Thursday, July 02, 2026

History Highlights

The massive facade of the Ġgantija temples rising above the Gozo countryside

Ġgantija: The Giant Temples of Gozo, Older Than the Pyramids

On the Maltese island of Gozo stand the Ġgantija temples, raised around 3600 BC. Among the oldest freestanding structures on Earth, their giant stones were said to be the work of giants.

The Almendres Cromlech spread across a gentle Portuguese hillside

Almendres Cromlech: Europe’s Oldest Stone Circle, 2,000 Years Before Stonehenge

On a hillside near Évora in Portugal stands the Almendres Cromlech, nearly a hundred granite stones raised around 6000 BC. Older than Stonehenge and the pyramids, it is Iberia’s greatest megalithic monument.

The stepped mound of Tumulus A rising from the Bougon necropolis

Bougon: The 7,000-Year-Old Burial Mounds Older Than the Pyramids

In a quiet French valley stand the tumuli of Bougon, burial mounds raised around 4800 BC. Older than Stonehenge and the pyramids, they reveal how the first farmers honoured their dead in stone.

Overview of the Los Millares archaeological site in Almería

Los Millares: The 5,000-Year-Old Fortified Town at the Edge of Europe

On a bluff in Almería, Los Millares was one of western Europe’s first towns — a Copper Age settlement ringed with stone walls, home to early metalworking and a vast necropolis of sun-facing tholos tombs.

Aerial view of the Gavrinis cairn on its small island in the Gulf of Morbihan

Gavrinis: The 6,000-Year-Old Carved Passage They Sealed in the Dark

On a drowned Breton island stands Gavrinis, a Neolithic passage tomb whose walls are almost entirely covered in swirling carvings — an artistic masterpiece created around 4000 BCE and then sealed away.