UNIQUE FIND IN MALTESE WATERS
Structures resembling a megalithic temple have been found under Maltese territorial waters

by Dione Borg (Il-Mument, 31 Oct 1999, Sunday newspaper)

Recently, structures resembling a megalithic temple have been found on the seabed in Maltese waters and they are being studied to see if indeed they are a form of megalithic temple.

These studies are being done by foreign archaeologists because this find is being considered a very important one and there is great interest amongst foreign archaeologists.

From information that Il-Mument has, it seems that this discovery has been announced in Augsburg, Germany by Professor and Archaeologist Hubert Zeitlmar in a meeting of the Paleo Astronaut Society on the 18th August.

The discovery was made on the 13 July 1999 at 10 am and was filmed. The diver and cameraman who filmed the structures was Shaun Arrigo while the diver and photographer who took photos was his brother Kurt.

Il-Mument has interviewed Professor Zeitlmar who explained that amongst these structures there are two stone circles. There are also other structures that seem to be long and rectangular but are mostly broken and damaged. These structures are on a type of platform and are in water that is between 8 and 15 metres deep about three kilometres from the Maltese coast.

Professor Zeitlmar said that the way the stone blocks had fallen and were damaged indicated that a large waves had invaded what was once dry land.

The German archaeologist said that these structures were mostly covered in seaweed but from the video and photos it can be clearly seen that they resemble other temples from the Hagar Qim period.

In the area of the structures underneath the sea there also seem to be lines (known as "cart ruts") which can be found in several other places in Malta.

It seems that the discovery of these structures is being given different archaeological explanations and the first indications are that they can be compared with the temples of Hagar Qim, the Hypogeum, Ggantija and Imnajdra which supposedly go back to 3,500 BC.

This archaeological find is causing much discussion amongst archaeologists particularly about the period in which it could have been built. The German archaeologist insists that these structures must have been built much earlier than the megalithic temples in Malta and the questions he is trying to answer is who built these structures, when were they built and why?

It seems that what caused archaeologist Zeitlmar to look for these structures are the books written by Zecheria Sitchin, The Earth Chronicles, which details the origin of ancient civilisations.

From these books and from the way that prehistoric temples are built in Malta and Gozo, archaeologist Zeitlmar investigated the possibility of other temples and prehistoric structures that haven't yet been dug up or found. It seems that his theory was built around the possibility of finding these structures somewhere in Maltese territorial waters.