Santa Verna is a megalithic site in Xagħra on the island of

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. The site was originally occupied by a village and a megalithic temple. Although the temple is in poor condition now, in ancient times it was probably one of the major temples in the Maltese islands. The site takes its name from a chapel dedicated to Saint Venera that once stood close to the temple.

Site

Santa Verna was originally a prehistoric village, and the earliest pottery remains date back to around 5000 BC, during the Għar Dalam phase. The temple itself was built in the following centuries and it had a trefoil shape, which was typical of the time. In its heyday, Santa Verna was probably an important temple, which rivaled other major temples such as

Ġgantija Ġgantija (; "place of giants") is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic era (–2500 BC), on the List of islands in the Mediterranean, Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temp ...

, Tarxien and Ħaġar Qim. The only remains of the temple that survive today are three upright megaliths, another three horizontal blocks lining their eastern side, and the earth floor which makes it possible to see the temple's original outline.

Excavations

The megalithic remains at Santa Verna were found by Nikola Said, a worker at the Public Works Department. They were also noted by the archaeologist Manuel Magri in the early 20th century. The site was excavated in 1911 by Thomas Ashby and R. N. Bradley. During the excavations, two complete skeletons and several incomplete ones were found, including one of a child. Many smaller artifacts were also found during the excavations. The remains were included on the Antiquities List of 1925. Another excavation was made in 1961 by David Trump, when the remains of the village that predates the temple were found. More extensive excavations funded by the European Research Council in 2015 revealed the five-apsed plan of the temple during the Ġgantija phase, further evidence of the earlier settlement, and recovered samples of ancient animal bones, wheat, barley and legumes.

References

{{European megaliths Buildings and structures completed in the 5th millennium BC Megalithic Temples of Malta Neolithic sites Xagħra