Drawing (b) below introduces the minimum of modifications required to transform drawing (d) into an acceptable representation of the visible physical characteristics of the Tal Qadi Incised Stone TQ/S1 as seen by four independent observers on 27 October 2000. The stone itself is not cracked, and the rather long, shallow, almost semi-cylindrical groove shown (possibly symbolising the Firmament of Heaven, Hammered Bracelet or Asteroid Belt?) is more clearly apparent than some of its other features. Notice that in drawing (c), which was also reproduced in Alastair Service & Jean Bradbery's Megaliths and their Mysteries (1979), translated into Italian as I megaliti e i loro misteri (Armenia Editore, viale Ca' Granda 2, Milano. 1981), all the larger stars are made up of separate rays which do not touch each other nor criss-cross in the centre. In this respect drawing (c) is undoubtedly that which most faithfully represents this prediluvial relic now on permanent exhibition in Malta's National Museum of Archaeology in Republic Street in Valletta. There is, however, also a fifth drawing that remains to be considered:

Also, and much more importantly, two photographs of the incised stone itself:

A photograph in black-and-white was first published as Figure 79 on page 181 of Luigi Maria Ugolini's Malta - Origini della Civiltà Mediterranea (Roma, Libreria dello Stato, 1934) and copies of a truly excellent one in full colour by Daniel Cilia were available for purchase at Gozo's November 2001 Neolithia Arts Festival coordinated by Marie Mifsud.

(a)     (b)

(c)     (d)

Both Qrendi-born Joseph S. Ellul of Zurrieq and the Maltese architect Richard England Sant Fournier have studied some of the possible astronomical functions of Malta and Gozo's neolithic temples, but it is generally held that the culture and civilization which produced them did not survive beyond c.2500 B.C.

© The Neith Network Library 2002
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