Details of Dr Simon Stoddart's Munro Lecture. Event details Lecture title: Reinterpreting Prehistoric Maltese Religion Dr Simon Stoddart from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. Date: 26 February 2009, 5.15pm Venue: Archaeology Lecture Theatre, Old High School, High School Yards, Edinburgh Lecture abstract The monuments of prehistoric Malta are some of the oldest architecture of the world, and, at the time of writing, the oldest non funerary architecture of Europe. Until recently, a lack of fieldwork data has given free rein to speculative interpretations of prehistoric religion from the Maltese islands. In 2009, imminent publication of mortuary data and fresh analysis of the archives of the best excavated "temple", have framed more contextualised interpretations. The lecture will present a new understanding of some of the best preserved evidence from any prehistoric religion for the performative role of liturgical furniture within well defined three-dimensional frameworks. The aim will be to present alternative cosmological reconstructions of Maltese prehistoric religion to those normally encountered in the popular literature on the subject. This article was published on 2024-08-28
