research Group, University of Malta, https://seismic.research.um.edu.mt/
Poell 2020 – Note on the seats of Mnajdra
The three depth profiles (figs. 12 - 14) are taken in bearings of 145°, 157.5° and 170° and give an
idea what the topography of the sea bottom in that region looks like7.
The cross profile from Gozo to this tectonic structure (fig. 15) provides a complementary view.
One cannot avoid thinking of Plato's Atlantis from the Timaeus (written in 360 BC), which he wrote
when he returned from Sicily8.
Further investigation should clarify the likelihood that there has been a sister island in that location
that has sunken into the sea and that was important to the temple builders (with perhaps other
settlements).
7 High resolution bathymetry from https://www.emodnet-bathymetry.eu/
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis
2
Fig. 1: Plan of the Mnajdra complex, with the views from the 4 seats.
Poell 2020 – Note on the seats of Mnajdra
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Fig. 2: Mnajdra South, the seats in room 1. Fig. 3: Mnajdra North, the seats in room 7.
Fig. 4: View from Mnajdra South left seat.
Fig.7: View from Mnajdra North right seat.
Poell 2020 – Note on the seats of Mnajdra
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Fig. 8: View from Mnajdra East towards Filfla.
Fig. 9: View angles from
Mnajdra North right seat.
Poell 2020 – Note on the seats of Mnajdra
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Poell 2020 – Note on the seats of Mnajdra
References
Dart, C. J., Bosence, D. W. J., & McClay, K. R. (1993). Stratigraphy and structure of the Maltese
graben system. Journal of the Geological Society, 150(6), 1153–1166.
https://doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.150.6.1153
Evans, J. D. (1971). The Prehistoric Antiquities of the Maltese Islands: A Survey. London: Athlone
Press.
Lomsdalen, T. (2013). Is there evidence of intentionality of sky involvement in the prehistoric
megalithic sites of Mnajdra in Malta? Retrieved from http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/427
Poell, R. (2020a). Equinox play of light and shadow at Mnajdra, 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.19870.77124
Poell, R. (2020b). Note on two possible circles of standing megaliths centered around a sinkhole in
the area between Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.34019.17443/1
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