The extracts (appearing below) are again from the internet; there are many interpretations of the origin of the Maltese folk.  They haven’t been modified and appear as is:

Malta in Prehistory

Malta’s first inhabitants came from Stentinello in SE Sicily in around 5000 BC. They would have been adequate farmers as they bought with them the rudiments of agriculture: cattle, sheep, pigs, lentils and barley.

By around 3600 BC something remarkable happened to Malta’s peaceful agriculture settlers. Their culture became increasingly isolated from its ancestral homeland, Sicily, although the neighbouring island lies only 100 kms away.

From simple farmers, the prehistoric Maltese evolved into highly-skilled builders and engineers constructing a wave of megalithic temples and burial sites across the islands.

For just over a thousand years, Malta developed a culture that had no parallel in the contemporary Mediterranean. The Neolithic islanders did not adopt outside cultural ideas nor did they influence other civilizations. This phenomenon remains one of the most puzzling aspects of this prehistoric island culture.

Culture, ritual and beliefs

What does the Hypogeum tell us about this unique and insular civilization? While primarily a burial chamber, it reveals evidence that the Stone Age Maltese developed a complex culture and set of beliefs.

The Hypogeum was the final resting place for some 7000 people over the course of a millennium (3600 and 2500 BC). It was hewn out of ‘the living rock’ at the same time as the Neolithic community was erecting a wave of megalithic ‘temples’ across the islands.

We know of about 23 prehistoric temple sites and two burial sites – the Hypogeum; and the Xaghra stone circle, a cave complex on Gozo.

The architecture of both the temples and the Hypogeum provides clues to their beliefs. The similarities suggest a close relationship between tomb and temple.

The distinctive trilithon structure that forms the facades of the temples is carved out with precision at the Hypogeum. It is astonishing that the temple builders were able to produce this complex ‘architecture in the negative’. They would have cut the rock using only antler picks and stone mallets.

The Hypogeum was intended as a temple for the dead as near perfect as the ones for the living. There is evidence to suggest that rituals took place inside the Hypogeum as well as at temple sites.

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