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 For
years, farmers on the Mediterranean islands of Malta
could be observed tilling their fields with "the
gendus" a form of Maltese ox that were slow,
steady, who did not trample the furrows and who
provided good manure for the crops. Up to 1985,
there were over 100 of these Maltese oxen. This
changed with the introduction of mechanized farm
machinery and chemical fertilizers. Slowly, the
gendus all but disappeared just as the builders
of the Maltese Temple Culture had.
It took a group making a TV mini-series that was set
in Troy to refocus attention on the Maltese ox. The
crew needed oxen to pull the wooden horse and
someone remembered that a local farmer had three old
style cows and a bull. The animals were shipped from
the main island to the smaller sister island of Gozo
where the series was being shot. They performed
admirably.
Before anyone realized that the four animals were
the only remaining true Maltese oxen, the bull broke
his leg and died. Enter Dr. Mark Brincat, the Dean
of the Malta School of Medicine who realized that
with the exception of the horns, the profile of the
four oxen was identical to those portrayed 5,000
years ago during Malta’s Temple Period. (The antique
oxen are depicted with very long and slightly curved
horns.) Both are characterized by a large shoulder
hump, pendulous dewlap and high rump.
Bas-relief carvings of bulls have been found at a
prehistoric temple at Tarxien, (5200-4500 before
present,) one of Malta’s many mysterious megalithic
structures. Tarxien excavations were conducted by
Malta’s pioneer archaeologist, Dr. Themostocles
Zammit early in the twentieth century. The results
were introduced to the America pubic in "National
Geographic Magazine", in May of 1920.
Earlier excavations had discovered a bull painted on
a stone wall in the underground Hypogeum temple but
unfortunately, the painting was lost after the site
was opened in 1902. Bull images have also been found
on excavated pottery and charred bones found near
sacrificial altars in other Maltese temples.
According to an article in The TIMES of Malta
(February 6, 1998,) the local breed of cattle were
described in 1915 as being "very remarkable, though
hardly known beyond the narrow limits of the
islands. The cow, which is fully the same size as
the bull, and as powerful, is usually of very gentle
disposition, and is kept only for agricultural work,
for which it is an ideal animal." These oxen were
believed to be descended from a sub species of the
extinct bos longifrons.
By the early twentieth century, the cattle are still
being described as large limbed but their coats are
now described as reddish with lighter colour hair on
the underbelly; their horns are said to be short
with an outward curve. Old photographs confirm the
size (the animal reaches weights of 1000 kg, can
measure some three meters from head to tail and
stands two meters tall) and colour of the oxen. They
also show horns that while being curved are much
shorter than those depicted in the temple era
artefacts.
 Despite
the difference in horn size, which could possibly be
explained by selective breeding, Dr. Brincat thought
the oxen might be an important clue to the builders
of the Neolithic temples on Malta. Joining with Mr.
Karmenu Abela, a senior employee at the Agriculture
Department, and colleagues from his Department of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Faculty of
Medicine, he created the Malta Cattle Foundation.
The Foundation obtained sperm from the Chianina
breed of oxen on Sicily and performed in-vitro
fertilization on the oldest of the remaining cows,
who because of their isolation on Malta were
believed to be genetically pure.
A male offspring, Wenzu was produced through this
"back-breeding" program. He and the cows at that
time still belonged to the local farmer who was
housing the animals behind the island’s solid waste
treatment plant. The Cattle Foundation felt it
imperative that they buy Wenzu and were able to do
so with the help of the Sarasota based OTS
Foundation. Wenzu was then moved to a government
farm where he could live in a more controlled
environment and be available to be studied by
scientists. The cows have remained with the farmer
who did not wish to part with them. Several have
given birth to calves sired by Wenzu.
In addition to breeding Wenzu, who is 96% pure
genetically, the Malta Cattle Foundation has
extracted and preserved the DNA of the last pure
(100%) Maltese ox so that it can be compared with
that of similar animals found around the
Mediterranean. It is hoped that comparative studies
of the DNA of oxen in Malta/Gozo, Crete, Cyprus,
Egypt and Sicily will yield valuable information on
the origins and movements of early settlers and
their livestock through the ancient Mediterranean.
Human DNA studies of both modern people and ancient
remains are also planned to learn more about early
Maltese settlement: perhaps where the people who
build the temples came from six thousand years ago,
and what happened to them when they abruptly
disappeared from Malta some 1500 years later.
Further study offers the possibility of reaching
back and learning something about man, agriculture,
and environmental issues in the period when the
temple cultures on Malta developed.
Researchers at Stanford University: Dr. Roy King,
MD, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and
behavioural sciences, and Dr. Peter Underhill,
Ph.D., senior research scientist in the Department
of Genetics, are comparing genetic patterns with
archaeological findings to track the movements of
people at the end of the long Stone Age and the
beginning of civilization as we know it.
British archaeologist, Dr. David Trump points out
that the assumption that Malta was geographically
isolated during the Neolithic era may not in fact be
true. It is possible that the "people of the
temples" may be related to those who built
Stonehenge, the ancestors of the Minoans of Crete,
and the advanced society that inspired stories of
Atlantis.
The Maltese temples are the oldest known
freestanding buildings in the world, a thousand
years older than the tombs of Egypt. Recent
underwater finds are leading some archaeologists and
historians to speculate whether or not the Maltese
Temple Culture could be linked to the lost continent
of Atlantis. Reported "giant stone" underwater
constructions in Malta’s Grand Harbour were
unfortunately destroyed during bombing of the
harbour during the Second World War. Submarine
surveys are currently being undertaken with
cooperation of the Italian Navy. There is another
site in Malta where known temple ruins were lost to
the sea from natural erosion of the limestone cliff
face. Another tantalizing clue to the early history
of Malta.
Currently, the OTS Foundation is seeking to create
an interdisciplinary research group that can proceed
with the DNA, medical and archaeological studies
needed to produce scientific evidence about the
Maltese temple builders, their animals and art. Many
preliminary findings will be presented at a
scientific conference in Malta in September. Dr.
David Trump, Anthropologist Richard Rudgley and
others are expected to help fill some of the gaps in
understanding who these amazing prehistoric people
were and what happened to them.
Despite what is not yet known, there is proof of the
existence of an advanced civilization in the
prehistoric period on Malta. It is possible that
when existing knowledge is combined with scientific
evidence such as species distribution and geological
features; new weight will be lent to Plato’s legend
about the existence of Atlantis. Wenzu may just be
the first step in starting to unravel the puzzle
that is The Temple Culture of Malta, and perhaps
even that of the myth of Atlantis.
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