Conference in Malta - Exploring Malta’s Prehistoric Temple Culture

Submitted by Anonymous on Sunday, 11 May 2003 Page Views: 2172

An exciting assembly of enthusiasts and scholars focus on the world's oldest sacred buildings. 25, 26, 27, September 2003 in Malta, Mediterranean Sea
EMPTC presents an amazing opportunity for anyone with an interest in megalithic monuments and related artifacts of the remarkable Temple Culture of Malta and Gozo.

New information expected at the conference will be considered for possible inclusion in an IMAX© film about Malta’s Prehistoric Temples currently in development. In addition to creating the oldest freestanding architecture on earth, the Temple Culture of the Maltese Islands exhibited a fully developed religion and advanced engineering technology from as early as six thousand years ago. Predating the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge, the structures and the islands themselves appear to have been abandoned by the Temple Culture after 2,400 BCE. One question to be asked at the EMPTC conference is whether they influenced later, better-known civilizations.

A meeting place for professionals and scholars from a variety of disciplines including Archaeology and Anthropology, History and Prehistory, the Physical and Social Sciences, Mythology and Folklore, Philosophy and Religion -- all focused on a common interest: identifying and understanding the Neolithic "Temple Culture" of the Maltese Islands. Speakers are currently scheduled from the University of Malta, Cambridge University, University of Vienna, University of Melbourne, California Institute of Integral Studies, University of California-LA, University of the Aegean, Istituto per i Beni Archeologici - Catania.

SAMPLE TOPICS
- Goddesses of Malta - A Male View of the Mother-Daughter Cult
- Alignments along the main axes at Mnajdra temples: astronomical observatory
- Prehistoric Maltese Death ritual: lessons from the Brochtorff Circle at Xaghra
- Beyond Goddesses and Fertility: A Gender Archaeological Approach to the Temple Period
- Luminescence Dating of Megalithic Monuments
- An Archaeomythological View of the Maltese Temple Culture
- Stonehenge, Carnac and Malta: The Creation of Ancestral Past in the Modern World
- Art & Monumentality in Prehistoric Malta: A View from the Aegean

All sessions will be conducted in English. Non-presenting observers are welcome. VIP field trips and excursions - including the restricted underground Hypogeum mortuary temple- will be available to registered participants. See the conference website for registration detail.
Hope to see you at EMPTC in September.

"There has been a tendency to assume that the (Neolithic Maltese) islands were completely isolated, apart from the import of a few raw materials. It is high time that a more balanced assessment, under the headings architectural, religious and commercial, should be attempted. " - David Trump

Website: www.otsf.org/EMPTC-conference.html

<< Wanted: One boat to go to Rockall

Events

Ambitious Scottish Megarak meet planned for 1st of June >>