The Sleeping Lady
Provenance – Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum
Dating – ca. 3600 - 2500 B.C.

The figurine of the Sleeping Lady is one of the major highlights that can be found at the National Museum of Archaeology. This small figurine, measuring 12cm in length and made of pottery, has been found in a pit at the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum. It represents a corpulent woman lying on her side on top of a couch. There are various hypotheses about what this figure could be representing; ritual sleep or eternal death? Was she a priestess or an ancestor? What is certain is the fact that its workmanship is one of high standards.

Venus of Malta
Provenance – Ħaġar Qim Temples
Dating – ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

This finely-modelled statuette was excavated from the temples of Ħaġar Qim. It is commonly referred to as the ‘Venus of Malta’. Made of fired clay, this statuette is very different to the much more corpulent figurines which are synonymous with the Temple period statuary in Malta. The proportions of this statuette are very natural and its back is very skilfully shaped.

Obsidian Core
Provenance – Skorba
Dating - ca 4500-4400 B.C.

This large obsidian core is one of two such pieces excavated from the site of Skorba. Obsidian, which is a glassy volcanic rock, is not found locally and hence this shows that there was some sort of contact with foreign lands. The closest obsidian resources are the islands of Pantelleria and Lipari and the obsidian that was found on our islands comes from both sources. The particular property of this rock is that when knapped it produces flakes with very sharp edges which were used as tools either for decorating or else for hunting or cooking purposes.

Headless seated figure
Provenance – Ħaġar Qim Temples
Dating - ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

This stone statue forms part of a large group of corpulent seated figures which were found at Ħaġar Qim Temples. The feature that stands out most about this group is the fact that they are all headless. Instead of the head there is a hollow which seems to suggest that these statues had interchangeable heads. Such heads have however not yet been found and this could be due to the fact that they were made of a perishable material such as wood.

Tarxien altar
Provenance – Tarxien Temples
Dating – ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

This altar was found at Tarxien Temples and was brought to the museum for conservation reasons. The front part of this altar has a semi-circular removable plug which, when opened by the archaeologists upon excavation, revealed a long flint blade, animal bones, pot sherds, a bone spatula and flint flakes. Archaeologists tend to associate such artefacts with animal sacrifices that could have formed part of a ritual.

Embracing couple
Provenance – Tarxien Temples
Dating – ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

This tiny statuette was found in Tarxien and is the only Neolithic figure showing a representation of human emotion. This small terracotta figurine represents the upper part of two people in an embrace.  Although the workmanship is a bit rough, the hair of both the figures, which falls on to the shoulders, is rendered by fine incisions. Each figure has one arm around the other.

Axe pendants
Provenance – Various but mainly from Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum
Dating – ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

These pendants, called thus due to the holes drilled in them from which they could be hung, have been found mainly within funerary contexts, namely the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum and the Xagħra Stone Circle. Most of them are made from greenstone, a material which cannot be found in the Maltese Islands. These pendants could have had either a purely aesthetic function or could have also been used as an amulet in some sort of ritual.

Ochre
Provenance - Exact provenance unknown
Dating – ca 4100-3800 B.C.

Ochre is another of those materials which was probably imported as it is a natural iron oxide which is not naturally found in Malta’s geology. Ochre can be yellow or red although in the local excavations, the red variety was mainly found. Used as powder, it was probably sprinkled over the dead bodies upon burial. Red ochre, world-widely recognised to represent blood and therefore life, probably represented life after death in burial contexts. It was also used to decorate pottery and architectural elements. A fine example of architectural ochre decoration is found at the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.

Floral altar
Provenance – Ħaġar Qim
Dating – ca 3600 – 2500 B.C.

This altar which was excavated from the Ħaġar Qim Temples has been carved from one whole piece of globigerina limestone. This altar has pitted decorations and what looks like a carved plant growing out of a pot on each side of the block.  The pairs parallel to each other have an identical design but are somewhat dissimilar from the other pair. The hollow top seems to imply that this altar could have been used as a recipient, possibly for animal sacrifices.

Roofed temple model
Provenance – Ta’ Ħaġrat Temple
Dating – ca 3600- 3200 B.C.

This small stone, excavated from the Ta’ Ħaġrat Temple at Mġarr, is carved in the shape of a small temple. This model portrays the temples as being roofed and is one of the most important artefacts referred to during debates about whether the temples were originally roofed over. Upon excavation, none of the temples had roofs, however this could be due to the possibility that the roof was made of perishable material such as wood, or that the roof stones were reutilised in later periods when the temples were no longer being used.